Broad gestures and rich textures are hallmarks of the “compelling” (The New York Times), “deliciously wistful” (San Francisco Classical Voice), “personal, expressive, and bold,” (I Care If You Listen) music of composer Alex Weiser. Born and raised in New York City, Weiser creates acutely cosmopolitan music combining a deeply felt historical perspective with a vibrant forward-looking creativity. Weiser’s debut album and all the days were purple, was named a 2020 Pulitzer Prize Finalist for Music. Released by Cantaloupe Music in April 2019, the album includes songs in Yiddish and English and has been praised as “ravishing” (The New Yorker), “reverent and magical... devastatingly beautiful,” (American Record Guide), “gorgeous” (Tablet Magazine), “utterly original and exquisitely unsettling... sweeping, bewitching, divinely dissonant... pitch-perfect.” (In Geveb).

Weiser recently completed an opera with librettist Ben Kaplan called State of the Jews. Hailed as “stunning, heavenly, marvelous” by Israeli National Public Radio, the opera is based on the life of Theodor Herzl and juxtaposes a historical narrative focusing on the last year of his life, with the more intimate story of Theodor’s conflicted relationship with his wife, Julie Herzl, and the toll his political views and activities took on their family life. Developed as a part of a two-year fellowship with American Opera Projects, the LABA fellowship of the 14th Street Y, a Roulette residency, and with support from the ConEd Exploring the Metropolis Composer Residency program, the opera received a series of preview performances at the 14th Street Y in December 2019 and awaits a premiere production.

For more information, visit www.AlexWeiser.com

Performers and interested listeners can find score pages on my website:  www.jamesmobberleymusic.com.  Email me at:  mobberleyj@umkc.edu.  These pieces of music have been written over the last 30 years, and represent a collection of works that have not been commercially recorded, or which were recorded a number of years ago.  I teach music composition at the Conservatory of Music and Dance at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

Circles and Lines is a new composers consortium dedicated to providing an eclectic and accessible sample of compositional styles in contemporary classical music. Its members include Angelica Negron, Noam Faingold, Eric Lemmon, Dylan Glatthorn and Conrad Winslow.

Charles Norman Mason has been recognized repeatedly for his originality and attention to color.  Steve Smith of The New York Times writes “’Additions’ by Charles Mason , offered a nearly seamless integration of electronic and acoustic sounds…” Peter Burwasser of Fanfare writes that Mason’s music speaks in a “boldly, original voice”. High Performance Review states that the music is “full of invention… funky and colorful… consistently ingenious.”  Katherine Porlington writes in Upstate Music (NY) “...Mason's Senderos Que se Bifurcan... is, without doubt, one of the finest new clarinet chamber works of the past twenty years.”  Nancy Raabe writes in The Birmingham News “Mason's brilliant From Shook Foil occupies a class of its own... it is charged with creativity.”
Mason has received many awards for his compositions including the 2005 Rome Prize, a Dale Warland Commission Prize, and the 2008 American Composers Orchestra “Playing it Unsafe” commission prize. His music has been performed throughout the world including the FORO INTERNACIONAL DE MUSICA NUEVA in Mexico City, the Quirinale in Rome, the Aspen Summer Music Festival, and the Nuova Musica Consonante in Romani.  His music has been featured on “Performance Today” on NPR.
Dr. Mason is associate professor of composition at the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami.  His website is www.charlesnormanmason.com


Albums out on Another Timbre & KAIROS:

https://anothertimbre.bandcamp.com/album/mine-but-for-its-sublimation

www.kairos-music.com/cds/0018003kai

Corey Klein is following