UPCOMING
Friday, September 10th, 2010
English premiere of "September Sun" (in memory of 9/11)
Northampton Bach Choir
Lee Dunleavy, conductor
http://www.northamptonbachchoir.org.uk/
Saturday, October 9th, 2010
SF Conservatory, Concert Hall 8PM
Premiere of the complete "Sexton Songs"
Blueprint Series
Marnie Breckenridge, soprano
Nicole Paiement, conductor
SFCM New Music Ensemble
Saturday - Sunday, October 16th - October 17th, 2010
World premiere: "To Music"
The San Diego Master Chorale
Gary McKercher, conductor
commissioned for the SDMC's 50th anniversary
http://www.sdmasterchorale.org/
Saturday - Sunday, October 23rd - 24th, 2010
Los Angeles premiere of "America Tropical" an opera in one act
University of Southern California
Saturday - Sunday, November 20th - 21st, 2010
A Copland Portrait - Bay Area premiere
American Philharmonic; Gabriel Sakakeeny, conductor
http://www.apsonoma.org/html/concerts.html
Friday, December 3rd, 2010
"The Gift of the Magi" an opera in one act
SF Conservatory Opera Theatre
Concert Hall, SFCM
Saturday, December 11th; Sunday, December 12th, 2010
World premiere: "Ring Out, Wild Bells"
St. Philip's Cathedral, Atlanta, GA
Atlanta Gay Men's Chorus
Kevin Robison, conductor
http://agmchorus.org/
Sunday, December 12, 2010 -- 5pm
Monday, December 13, 2010 -- 8pm
World Premiere: A Bell for SATB Chorus and Organ;
Commissioned by The Memorial Church at Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
for the 101st Annual Christmas Carol Services
and the Harvard University Choir, Edward Elwyn Jones, director
The 101st Annual Christmas Carol Services
The Memorial Church at Harvard University
Cambridge, MA
http://www.memorialchurch.harvard.edu
NEW PUBLICATIONS
E.C. Schirmer Music Company
Love #7279, (TTBB Chorus and Chamber Orchestra or Piano), [Secular] view score
pre-publication edition
text by Philip Littell
Two Hymns in Honor of the Blessed Sacrament:
O Salutaris hostia view score - click to listen
Tantum Ergo view score - click to listen
#6598, (SATB unaccompanied), [Communion], $2.05
Hope Carol, A, #6605, (SSAA & piano), [General], $2.05 view score - click to listen
Hope Carol, A, #7188, (solo voice & piano), [General], $7.50 view score
text by Christina Rossetti
The Snow Lay On The Ground SATB with harp and organ or piano
Snow Lay on the Ground, The, #6419, (SATB, harp & keyboard), [Christmas], $2.05 view score - click to listen
Snow Lay on the Ground, The, #6420, (SSAA, harp & keyboard), [Christmas], $2.05 view score
Snow Lay on the Ground, The, #6421, (TTBB, harp & keyboard), [Christmas], $2.05 view score
Snow Lay on the Ground, The, #6422, (Harp Part), $2.50
"Many of us know the lovely Sowerby setting, and now it is great to have another one. David Conte keeps the 6/8 rhythm but has created a new melody that has a lit and grace that makes it most attractive. There are also arrangements for SSAA and TTBB."
-
Philip Brunelle, The American Organist
RECENT
Friday, March 26th 2010
on the KALW radio show VoiceBox, hosted by New York Times arts critic Chloe Veltman.
To listen: voicebox
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Faculty Artist Recital
David Conte, composition, with the Ives Quartet; Douglas Rioth,
harp; Catherine Cook, mezzo-soprano
Steven Bailey, piano; Emil Miland, cello
April 5th, 2009
Carolyn Schuster, organ, Church of the Madeleine, Paris
"Prelude and Fugue: In Memoriam Nadia Boulanger"
April 15th, 2009
Chanticleer, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
"The Homecoming"
March 14th, 2009 - San Francisco Conservatory of Music
Faculty Artist Concert with Catherine Cook, Mezzo-soprano
February 13th, 2009
World premiere of "Lincoln" for baritone and chamber ensemble text by John Stirling Walker
commissioned by the city of Concord, MA in celebration of the bicentennial of Lincoln's birth
January 20th, 2009, Obama's Inauguration
featuring Conte's new choral work "An Exhortation",
with text by Barack Obama from his Victory Speech of November 4th, 2008
December 20th, 21st, 22nd, 2008- "The Gift of the Magi"
Trinity Lyric Opera, John Kendall Bailey, Conductor
Castro Valley Center for the Arts; San Francisco Conservatory of Music
http://www.trinitylyricopera.org
November 21st, 2008, 8PM - New York premiere of "Everyone Sang"
Carnegie Hall, Weill Recital Hall, New York
song cycle for Baritone and Piano
Andrew Garland, baritone; Donna Loewy, piano
texts by A. E. Stallings, Dana Gioia, Diane Thiel, Sigfried Sassoon
http://www.carnegiehall.org/article/box_office/series/brochure/ser_582.html
September 25th-28th, October lst, 2008
new commission for Chanticleer, Joseph Jennings, Music Director
"The Homecoming: In Memoriam Martin Luther King"
text by John Stirling Walker
http://www.chanticleer.org/concerts_shows.cfm
May 16th, 2008
Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco
San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus 30th Anniversary Concert
Community Women's Orchestra
Kathleen McGuire, conductor
new work for Men's Chorus and Orchestra
May 9th, 2008
Concert Hall, San Francisco Conservatory of Music
Sixth Biannual Choral Composition Competition, SFCM students
April 24th, 2008
Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX
Dallas Arts District Chorale, Michie Akin, conductor
Performance of "The Nine Muses" and other choral works. This event coincides with the DMA’s exhibition of works by “proto-impressionist” J.M.W. Turner (1775-1851).
