About Brian Fennelly

Brian Fennelly (born 1937) studied at Yale with Mel Powell, Donald Martino, Allen Forte, Gunther Schuller and George Perle (M.Mus 1965, Ph.D. 1968). From 1968 to 1997 he was Professor of Music in the Faculty of Arts and Science at New York University, where he is now Professor Emeritus. In addition to a Guggenheim fellowship, his awards include three fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, two commissions from the Koussevitsky Foundation as well as commissions from the Fromm Foundation, Meet the Composer/Reader’s Digest, and the Hudson Valley Philharmonic. In 1997 he received a lifetime achievement award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He has been awarded composer residencies at the Rockefeller Foundation Center in Bellagio (Italy), Camargo Foundation in Cassis (France), Bogliasco Foundation (Italy), and Copland House (NY).

His music has been awarded prizes in many competitions, which include the Goffredo Petrassi Competition for Orchestral Music (1993), International Trumpet Guild Competition (First Prize, 1990), the Louisville Orchestra New Music Competition (First Prize, 1986), Shreveport Symphony Competition (1981), and the Premio Citta di Trieste (1981). Twenty-five of his works appear on CD, with orchestral and chamber music released on the New World, CRI, Troy, Pro Viva, First Edition, Capstone, and New Ariel labels. Releases of orchestral music include Fantasy Variations, In Wildness is the Preservation of the World, On Civil Disobedience, Chrysalis, Thoreau Fantasy No. 2, and A Sprig of Andromeda, the last five all Thoreau-inspired works.

Brian Fennelly’s music has been performed by several orchestras including the Rochester Philharmonic, American Composers Orchestra, and The Louisville Orchestra, as well as by chamber ensembles such as the American and Empire Brass Quintets, and the Concord and Audubon String Quartets. His choral music has been sung by the Gregg Smith Singers and the New York Virtuoso Singers, among others. International performances include two at the Warsaw Autumn (Poland) and four at the ISCM World Music Days (Iceland, Israel, Belgium, and Canada), with recordings by The Louisville Orchestra, Polish Chamber Orchestra, Prague Radio Orchestra, Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra, and the Polish Radio National Symphony, as well as acclaimed chamber ensembles and soloists.

Fennelly’s music is published by Margun Music (Schirmer), MMB Music (St. Louis), Pro Nova (Munich), Ricordi (Milan), Earnestly Music (Sharon, MA) and American Composers Edition (New York), among others. In addition to composing and teaching, he has been active as a pianist and also as an officer and board member in a number of music organizations; he also co-directs the Washington Square Contemporary Music Society, which he founded in 1976.

Fennelly resides in Kingston, New York with his wife Jacqueline, who played French horn with the Hudson Valley Philharmonic for many years. Liam Fennelly, a son from a previous marriage, is a viola da gamba player living and working in Europe.

About the contest judges

Ruth Mendelson, composer

A New York Times Critics’ Pick, composer/instrumentalist/producer/arranger/editor Ruth Mendelson has been writing award-winning scores for film, HBO, A&E, Discovery Channel, Disney, Animal Planet, The Learning Channel, PBS, CBS, and NBC (among others), as well as creating innovative multi-media “surround-scapes” for over 20 years.  She was the first woman in the history of Berklee College of Music (Boston, MA) to teach in the Film Scoring Department, which she enjoys part-time to this day.  An active studio musician, Ruth has been featured playing a number of instruments in a wide variety of genres with artists in LA, New York Boston, Europe and India.  She is also a guest lecturer, music director and author. She has performed at the United Nations, in Geneva, Switzerland, as bassist for the One Human Family Gospel Choir, and is currently collaborating with renowned primatologist  Dr. Jane Goodall on a variety of youth empowerment and environmental projects.  Ruth is founder and president of Eagle Vision Initiatives, a non-profit organization dedicated to serving society through communications and the arts.  Eagle Vision’s premier initiative, the WELL WISHES Project, is now successfully establishing unprecedented  lines of communication and resources between the world’s youth.  Her deepest commitment is to be of service and assist in bringing love, compassion and positive change to society via a wide range of creative projects and programs.

