contemporary music | Carmen-Helena Téllez

An artist who knew himself

June 11, 2019 by carmen helena tellez

I have been pretty much in shock after hearing of the departure of my colleague and teacher Sven-David Sandstrom, yesterday June 10. I have spent 24 hours reading and sharing all the tributes online without the will power to comment myself. I had spent all day yesterday saying farewell, one way or another, to colleagues and friends, and even to a doctoral student after a very successful defense. But I did not quite expect to receive the news at the […]

Categories: contemporary music, music composition, new choral music • Tags: Sven-David Sandstrom

Bernstein’s birthday and his legacy

August 25, 2018 by carmen helena tellez

Today Google has a charming and ingenious homage to Leonard Bernstein, with cartoons of him in action. It is a good occasion to ponder the role of artists in our society–who gets to leave a mark in the culture, and is it always the one who eschews popular taste and sentiment for high academic complexity…or vice versa. I say, great music is not in the style… https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=24&v=O8fQyb6tkdk

Categories: art and paradox, conducting, contemporary music, context affects perception, context and perception, music composition, new conductor, Uncategorized • Tags: high and low, Leonard Bernstein

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The re-birth of new opera

February 20, 2017 by carmen helena tellez

A few days ago I tweeted that 10 years ago I argued with skeptic colleagues — as I pursued my own experiments — that interdisciplinary musical works were going to become mainstream. I think this time is here. Sometimes I feel we are again in the 1600s, with the birth of opera, and the Baroque style, and a new way of organizing music. Some will argue that we have a rebirth of the ‘happenings” of the 60s and 70s–but I venture to say […]

Categories: contemporary music, new opera and music drama, Uncategorized • Tags: Alex Ross, Ipsa Dixit, Kate Soper, new opera

“Creation exists only in the unforeseen made necessary.”

January 7, 2016 by carmen helena tellez

“Creation exists only in the unforeseen made necessary.” Pierre Boulez, who passed away Tuesday, reportedly made that statement, an incredibly succinct description of the thrust of a visionary artist. Time will be the rock that will filter the water of his contributions to music in the last 60 years. His influence on music professionals has been incalculable, especially on those who like me love the creation and promotion of new music. The last few weeks have been extraordinary in that […]

Categories: art and paradox, contemporary music, music composition • Tags: Glberto Mendes, John Eaton, Pierre Boulez

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Wonderful memories of wonderful music

July 7, 2015 by carmen helena tellez

The Americas Society of New York City has just posted three videos of the extraordinary composition by Gabriela Ortiz, Baalkah, for soprano and string quartet. The performance was part of a concert I curated as Director of the Latin American Music Center at Indiana University, for the Americas Society Concert Series directed by Sebastián Zubieta. Baalkah will be heard again tomorrow July 8 at the REDCAT in Los Angeles, as part of the LA International New Music Festival. The probing […]

Categories: contemporary music • Tags: Gabriela Ortiz, Latin American Music Center

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The controversy about the title “Female Composer”…..

July 17, 2013 by carmen helena tellez

…or “Woman” composer, (or “Latin American” composer, for that matter) gets a perspective from composer Kristin Kuster here. It is worth reading her opinion piece in the New York Times alongside the piece she quotes from NewMusicBox. Much of what she says about women composers applies to women conductors, and both contingents are underrepresented in the high-level circles of the profession that receive the most performances or conduct the elite ensembles. She is right that women have sought to separate […]

Categories: art and society, contemporary music, interdiscipline, music composition, my work, new conductor, postclassical music, postmodernism, Uncategorized • Tags: Kristin Kuster, Women Composers

Philip Glass’s Satyagraha: Met’s great production for a significant work.

December 9, 2011 by carmen helena tellez

…not only the opera as a musical work, but its production, such as the MET has done it for Philip Glass’s Satyagraha last November. Satyagraha means The Force of Truth in Sanskrit. We were stunned by the extraordinary marriage of the music and its visual and choreographic manifestation. I saw it at the movies only yesterday, through one of the wonderful Met HD broadcasts that are changing the consumption of opera. The camera work in itself was extraordinary, and speaks […]

Categories: art and ritual, contemporary music, gesamtkünstwerk, interdiscipline, music, new opera and music drama, postclassical music

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The Qatsi Trilogy featured at Edinburgh

July 5, 2011 by carmen helena tellez

What a great opportunity for the lovers of this Trilogy! My favorite is still the first film of the three, Koyaanisqatsi. I still remember viewing for the first time just by accident, as it was broadcast late one night (perhaps on PBS?) in 1984. I have rarely been more grateful for insomnia. I was immediately fascinated, and I ended telling my fellow students the next day that I had viewed the art of the future. I think Koyaanisqatsi is extremely […]

Categories: art and ritual, art and society, art music video, contemporary music, postmodernism • Tags: Koyaanisqatsi, Philip Glass

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The reviews of PASSION with Tropes are as variegated as the work itself

May 30, 2011 by carmen helena tellez

Composer Jeremy Podgursky has just published his review of Don Freund’s PASSION with Tropes in the excellent online journal Sequenza21.com. His full account and considered opinion teach us how an interdisciplinary presentation of a musical work originally conceived for concert oratorio format may provoke surprising revelations about the work itself. The layers multiply beyond the performance through the reception and critique of viewers. Podgursky’s impression of PASSION was affected by his experience of important films by Fellini and Godard. This […]

Categories: art, art and religion, art and ritual, art music video, contemporary music, gesamtkünstwerk, interdiscipline, meta-composition, multimedia, music composition, my work, new choral music, new conductor, new opera and music drama, postclassical music, sacred music

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Carmen-Helena Téllez

Conductor – Producer – Interdisciplinary Artist • A presentation site with notes about music, art and the occasional paradox

Category Archives: contemporary music

An artist who knew himself

Bernstein’s birthday and his legacy

The re-birth of new opera

“Creation exists only in the unforeseen made necessary.”

Wonderful memories of wonderful music

The controversy about the title “Female Composer”…..

Philip Glass’s Satyagraha: Met’s great production for a significant work.

The Qatsi Trilogy featured at Edinburgh

The reviews of PASSION with Tropes are as variegated as the work itself