Tears at The Happy Hour

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I sit in one of the dives on 52nd Street… (WH Auden) Love. Lust. Longing. Loss. Libido. These are some of the themes that run through this evening of songs by Pulitzer and Grammy award-winning composer William Bolcom (1938-). In his desire to break the barrier between “serious” and popular music, Bolcom blurs the lines between cabaret, classical, music theatre and even country music in his setting of texts by Auden, e.e. cummings, Shakespeare and his long-time collaborator Arnold Weinstein. The

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Don’t Panic: 60 Seconds

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“a feast for the eye and for the ear” — Radio 4, Holland Sixty Videos, Sixty Composers, Sixty World Premieres by and for Guy Livingston “What if 60 composers from 18 countries each wrote 60 seconds for solo piano?” Don’t Panic! Livingston handles the show with an expert vison and masterful storytelling skills. Anecdotes of composers and mishaps are mixed with insight into the very nature of time. Featured on the front page of the New York Times, in Le Monde,

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Music and Architecture

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“A pianist with a flair for modernism”   The New York Times  Music and Architecture have been linked philosophically and physically since at least the time of the ancient Greeks. In today’s world, some of these connections have been forgotten, while others have only become possible with new technology. The world of virtual reality, digital audio, wifi, and miniaturized electronics are opening up a magnificent spectrum of options. Guy Livingston studied music and architecture at Yale University. He is currently in

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Dada at the Movies ii (new show for the centenary!)

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What is Dada? On July 8, 1923, the Parisian Dadaists organized the most famous Dada event ever. Everybody who was anybody was on the program that night: a play by Tristan Tzara, films by Man Ray and Hans Richter, live music by George Antheil, Erik Satie, and Darius Milhaud. During the show, a riot broke out amongst the rival Dada factions, and the poet Paul Eluard was thrown off the stage, breaking his arm. The gendarmes were summoned, and the

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That darned cat

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Ketzel the Cat now she’s back in the news: Read the marvelous Children’s Book! “A kitten’s stroll down a keyboard leads to a celebrated one-minute composition in this charming portrait of a remarkable true friendship.” Moshe Cotel was a composer who lived in a noisy building on a noisy street in a noisy city. But Moshe didn’t mind. Everything he heard was music to his ears. One day, while out for a walk, he heard a small, sad sound that

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Take me out to the ballgame

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The Baseball Story “It’s a piece about risk,” said Livingston. “You can’t drop the ball.” —Sports Illustrated This is the first line of Annie Gosfield’s composition for Guy Livingston, premiered at the New York Public Library at Lincoln Center in 1997. The score calls for 2 baseballs, and was written as part of a program conceived by Livingston called “Ten Thoughts on the Five Boroughs.” This brilliant composition exists in two versions: the original which lasts about 5 minutes, and

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