Leo Eguchi, cellist

Cellist Leo Eguchi enjoys a very active and multi-faceted performance schedule – he can be heard as a the cellist of Xanthos, a contemporary music ensemble in residence at Boston University, as a founding member of the (fully collaborative) Kalistos Chamber Orchestra, assistant principal of the conductor-less Camerata New England, principal of the New Bedford Symphony, a member of the Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP), the New Hampshire Music Festival Orchestra and the Portland Symphony, as well as in frequent appearances with the Boston Pops Esplanade, Rhode Island Philharmonic and Boston Lyric Opera Orchestras.

A strong advocate of new music, Mr. Eguchi has premiered dozens of pieces by and worked closely with many notable composers, including William Bolcom, Bright Sheng, George Crumb, Lukas Foss, Joan Tower, Ken Ueno, Yehudi Wyner, Gabriela Lena Frank and Michael Daugherty.  Steve Smith of the The New York Times recently raved about a Xanthos concert featuring Mr. Eguchi, “…in the hands of musicians so copiously skilled and confident, this undeniably challenging music had genuine appeal.”  Aside from Xanthos, Mr. Eguchi performs with contemporary music groups such as Brave New Works, Firebird Ensemble, White Rabbit and ALEA III.  Mr. Eguchi also loves to play recitals and chamber music – he was a founding member of the Lunaire String Quartet and has performed with Chameleon Arts Ensemble and the Walden Chamber Players.  Other recent chamber music and solo highlights include performances with members of the New Hampshire Music Festival, BMOP’s “Club Café” series and participation in the Educational Bridge program – an exchange tour of Russia and collaboration with Moscow Conservatory musicians.  In addition to his classical career, Mr. Eguchi can be heard on stages ranging from intimate klezmer ensembles to stadium rock shows.

A native of Michigan, Mr. Eguchi began his cello studies at the age of twelve with Eva Ell and Louis Potter Jr. (author of The Art of Cello Playing).  He holds Bachelor’s degrees with honors in both Physics and in Cello Performance from the University of Michigan, where he studied cello with Anthony Elliott. Graduate studies then followed at Boston University on the Dean’s Scholarship, where he was a student of George Neikrug and recipient of the String Department Award for Excellence, upon completion of his Master’s degree.

Markand Thakar, conductor

Markand Thakar is music director of the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra and the Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra. Former assistant conductor of the New York Philharmonic, he has conducted orchestras across the United States and Canada. Other Baltimore Chamber Orchestra recordings for Naxos conducted by Markand Thakar include a disc of concertos by Ignaz Pleyel, and a disc of viola concertos by Carl Stamitz and Franz Anton Hoffmeister. Thakar, a protégé of Sergiu Celibidache, is the author of Counterpoint: Fundamentals of Music-Making (Yale University Press) and Looking for the Harp Quartet: An Investigation into Musical Quality, and is co-director (with Gustav Meier) of the graduate conducting program at the Peabody Conservatory.

Now you can play the Fauxharmonic Orchestra’s versions of classical favorites in Rock Band 2.

All classical “songs” currently available for Rockband

Currently available on the Rock Band Network:

• Night on Bald Mountain (PREVIEW – MP3)
• Flight of the Bumblebee (PREVIEW – MP3)
• Brahms – Hungarian Dance No. 5
• Beethoven – Symphony No. 9 – Scherzo

In development:

• Beethoven – Symphony No. 5
• Wagner – Ride of the Valkyries
• Verdi – Anvil Chorus
• Handel’s Largo
• Arias from Carmen
• Glinka’s Ruslan and Ludmilla Overture

How it works

We start with the orchestral/choral music rendered faithfully and lovingly with our digital orchestra.   Then we create playable parts for the Rock Band controllers (instruments) that currently include guitar, bass and drum set.  Naturally, we use the controllers to play various orchestral parts, like first violin, oboe, cellos, timpani, etc.

