music | Carmen-Helena Téllez

Notes from a recent performance of Mozart’s Requiem

November 4, 2013 by carmen helena tellez

Last September 14 I had the opportunity to conduct Mozart’s Requiem in the Decio Theater of Notre Dame, with the Notre Dame Festival Chorus and Orchestra and the wonderful soloists Jessica McCormack, soprano; Julia Bentley, mezzo-soprano; Nick Fitzer, tenor; and Stephen Lancaster, bass. Given that the hall is designed for drama and the spoken voice, I thought we would connect with our audience’s expectations better through a slightly unconventional approach, and instead of presenting a pre-concert talk, we delivered the […]

Categories: art and religion, art and ritual, Carmen's work, sacred music • Tags: Mozart's Requiem

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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

One of the great debates about music…

June 27, 2013 by carmen helena tellez

…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

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CD Reviews are In…

January 7, 2013 by carmen helena tellez

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

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Sharing the news of our new DMA at Notre Dame

December 30, 2012 by carmen helena tellez

On December 11 the University of Notre Dame approved a new Doctor of Musical Arts program with specializations in Choral Conducting and in Organ. The approach to training the new conductors includes deep study of the relationship of music with other arts and other disciplines. Although conductors will study the broad choral repertoires, it is inevitable to study Western sacred music, which lies a the foundation of most Western art music. After all, in my personal view, liturgy is one […]

Categories: art and religion, art and ritual, gesamtkünstwerk, interdiscipline, new choral music, new conductor, new opera and music drama, sacred music, scholarship • Tags: DMA at Notre Dame, James MacMillan

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A thrilling new conference on Sacred Music ….

July 8, 2012 by carmen helena tellez

…with James MacMillan and a stellar panel of guest composers and scholars. Check the site here It was a privilege to be part of it!

Categories: art and religion, art and ritual, art and society, my work, new choral music, new conductor, sacred music

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

Category Archives: music

Notes from a recent performance of Mozart’s Requiem

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

One of the great debates about music…

CD Reviews are In…

Sharing the news of our new DMA at Notre Dame

A thrilling new conference on Sacred Music ….

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