Series Founded By Composer George Flynn Celebrates 15th Year

Demonstrating the DePaul University School of Music's strong advocacy of the contemporary soundscape, New Music DePaul launches its 2003-2004 season Nov. 7 with a program of five compositions, four of which have been penned within the last nine months.

The Nov. 7 performance is part of a three-concert series founded and directed by DePaul School of Music emeritus faculty member and distinguished composer George Flynn. Now in its 15th year, New Music DePaul provides a much-needed venue for the music of contemporary composers, particularly those from the Chicago area. More importantly, it affords the performers, many of whom are DePaul School of Music faculty, the rare opportunity to engage directly with the composers whose music they are playing. The remaining concerts in this series are slated for March 5 and May 21. All are free of charge. Concert time is 8 p.m. in the DePaul Concert Hall, 800 W. Belden Ave.

The Nov. 7 program illustrates the series’ continuing commitment to stylistic diversity and to composers from the metropolitan area and beyond. Works by Kurt Westerberg and Jeffrey Kowalkowski—both DePaul School of Music faculty members—as well as Don Malone, Lawrence Fritts and British composer Paul Rhys will be offered.

With the exception of Rhys’s electronic work “Ebb and Flow” (1989), all of these compositions are being performed for the first time.

Westerberg’s “Piano Trio,” scored for violin, cello and piano, opens the evening’s concert. This composer has long enjoyed a loyal following among Chicago’s contemporary music audiences.

Kowalkowski’s trio calls for flute, tenor saxophone and piano (with the composer at the keyboard). This piece takes its title, “Kookbook Sketches Trio,” from material the composer is developing for an Amsterdam-based ensemble. Kookbook is Dutch for cookbook.

In Malone’s interactive composition, titled “o”, the live electronic music and accompanying video are generated by software created by Malone, a professor of music at Roosevelt University, and his associate, Stephen Simms of Indiana University. A computer-generated work titled “Simple Matter” by Lawrence Fritts is the final offering of the evening. Fritts heads the electronic and computer music department at the University of Iowa.

Performers for the Nov. 7 concert include Jody Livo, violin; Melissa Bach, cello; Katrina Walker, flute; Christopher Neal, tenor saxophone; George Radosavljevic and Kowalkowski, piano.

For more information about these concerts and other events sponsored by DePaul’s School of Music, call 773/325-7260.