for more information: http://www.artsdistrictchorale.org/documents/ADC2007-08-SeasonofLight-R1.pdf
April 3rd, 2008
USC, Los Angeles
Lecture: "America Tropical: Creating a New Opera"
with librettist Oliver Mayer
February 16th, 2008
Texas Music Educator's Association
All-state Men's Chorus; performance of "Student Song" from "Carmina Juventutis"
Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center, San Antonio, TX
for more information: http://www.tmea.org/Convention/index.html
December 14th, 2007
St. Mark's Lutheran Church, 1111 O'Farrell St.
Christmas concert featuring Britten's "Ceremony of Carols" and Vaughan Williams' "Fantasia on Christmas Carols"
Conservatory Chorus, David Conte, conductor
Sunday, November 11th, 2007
San Francisco Faculty Artists Series
Osher Salon, San Francisco Conservatory of Music
Famous, a new opera in progress
a workshop presentation of the music
Music by David Conte
Libretto by John Stirling Walker
based on the book "Famous for Fifteen Minutes: My Years with Andy Warhol"
by Ultra Violet
Famous presents a series of impression from the life of Isabelle Dufresne ("UltraViolet" in Andy Warhol's Factory), in eight scenes that are intended to convey something of the spirit of her development from her childhood in France through her encounters with Salvador Dali, Andy Warhol, and Edie Sedgwick in America, to her return to her family, where she has a transformative encounter with her own past and with the Old Testament prophet Isaiah.
September 29th, 2007
Museum Screening: Orozco: Man of Fire
DeYoung Museum, San Francisco
September 19th, 2007
Television Broadcast: Orozco: Man of Fire
Documentary with music by David Conte
Directed by Laurie Coyle and Rick Tejada-Flores
narrated by Anjelica Huston
American Masters Series, PBS
Wednesday, September 19th
check local listings for time
April 29th-May 20th, 2007
AMERICA TROPICAL - an opera in one act
Music by David Conte
Libretto by Oliver Mayer
click to listen
commissioned and premiered by Thick Description Theater Company, San Francisco
16 performances;
conducted by John Kendall Bailey; directed by Tony Kelly
In an act of creation that is both galvanizing and dangerous, the Mexican artist Siqueiros creates a mural for the 1932 Olympics that places a mirror up to the city of Los Angeles, reflecting both its past and future -- from its founding in 1781 by a band of Pobladores from Mexico, to its near self-destruction in the riots of 1992. Through the interconnected stories of original city founder Moreno and George Holliday, who witnessed the savage beating of Rodney King (just as Siqueiros is witness with his paint brush), we see and feel the crises of a city continually caught between its lofty goals and coarse realities. Whitewashed in 1932, Siqueiros' painted mural image of the Crucified India refuses to stay erased and ghosts through, descending from the cross to offer redemption and blessings to Angelinos across the centuries. The India exists alongside the Queen of the Angels (namesake of the City) as a witness to injustice, and as a totem of the hopes and dreams of its people – signifying more than Siqueiros could have dreamed possible.
March 7th, 2007
ACDA National Convention, Miami, FL
THE NINE MUSES - for SATB chorus, SATB soloists, piano four-hands, percussion (two players)
Music by David Conte
Text by John Stirling Walker
click to listen
"The Nine Muses" was commissioned by the American Choral Directors Association Endowment in memory of Raymond W. Brock. The work was premiered by the University of Miami Frost Chorale, Jo-Michael Scheibe, conductor, at their National Convention in Miami, Florida on March 8th, 2007.
The inspiration for “The Nine Muses” came from my desire to write a work about the Transfiguring power of art, to fulfill the Raymond Brock commission for the ACDA National Convention. I turned for a text to my frequent collaborator, the poet John Stirling Walker, who had written the texts for my works “Elegy for Matthew” in memory of Matthew Shepard, and “September Sun,” a 9/11 memorial piece.
The challenge was to compose a single-movement work, lasting about fifteen minutes, that, like the nine stanza poem, holds together as one thought from beginning to end. One way I was able to express the unique character of each Muse was through contrasting choral and vocal solo textures. This design served to complement the work’s unfolding trajectory towards its two climaxes: the declaration that “It is the hour” for humanity to receive the blessings that have been earned through its collective suffering, and the admonition that only the “daring passion” of the courageous will suffice to vanquish the remaining opposition to these blessings.
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