If there is a voice part, you simply sing into the microphone, just like any other Rock Band song … except you might be singing a challenging aria by Verdi or Bizet.

How do you get it?

NOTE: This is currently only available for the XBox version of Rock Band 2.  (Harmonix/MTV promise to make these songs available to Wii and PS3 users soon.)

• Sign in to XBox Live
• Start Rock Band 2
• Go to Music Store
• Choose “Rock Band Network”
• Browse by category “Other” which is where they put “classical.”
• You can download a demo version that you can play on your XBox.  If you like it, you can purchase it with Microsoft points.  Most of our songs will be 60 points.

Composers: Get your music on Rock Band Network

Of course, since we have been producing recordings for composers since 2003, we can create Rock-Band-ready versions of composers’ scores for download in the Rock Band Network store.  If you’re a composer and you’re interested in getting your music into Rock Band, send mail to rockband@fauxharmonic.com.

The Fauxharmonic will take care of the authoring process (a laborious and tedious task) to produce an arrangement appropriate for Rock Band game play, and will shepherd the music through the Rock Band testing and review process.

When people buy your music you will get a 15% royalty.  The Fauxharmonic Orchestra will also get 15%.  The rest is kept by Microsoft and Harmonix/MTV.

Cost

We may author and upload your music to the Rock Band Network free of charge if we think it will do well in the game (i.e., will be fun to play, and is not too difficult or too long).  To find out if your music qualifies, just send us a copy of the score (PDF, Sibelius or Finale), or an mp3.  We don’t promise to choose your work to produce for Rock Band.

If you would like to pay The Fauxharmonic Orchestra to produce your music and get it into the Rock Band Network, contact us for a price quote.

We’ll be performing these in an upcoming concert.  Enjoy:

Princess Leia’s Theme

Imperial March (Darth Vader’s Theme)

Let us know if you’d like to be notified about the concert.

The Fauxharmonic Orchestra presented its second concert in the series of all nine Beethoven symphonies.

October 4, 2009, 3:00 pm
Brandeis University
Slosberg Music Center
415 South Street, Waltham, MA

Program

BEETHOVEN • Symphony No. 2 in D, op. 36
FAURÉ • Nocturne, op. 57
WEBERN • Symphony, op. 21
SPINDLER • Animated Watercolor – premiere
GENTRY • A Piece for Several Instruments (or a futile attempt to explain the magical powers of nothingness) – premiere
VARÈSE • Ionisation
UEMATSU • Liberi Fatali, from Final Fantasy 8

The Fauxharmonic Orchestra will present classics of orchestral music with music from the video game Final Fantasy 8, as well as two new student works.  The program will include Beethoven’s Symphony No. 2 in D and music by Jeremy Spindler and Christian Gentry, both Ph.D. candidates in composition at Brandeis University.  The performance of Beethoven’s 2nd Symphony is part of a year-long series presenting all nine Beethoven symphonies — a worldwide musical first.  Also on the program are “Ionisation” by Varese, “Symphony” by Webern, and Glinka’s “Ruslan and Lyudmila Overture.”

Mr. Smith takes the digital orchestra out of the studio and into the concert hall to perform Beethoven’s Complete Symphonies.Performing these cornerstones of the symphonic repertoire in concert lets the audience judge whether a digital orchestra can be as expressive and moving as a traditional acoustic orchestra.

“There is no question that the music I’m playing is a masterpiece.  It’s by Beethoven, after all,” Smith says.  “So, what’s left to the audience to decide is whether my performance is any good.  If our first concert is any indication of what’s to come, people are going to be stunned.”

Technology is Not Enough – Musicianship is Key

Smith has taken the Nintendo Wii far beyond off-the-shelf video gaming.  By integrating game controllers into a computerized system with over three million orchestral sounds at the ready, he has created his own musical instrument – the Fauxharmonic Orchestra – with the flexibility and power to play nearly any orchestral music expressively and with the real-time responsiveness to acoustics and timing that great music demands.

