A Web Nexus for Contemporary Art Music
The Pytheas Center for Contemporary Music is a wide ranging web nexus for contemporary concert music. Our mission is to promote contemporary composers and their music through information, understanding and performances.
Contemporary classical/art/concert music is a living art form, fed by the creativity of composers across the country and around the globe. Finding inspiration from a multitude of sources, this music springs from a well-known and beloved past, yet travels new avenues and explores amazingly diverse sound worlds. There are more composers writing music now than there ever have been in the history of the world, and our goal is to help you connect with them and enjoy their art.
Featured Items and Upcoming Events
Da Jeong Choi
Top of the Mountain (2009) 1st mvt
John Holt, Christopher Deane and Mark Ford ~ ~ check out our video archive post your comments at PytheasTalk
Chamber Music Now!
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Chamber
Music Now began in 2001 when two Philadelphia composers, Richard
Belcastro & David
Laganella,
created the concert series initially as a means to cultivate their
connections to performing artists and to disseminate their
works.
Attention to the series was immediate and it has quickly emerged as a
conduit for the creative output of young talent and established artists
from the Philadelphia area and internationally. Over the past five
seasons CMN
has earned a reputation for presenting and producing concerts that
feature leading artists, unique programming and collaborative
multi-media unlike anything else found in the Philadelphia
community. CMN’s
annual concert series focuses on new chamber arts that come from a
variety of collaborative efforts and unique sources of inspiration. The
organization’s multi-disciplinary programming and themed concert
productions feature unique repertoire, the premiers of new compositions
and pre-concert events that are designed to connect the productions to
a large and diverse audience. CMN
designs its concert themes and collaborative efforts to attract a broad
range of new listeners and to re-shape the image of chamber music in
the community by challenging its conservative
perception . . .
Learn More
Iannis Xenakis
Composers Portraits
Iannis
Xenakis
was born in Brăila, Romania, and studied architecture in Athens,
Greece. He participated in the Greek Resistance during the World War II
and the first phase of Greek Civil War as a member of the students
company Lord Byron of ELAS (Greek Peoples Liberation Army). He received
a severe face wound and escaped a death sentence. In the '50s he fled
to Paris and worked with Le Corbusier. While his assistant, Xenakis
designed the Philips Pavilion, home of the première of Edgar Varèse's
Poème Électronique at the 1958 Brussels International Fair. He is
particularly remembered for his pioneering electronic and computer
music, and for the use of stochastic mathematical techniques in his
compositions. In keeping with his use of probabilistic
theories,
many of Xenakis'
pieces are, in his own words, "a form of composition which is not the
object in itself, but an idea in itself, that is to say, the beginnings
of a family of compositions".
Learn
More
visit Iannis Xenakis at Pytheas ...
Sound and Music
United Kingdom
Sound
and Music is the UK’s landmark organisation for new music and
sound. Open for business since October 2008, it is the result of
bringing together the British
Music Information Centre, Contemporary Music Network,
Society for the
Promotion of New Music and Sonic Arts Network.
From digital platforms to a UK-wide programme of live events, it's
mission is to raise the profile of new music and sound in the public
consciousness, build support and audiences for innovative work.
Education, participation, and professional development initiatives lead
the way for artistic exploration and excellence in this field. The Sound
and Music website provides a unique concentration of
resources, with opportunities for artists, composers and practitioners
to upload their work via their on-line community, as well as
comprehensive listings of events, video, multi-media, and details of
all Sound
and Music activities. Sound
and Music is totally committed to connecting ground-breaking
new work with potential audiences, and warmly welcomes anyone to join
them on their exciting, pioneering and rewarding journey . . .
Learn More
Tilo Medek
Abfahrt einer Dampflokomotive (1976)
Blow Up Fluit Octet ~ ~ check out our video archive post your comments at PytheasTalk
Origins: How does An Opera Come About? Karren Alenier, Scene4 Magazine
How does an opera come about? Who initiates the opera project? What
makes the subject compelling enough that the collaborators are willing
to spend the time it takes to bring the project to fruition? How does
the title of the new opera play into the birth of an opera? To answer
these, the following composers and poets were contacted: Linda Lee
Harper and Richard Maltz (Believers), Stefan Weisman (Darkling), Scott Wheeler (Democracy: An American Comedy), Lori Laitman and David Mason (The Scarlet Letter), and Janet Peachey (Wheel Ordeal).
What I hoped to do in my selection of opera creators was to show a
range of projects in various stages of opera development from beginning
to completion . . .
Learn
More
Composers of the Month
Sound Advice
Albany Records

Judith Lang Zaimont
Pure Colors
more widely known . . ."
- Glyn Pursglove, MusicWeb Intl'
Learn More
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The Pytheas EarfulEach week we recommend
a listening experience
made possible by one of the web's
many streaming audio sites
Click, listen, explore, enjoy...
This week's featured piece:
Paweł Łukaszewski's
String Quartet No. 3 (2004)
Streaming Audio? click Listen
Pytheas Sightings
New Music on Film
Virgil Thomson's score for
The Plow That Broke the Plains (1936)
Danses Pytheuses
New Music for Dance
Stefan Weisman
Two (2009)
Choreography by
Deborah Lohse
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Contemporary Composers
Contemporary Composers ... Cont'd
Composers in Selected States
Composer Collectives
Film Composers
Dance Composers
Composers Speak on the Web
New Music Ensembles
New Music Festivals
Contemporary Music Centers
New Music Websites
Publishers
Award Winning Music
* * * Cool New Music Videos * * *
Streaming Audio
Streaming Audio Archive
New Music Recordings
New Music Video Archive
New Music Film Archive
New Music Dance Archive
New Music Thoughts & Ideas
New Music Concepts & Terms
New Music for Kids
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