Robert & Carol Morris Center For 21st Century Music Launches New Website
By: Gabrielle Sierra May. 26, 2009
The Robert and Carol Morris Center for 21st Century Music announces the launch of a new website, http://www.music21c.org. The site will highlight upcoming and recent activities of the Center, and make accessible materials from the Center's past two seasons. These will include items relating to the Center's internationally renowned June in Buffalo festival; its distinguished resident ensemble, the Slee Sinfonietta; and its lively and informative Wednesday Seminar Series.
In addition, the new website will host materials encompassing more than 10 years of programs by the Slee Sinfonietta, including audio excerpts from its numerous performances of new and rare repertoire. The new site will encapsulate concert programs, images, audio clips and other media from June in Buffalo, which celebrates the 35th anniversary of its founding and its 25th anniversary under the artistic direction of David Felder in 2010. Along with this rich history, information regarding programming for the upcoming festival will be prominently featured.The entire site and growing archive will be completely searchable, an invaluable resource for performers, composers, students, and participants in any of the Center's areas of focus. Scholars and historians interested in the Center's legacy, and latest developments, will be able to locate materials easily on the site.As a supplement to www.music21c.org, the Center is also launching a sister site/blog: www.EdgeOfTheCenter.com. The blog will post regular entries on recent and upcoming events, along with articles of general interest. These will include interviews with composers and performers associated with the Center, selections from our audio, video, and photo archives, and other noteworthy items that contextualize the Center in the national and international contemporary music scene. Together, the website and blog will offer a dynamic view of the Center's activities, a virtual reflection of an evolving institution. Casual concertgoers, serious researchers, members of the UB community, and new music aficionados everywhere - all are invited to visit.The Center for 21st Century Music has roots that stretch back to 1963, when Lukas Foss (who passed away in February) founded UB's Center for Creative and Performing Arts. Foss, who also served as music director of the Buffalo Philharmonic from '63 to '70, was determined to establish the city as an international center of musical experimentation. To that end, he brought in composers and performers like George Crumb, David Del Tredici, Mauricio Kagel, Frederick Rzewski, Jan Williams, and Julius Eastman to become Creative Associates and participate in the Center's concerts and educational activities.
Morton Feldman became director of the Center in 1973, and two years later instituted June in Buffalo as an American answer to Darmstadt -- a place where student composers could gather and learn from an awe-inspiring array of elders from across the stylistic spectrum, including John Cage, Elliott Carter, John Harbison, Mauricio Kagel, Alvin Lucier, Steve Reich, Christopher Rouse, Poul Ruders, and Charles Wuorinen, along with many others.
The Center for Creative and Performing Arts was succeeded by the Center for 21st Century Music, founded by David Felder in 2006. Felder, a distinguished member of the UB composition faculty since 1984, revived June in Buffalo in 1986 after a six-year hiatus. C21CM programs include the Slee Sinfonietta, the Center's flagship performing ensemble; the Hiller Music Studio for projects in advanced music technology; and a concert and lecture series that features noted composers, performers, and ensembles from around the globe.
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