But Smith is neither an inventor nor a programmer.  He simply uses store-bought components, coupled with extensive musical training to produce a digital orchestra instrument many recognize as amazing.   “Could just anyone do this? I don’t think so. Anyone can walk into a store and buy a Steinway, but that doesn’t mean they’re going to play it like Horowitz.  Musical ability is more important than technical ability,” explains Smith.

Even so, the quality of the tools is important.  That’s why Smith is using Bang & Olufsen’s acclaimed BeoLab 5 speaker system and the best orchestral sample library (collection of orchestral sounds) ever created, the Vienna Symphonic Library.

“Wii controllers are cheap toys to the rest of the world, but to me they are the highly reliable, mass produced ‘bow’ for my string sections.  And the fact that they cost so little is just a nice bonus,” says Smith.

“The really important technology for this concert is the loudspeakers.  The system that converts the digital information into sound in a real acoustic space has to be able to handle the demands of the music.  It has to be as good a musical instrument as the acoustic instruments whose sounds I’ll be playing.  That’s why I’m thrilled to be using Bang & Olufsen’s BeoLab 5 speakers.  You don’t hear the speakers when you listen to these, you just hear the music.”

Bang & Olufsen, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of high-end audio and video equipment, has generously agreed to supply Paul Henry Smith and the Fauxharmonic Orchestra with their BeoLab 5 loudspeaker system. Picked by Time Magazine as one of 2003’s coolest inventions, the BeoLab 5 system will be the “instruments” of the Fauxharmonic Orchestra.  The BeoLab 5’s adaptive Bass Control system, coupled with Acoustic Lens Technology, ensures optimum sound experience regardless of the position of the loudspeaker.

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Third movement, menuetto: allegro molto e vivace, from Beethoven’s Symphony No. 1 in C Major, Op. 21
Conducted by Paul Henry Smith. Recorded live, in concert,  May 20, 2009.

]]> http://www.fauxharmonic.com/2009/06/12/beethoven-symphony-no-1-in-c-op-21-iii-menuetto-allegro-molto-e-vivace/feed/ 0 http://www.fauxharmonic.com/2009/05/25/recording_download_may_20/ http://www.fauxharmonic.com/2009/05/25/recording_download_may_20/#comments Tue, 26 May 2009 03:37:02 +0000 Paul Henry Smith http://www.fauxharmonic.com/?p=186

Thank you very much for attending the inaugural concert in our Beethoven Digital Symphonies Series. As a small token of appreciation, we’re happy to offer you these recordings from that historic evening. As you know, it was the first time a Beethoven symphony was played in a live concert with a digital orchestra.

To get your free download, visit InstantEncore and enter your download code (printed in your concert program). Enter it in the upper right corner of the web page.

If you’d like to know about our upcoming concerts, just let us know and we’ll add you to our announcement list.

Enjoy!

- Paul H. Smith

Concert 1
May 20, 2009
Holy Name Church, West Roxbury, Massachusetts

Tom Myron
Two Arias from Iphigenia at Aulis
Tynan Davis, mezzo soprano

II. Mother, why are you silent?
III. Lead me on, destroyer of Illium’s city

George Frideric Handel
‘Ombra mai fu’ from Xerxes
Tynan Davis, mezzo soprano

Ludwig van Beethoven
Symphony No. 1 in C, op. 21
I. Adagio molto – Allegro con brio
II. Andante cantabile con moto
III. Menuetto: Allegro molto e vivace
IV. Adagio – Allegro molto e vivace

Order a full quality audio CD of the

concert for $12.95 (plus $5 s/h)

]]> http://www.fauxharmonic.com/2009/05/25/recording_download_may_20/feed/ 0 http://www.fauxharmonic.com/2009/04/08/concert-beethoven-symphonies-no-1/ http://www.fauxharmonic.com/2009/04/08/concert-beethoven-symphonies-no-1/#comments Wed, 08 Apr 2009 17:22:08 +0000 Paul Henry Smith http://www.fauxharmonic.com/?p=165 Mr. Smith takes the digital orchestra out of the studio and into the concert hall to perform Beethoven’s Complete Symphonies. Performing these cornerstones of the symphonic repertoire in concert lets the audience judge whether a digital orchestra can be as expressive and moving as a traditional acoustic orchestra.

