A glimpse of Dreaming/Undreaming, premiering on June 17th, 2021, at the Princeton Festival!
Categories: art, art and paradox, art music video, Carmen's work, contemporary music, context and perception, gesamtkünstwerk, interdiscipline, music composition, women in music • Tags: Dreaming/Undreaming, interdisciplinary art, new music composition, video art
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
I am delighted to announce that Ensemble Concept/21 has invited the Euclid Quartet, Kosmologia, and the Notre Dame Children’s Choir to premiere the oratorios The Tower and the Garden by Gregory Spears and Beatitudes by Jorge Muñiz, under my direction, next Friday, May 10, at 7 pm, in the Campus Auditorium of Indiana University South Bend. This project joins together two important sponsors of creativity in this country– The New Frontiers Program at Indiana University, and the Ann Stookey Fund […]
Categories: art and religion, art and society, gesamtkünstwerk, intermedia, music composition, new choral music, new forms of presentation, new opera and music drama, postclassical music, sacred music • Tags: CARMEN HELENA TELLEZ, Denise Levertov, Gregory Spears, Jorge Muñiz, Notre Dame Vocale, Thomas Merton
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
“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
It is now two months since the Pocket Opera Players premiered under my musical direction Michael Dellaira’s The Death of Webern, alongside John Eaton’s Rerouted, in New York City’s Symphony Space. In a way, both operas commented, one tragically and the other farcically, on the future of high art. Now Michael Dellaira sends me a wonderful article on his opera that offers both a summary and a context for his insightful work. It is worthy reading for those opera lovers […]
Categories: art and society, Carmen's work, music composition, new opera and music drama
…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
…and certainly, one of the most influential, as John Cage defines the different types of beauty in music, and the type he has chosen for his work. One could argue that he reverts 500 years of narrative music to return to the art of contemplation, or what others would call a form of sacred music. (Photo attributed to Rex Rystedt by Wikipedia, as it appeared in a special issue of the Schwann Opus Record Guide dedicated to Cage)
Categories: art and paradox, context and perception, music composition • Tags: John Cage
The critics have enjoyed the Cds produced and conducted for the Latin American Music Center. Read them (with other reviews) here
Categories: conducting, music composition, my work, new choral music, sacred music
Carmen-Helena Téllez