Matthew Cmiel
Matthew Cmiel holds degrees in composition from The Curtis Institute of Music and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. He has received numerous commissions, including one from Maestra Marin Alsop for the Cabrillo New Music Festival. Founder of the ensemble Formerly Known as Classical and The Hot Air Music Festival, he is currently the Director of Orchestras at San Francisco's Ruth Asawa School of the Arts, and co-director of the ensemble After Everything.
Articles by this Author
Slide, a performance art piece from Rinde Eckert (lyricist/singer) and Steve Mackey (composer/guitarist/narrator) and performed with eighth blackbird, is a true collaboration. I had the opportunity to see it at its premiere at the Ojai Music Festival, and can report that it includes lots of stage movement and even some dancing.
I’m happy that I can talk a bit about the San Francisco Electronic Music Festival, which I attended recently. Often, when I review concerts, I’m more or less confident in my opinion. I’m a musician, I’ve been trained, I understand classical music (with an emphasis in modern music), and I believe that what I say in a given review may be worthwhile. This is not quite so true here.
There are very few composers that I like indiscriminately. It’s rare that a composer doesn’t have a dud, a piece that is awful. Beethoven has his Wellington Victory Symphony, Stravinsky has so many different styles, it’s likely at least one of them doesn’t appeal to you, and Debussy, well, never mind. Debussy was perfect.
I’ve been attending San Francisco Contemporary Music Players concerts since I was 11 years old — a quarter of the time it has been in existence. This group has commissioned works by such composers as Julia Wolfe, Fred Frith, John Adams, and even John Cage.
The iPod (and, by extension, iTunes) not only revolutionized the world’s listening habits early in the last decade, expanding the sheer variety of music people listen to; it also changed the manner in which people think of and hear music. It’s true that not everyone has an iPod (or an iPhone or an MP3 player of some sort), but virtually everyone understands its significance.
A Crimson Grail was premiered at the Basilica of Sacré-Coeur, having been commissioned by the city of Paris. Rhys Chatham’s piece consciously makes use of the architecture’s 15-second reverberation time. The musicians surround the audience, creating a live, surround-sound experience.
I became a fan of Peppino D’Agostino, who will be performing July 11 at the Mendocino Music Festival, through the world of classical music. In 1998, D’Agostino met David Tanenbaum at the Schorndorf Gitarren festival in Germany and received such positive feedback from the encounter that they decided to work together.