“There is no question that the music I’m playing is a masterpiece.  It’s by Beethoven, after all,” Smith says.  “So, what’s left to the audience to decide is whether my performance is any good.  If our first concert is any indication of what’s to come, people are going to be stunned.”

Technology is Not Enough – Musicianship is Key

Smith's modded Wiimote

Smith has taken the Nintendo Wii far beyond off-the-shelf video gaming.  By integrating game controllers into a computerized system with over three million orchestral sounds at the ready, he has created his own musical instrument – the Fauxharmonic Orchestra – with the flexibility and power to play nearly any orchestral music expressively and with the real-time responsiveness to acoustics and timing that great music demands.

But Smith is neither an inventor nor a programmer specializing in video games or broadband applications.  He simply uses store-bought components, coupled with extensive musical training to produce a digital orchestra instrument many recognize as amazing.   “Could just anyone do this? I don’t think so.  Look, anyone can walk into a store and buy a Steinway piano, but that doesn’t mean they’re going to play like Horowitz.  Musical ability is more important than technical ability,” explains Smith.

Even so, the quality of the tools is important.  That’s why Smith is using Bang & Olufsen’s acclaimed BeoLab 5 speaker system and the best orchestral sample library (collection of orchestral sounds) ever created, the Vienna Symphonic Library.

“Wii controllers are cheap toys to the rest of the world, but to me they are the highly reliable, mass produced ‘bow’ for my string sections.  And the fact that they cost so little is just a nice bonus,” says Smith.

Coolest invention of 2003 - Time

“The really important technology for this concert is the loudspeakers.  The system that converts the digital information into sound in a real acoustic space has to be able to handle the demands of the music.  It has to be as good a musical instrument as the acoustic instruments whose sounds I’ll be playing.  That’s why I’m thrilled to be using Bang & Olufsen’s BeoLab 5 speakers.  You don’t hear the speakers when you listen to these, you just hear the music.”

Bang & Olufsen, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of high-end audio and video equipment, has generously agreed to supply Paul Henry Smith and the Fauxharmonic Orchestra with their BeoLab 5 loudspeaker system. Picked by Time Magazine as one of 2003’s coolest inventions, the BeoLab 5 system will be the “instruments” of the Fauxharmonic Orchestra.  The BeoLab 5’s adaptive Bass Control system, coupled with Acoustic Lens Technology, ensures optimum sound experience regardless of the position of the loudspeaker.

Creating new opportunities for composers and soloists

Noralee Walker, viola

Violist Noralee Walker will join Smith to perform Hindemith’s Trauermusik (Mourning Music), a 1936 work for viola and string orchestra. “I’ve been playing this piece for more than fifteen years, but this is the first chance I’ve ever had to play it with an ‘orchestra,’” says Ms. Walker.

Also on the program is the world premiere of two arias by Tom Myron sung by mezzo-soprano Tynan Davis.

“Expanding opportunities is a great use of digital orchestra technology,” Smith says.  “While we can play Beethoven to prove ourselves, there is also a lot of music being written that we rarely hear because it costs so much to perform it with a symphony orchestra.  There are also hundreds of amazing soloists whose talent we rarely get to enjoy for the same reason.  Orchestras simply cannot afford to present every talented soloist or every worthy new composition that should be heard.  With a digital orchestra we can expand these opportunities — and offer more for concertgoers, too,” says Smith.

Tom Myron, composer

Tom Myron’s new work, Two Arias from Iphigenia at Aulis, was premiered at the concert.  Myron approached the collaboration “with all the optimism and curiosity that working with committed, free thinking artists brings out in me as a composer. Tynan is a fantastic young singer. She should be heard by the widest possible audience. I think Paul is defining a new paradigm in the meaningful interpretation and presentation of ambitious, large-scale musical works.”

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