2013 John Donald Robb Composers' Symposium

3/24/2013

March 24-27, 2013

The centenary of Igor Stravinsky’s revolutionary Rite of Spring was celebrated during the 2013 John Donald Robb Composers’ Symposium, which took place from March 24-27 at the University of New Mexico. This year’s symposium explored the intersection of music and movement.

Special guest performers included Duo X (Laura Carmichael and Naomi Sato) from Amsterdam, pianist Emanuele Arciuli from Italy, clarinetist Greg Oakes from Iowa State University and Albuquerque’s own Chatter.

Guest composers included Ken Ueno from the University of California at Berkeley, Volker Blumenthaler from Germany, Morris Rosenzweig from the University of Utah and Oğuz Bükükberber from Turkey, along with numerous New Mexican composers.

A special bonus was a demonstration of John Donald Robb's Moog Synthesizer prior to the March 25 Robb Concert. Recordings of two of his compositions were presented with dance accompaniment during that concert.

In addition, Dan Lippel performed 1950c for restrung guitar, the winning composition of the 2012 John Donald Robb Composers’ Competition. Composer Paul Clift of New York City was on hand for the public premiere of his winning composition.

Stravinsky was a virtually unknown composer when the Rite of Spring (Le Sacre du Printemps), a ballet, was first performed in 1913 in Paris by the Ballets Russe. The concept highlighted various primitive rituals that celebrated the advent of spring, culminating in a young girl chosen as a sacrificial victim who dances herself to death.

Both the concept and the music were considered ground-breaking at the time, and the composition helped secure Stravinsky’s position as one of the most influential and important composers of the 20th century. The demanding score contains many features that were novel for its time, including experiments in tonality, meter, rhythm and dissonance.

We invite you to check out our Facebook page for photos of the exciting event.