Toshiyuki Shimada, former music director of the Portland Symphony Orchestra, used to say that he hoped audiences would either like or hate the modern compositions that he programmed, “as long as they don’t call them ‘interesting.’ “

Portland audiences will find much to either love or hate for three days (April 15-17) at the University of Southern Maine’s Corthell Hall and the Portland Conservatory of Music at Woodfords Congregational Church. (4 and 7:30 p.m. April 16 and 4 p.m. April 17).

The USM offering is called “Innovation Celebration,” and will begin at 8 p.m. April 15 with “Unaccustomed Earth,” a performance by the New York-based Two Sides Sounding and the composers collective South Oxford Six.

It will include a world premiere of a piece by Aleksandra Vrebalov plus music composed by Edward Ficklin, Kala Pierson, Michael Rose and USM faculty member Daniel Sonenberg, whose “Seven Jarring Dances” for steel guitar and clarinet will be heard Saturday evening at the Conservatory, with the composer on guitar.

The Oxford Six will also conduct a master class in composition beginning at 10 a.m. April 16. And at 8 p.m. April 17, the USM Composers Ensemble will showcase a semester of new work in both popular and classical styles.

The Third Annual Back Cove Festival this year will focus on New England’s women composers, featuring four “from away”: Dalit Warshaw of Boston Conservatory; Elizabeth Austin of Hartford, Conn.; Dianne Goolkasian Rahbee of Belmont, Mass.; and Kitty Brazelton of Bennington College. Maine women composers will include Gia Comolli, Nancy Gunn, Beth Wiemann and Gay Pearson.

Maine composers of the opposite sex will include Don Pride, Bill Matthews, Joshua DeScherer, Dan Sonenberg, Harold Stover, Peter McLaughlin and Elliott Schwartz.

Back Cove is ideal for anyone wanting to learn more about contemporary music, because many of the composers will be playing, singing, conducting or accompanying their own music. It doesn’t get any better than that for authentic interpretation.

On the afternoon of April 16, for example, Dan Pride will conduct his “Declaration of Independence” for tenor flute, bassoon and piano; Beth Weiman will play her “Waver” for solo bass clarinet and “Segue” for bass clarinet and recorded sounds; and Kitty Brazelton will sing and speak “The Beginning and End of All Things” for voice and sound track.

That evening, Elizabeth Austin will accompany mezzo-soprano Chandler Thompson in “Frauenliebe und Leben,” Nancy Gunn will take the piano part in “Three Bagatelles for Violin and Piano,” Joshua DeScherer will play his “Study in Metal” for solo doublebass, and Gay Pearson will perform her own “Crossings” for piano. Sonenberg’s “Seven Jarring Dances” has already been mentioned.

Fans of Renaissance Voices should not miss the April 17 program — it begins with the chorus singing conductor Harold Stover’s own “Springsongs.” It will be followed by Dalit Warshaw’s “Dreidel Variations” with the composer at the piano, and Peter McLaughlin’s “Stagnation in No Parts” with the composer on percussion.

Gia Comolli’s lovely horn trio will be played by her husband, Ferdinand Liva, violin; John Boden, horn; and Bridget Convey, piano.

Rounding out the evening will be Elliott Schwartz’s new “Blossoms and Cannons: A Birthday Tribute,” written to celebrate the 200th anniversaries of Chopin and Schumann. The title comes from Schumann’s commentary on the B-flat Minor Sonata: “Cannon concealed among blossoms.”

There will definitely be something for everyone, from lovers of jazz and folk to devotees of the classics, and an array of superlative talent seldom heard in one place.

Christopher Hyde is a writer and musician who lives in Pownal. He can be reached at:

classbeat@netscape.net

 

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