10 days filled with 5 concerts to begin june

Wed, 1 Jun 2011 13:34:46 -0500

The nief-norf Summer Festival (nnSF) is a ten-day summer music festival, bringing together dozens of performers to collaborate on the performance of contemporary solo and chamber music. The nnSF offers a think-tank, retreat environment on the beautiful campus of Furman University and will allow participants to emerge themselves in the entire creative process by contemplating, discussing, sharing, creating, and performing modern percussion music.

For more information, please visit the nief-norf homepage here:

http://www.niefnorf.org

JLA’s Strange and Sacred Noise at Illinois State U

Sat, 9 Apr 2011 13:30:26 -0500

Andy will be again heading out to join up with good friends on an evening-length performance of John Luther Adams’ epic Strange and Sacred Noise. The piece, scored for percussion quartet, will be available for the university and community of Normal, IL complete with a pre-concert lecture offered by Bliss. The performance is in support of the Illinois State University Music Department’s Anniversary Celebration, so please make plans to come out and support this incredible piece if you are in the region.

For more information, please visit the ISU School of Music Website Calendar here:

http://events.illinoisstate.edu/cal/event/showEventMore.rdo

4000 Holes Anchors NiC JLA Portrait Concert at NIU

Sat, 26 Mar 2011 14:44:44 -0500

Nothing in Common (Mabel Kwan, piano /Andy Bliss, percussion) will begin their second season by hosting their first “Composer Portrait” concert, featuring one of their favorites, John Luther Adams. The concert will feature a variety of John’s music including a performance of his recently completed piece “4000 Holes” written for piano, percussion, and electronics.

The concert is being hosted by the Office of the Dean of College and Visual and Performing Arts at Northern Illinois University. Happy to be a part of this alumni event, this presentation will certainly be a memorable performance for NiC.

2010-11 Solo Tour - University of North Carolina @ Pembroke

Thu, 17 Feb 2011 00:00:00 -0600

The busy winter/spring months will continue as Andy continues his 2010-11 solo tour by visiting Tracy Wiggins and the students at UNC Pembroke. Andy will be giving a solo recital on Thursday night, which will be followed by a lecture and private lessons on Friday. This should be a great trip -- if you are in the region, please swing in and say hello.

2010-11 Solo Tour - Winthrop University

Thu, 13 Jan 2011 19:30:44 -0600

On Thursday January 13th at 7:30 PM, Andy will present a solo recital for the community and students at Winthrop University. The program will feature commissioned works written for Bliss by both Kyle Gann and Christopher Adler, as well as String of Pearls by David Lang, Entre Funérailles II by Mark Applebaum, and Iannis Xenakis’ masterwork, Rebonds.

Andy will also be sticking around on Friday morning to work with the students in the percussion studio, lead by B. Michael Williams.

JLA's Strange and Sacred Noise in Lexington, KY

Sun, 9 Jan 2011 19:30:17 -0600

Deep in the middle of winter, after spending holiday time with family and friends, Andy will be teaming up with good friends to offer an evening-length performance of John Luther Adams’ epic Strange and Sacred Noise. The piece, scored for percussion quartet, will be available for the university and community of Lexington, complete with a pre-concert lecture. More details will be posted as they become available, but please make plans to come out and support this incredible piece!

Solo Appearance at the Midwest Clinic in Chicago, IL

Wed, 15 Dec 2010 00:00:00 -0600

Andy has been invited to present his masterclass “Percussion Throwdown!: Challenging Your Percussion Section to Use Their Finest Ingredients” at the 64th Annual Midwest Clinic in Chicago, IL. Please stay posted for more information!

Percussive Arts Society International Convention 2010

Wed, 10 Nov 2010 00:00:00 -0600

Andy and the nief-norf project have been accepted to perform Christopher Adler’s new percussion quintet “Pines Long Slept in Sunshine” as a part of the Focus Day events at PASIC 2010. nief-norf will appear with its core members Kerry O’Brien, Erin Walker, and Eric Willie along with Alex Harmon, who participated in the work’s premiere in 2009.

The theme for the 2010 Focus Day is the “Ecology of Percussion” and the day will be hosted by Morris Palter. Adler comments on the related issues in his program notes for the work:

“This piece is not about the imitation of the sounds of the natural world, but about the capacity of mathematically-inspired constructions to evoke the complexity and richness of forms in the natural world. The piece begins with an almost didactic demonstration of this principle, as the random excitations of wind chimes are played simultaneously with a gentle peal of gongs rigorously derived from the polyphonic application of the cyclic decomposition of a single permutation to multiple musical parameters.

Everything in this piece is either generated by, or subjected to transformation by, one of a family of permutations of the two-octave (24-note) scale. Complex structures emerge as the result of the interference of multiple simultaneous applications of this action of generation or transformation. In the latter half of the piece, large-scale structures are derived from the logarithmic spiral (underlying the geometry of the conch shell and pine cone, for example) and the Fibonacci series.”

To learn more about Christopher Adler’s music, visit his website at www.christopheradler.com

2010-11 Solo Tour - UMBC Livewire Festival

Sat, 30 Oct 2010 14:24:38 -0500

Andy will be pairing up with composer-friend and brilliant colleague Christopher Adler to present their ideas on 21st century percussion music at the brand-new “Livewire” Festival, held at the University of Maryland - Baltimore County. Their session, entitled “The Calculated Groove of Postminimal Percussion” will be a joint endeavor that will feature an in-depth discussion of both the intuitive and mathematical approaches to 21st century composition. The session will feature a performance of both David Lang’s “String of Pearls” for marimba solo, as well as Adler’s brand new piece “Plenum Vortices” for compressed drumset and four sticks, which was written for Bliss. This should be a 2010 highlight and should be a great venue to give the premiere of Adler’s new work.