In last Tuesday’s (7/3) San Francisco Classical Voice, Brett Campbell writes, “A generation ago, with her Yale pedigree, Missy Mazzoli might have taken a teaching position at a university, gotten her works performed by its ensembles, and pursued grants and commissions. Instead, after graduate school, Mazzoli moved to the burgeoning indie rock and indie classical haven of Brooklyn. Inspired in part by Meredith Monk and Philip Glass, in 2008 she founded Victoire, an ensemble devoted to playing her music—and not necessarily in ‘classical’ venues. The group honed its chops at arts centers like Brooklyn’s Galapagos and alternative music clubs like New York’s famed (Le) Poisson Rouge. … Mazzoli’s nontraditional path certainly hasn’t held her back. She’s written an opera (Song from the Uproar), garnered commissions from Carnegie Hall, eighth blackbird, the Minnesota Orchestra, and the Kronos Quartet; scored a composer in residence gig with the Albany Symphony; earned a Fulbright grant; and directed New York’s wondrous MATA Festival. … For generations, the main places to hear contemporary classical music have been the big institutions, primarily at downtown and university concert halls and opera houses, and sometimes in churches and other rather formal settings. That’s all changing. Young composers today are increasingly finding—or creating—outlets for their music in rock and jazz clubs, coffeehouses, and other alternative venues.”
Posted July 11, 2012
