The Music Today Festival is a biannual festival celebrating contemporary composers and musicians.
Wednesday, April 19 | 8 p.m.
Sonus Domum: New Music Improv
Aasen-Hull Hall (190), Frohnmayer Music Building
Free Admission
A cross-disciplinary group, Sonos Domum (sounds of the home), explores new approaches to musical and sonic structures. The ensemble’s concert combines works by OCF composers with improvisations by performers and audience members.
Friday, April 21 | 8 p.m.
Oregon Composers Forum
Aasen-Hull Hall (190), Frohnmayer Music Building
Free Admission
Student members of the Oregon Composers Forum will perform an evening of bold and adventurous premieres in a night of new music.
Saturday, April 22 | 8 p.m.
Music of the Forest
Aasen-Hull Hall (190), Frohnmayer Music Building
Free Admission
Original Music and soundscape compositions by Justin Ralls, inspired by the H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest, Yellowstone National Park, and indigenous rights and activism.
Saturday, April 29 | 8 p.m.
Ova Novi Ensemble: Music by Women Composer
Aasen-Hull Hall (190), Frohnmayer Music Building
Free Admission
University of Oregon's Ova Novi Ensemble highlights female contemporary composers.
Friday, May 5 | 8 p.m.
Tai Hei Ensemble
Aasen-Hull Hall (190), Frohnmayer Music Building
Free Admission
This music ensemble, formed with the goal of exploring and enacting international dialogues between Western and non-Western traditions of music, will present works and improvisations from University of Oregon composers, and well as composers from around the world.
Saturday, May 6 | 8 p.m.
Eugene Contemporary Chamber Ensemble (ECCE)
Aasen-Hull Hall (190), Frohnmayer Music Building
Free Admission
ECCE Contemporary Music Ensemble creates original concert experiences, to explore the interconnectedness of the visual arts and music. Composers and artists have paired up to create pieces that speak to each other through a musical and visual dialogue.
Sunday, May 7 | 8 p.m.
Estelí Gomez, soprano: Music by UO Composers
Aasen-Hull Hall (190), Frohnmayer Music Building
$10 general admission, $8 students and seniors
Tickets are available at the door or in advance from the UO Ticket Office, 541-346-4363.
Praised for her "clear, bright voice" (The New York Times) and "artistry that belies her young years" (Kansas City Metropolis), soprano Estelí Gomez is quickly gaining recognition as a stylish interpreter of early and contemporary repertoires. In January 2014 she was awarded a Grammy with contemporary octet Roomful of Teeth, for best chamber music/small ensemble performance; in November 2011 she received first prize in the Canticum Gaudium International Early Music Vocal Competition in Poznan, Poland. An avid performer of early and new music, Estelí can be heard on the Juno-nominated recording Salsa Baroque with Montreal-based Ensemble Caprice, as well as Roomful of Teeth's self-titled debut album, for which composer Caroline Shaw was awarded the 2013 Pulitzer Prize.
Highlights of 2014-5 include soprano solos on Conspirare’s newest CD in Robert Kyr’s Songs of the Soul (Harmonia Mundi), a performance of Mozart’s Exultate Jubilate with the Louisiana Philharmonic in New Orleans, soprano solos in Esenvalds’ Passion and Resurrection in Kansas City, Ligeti's Aventures and Nouvelles Aventures in Dallas, recitals with lutenist Sylvain Bergeron and guitarist Colin Davin, and performances with Roomful of Teeth at Lincoln Center, Walt Disney Hall, and in Seoul, South Korea. Originally from Santa Cruz, California, Estelí received her Bachelor of Arts with honors in music from Yale College, and Master of Music from McGill University, studying with Sanford Sylvan. She currently travels and performs full-time.
Wednesday, May 10 | 8 p.m.
James Shields, clarinet with Oregon Composers Forum
Aasen-Hull Hall (190), Frohnmayer Music Building
Free Admission
Saturday, May 13 | 3 p.m.
The Banshee (Chamber Opera) by Daniel Daly
Aasen-Hull Hall (190), Frohnmayer Music Building
Free Admission