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Christopher Kaufman - composer/teacher/presenter/performer GO TO: ...AUDIO PAGE To Purchase 'TALES OF THE OCEAN CITY CHAPTERS' and MUSIC
Contact information: phone: 631-332-9858 276 Westminster Road, Brooklyn, NY 11218 email: jmusic800@optonline.net See my latest NewsLetter: and my Artists Consultant's Site: Jeffrey James. .................................... .................................Christopher Kaufman at the United Nations RECENT NEWS: MUSIC FROM EARTH: - for Alto Saxophone Soloist and Tape of Western/Eastern Orchestra, Electronic and Natural Sounds. MUSIC FROM EARTH was composed during the last two weeks of August, 2007 for Saxophonist and New Music Champion Demetrius Spaneas. It is part of a series of works inspired by Evnironmental Awareness, the leadership of Al Gore and others, my own sense of these issues and my love of the sounds involved. Demetrius has premiered the work in Tashkent, Uzbekistan (11/7/7) and performed it at the DOM Cultural Center in Moscow. He is continuing to tour the work with a number of other pieces of American music (including his own) in locations such as Kyrgyzstan, the Ukraine, Athens, Bulgaria, St. Petersburg and Riga, Latvia. At times the performance will include films of natural imagery. On his site is an onging blog on which you can follow his progress. Excerpts of MUSIC FROM EARTH are on my AUDIO PAGE with my version of the Saxophone part. . Demetrius's Blog NOTE:: After many years as a mostly concert composer and presenter (visit above links - composer and CHIRON Performing Arts) I am now expanding into film, documentary and commercial work. On my YOU TUBE SITE you can see a number of short films: 'Kaufman's Film Class'. [All Sounds are 'watermarked' for protection and copywritten.] Here is a location where you may hear some sound and videoexamples: LOFTCITY - press Audio button (there are 2 pages of musical examples) Here is Music from 'IMAGINED SCENES' - a film which is a modern remake of 'The Secret Life of Walter Mitty' - a character often lost in daydreams - unable to hold a job - searching for meaning. Eventually he comes to reality with the love of a woman, but along the way the film dives into hisfantasies with great creativity. When presenting this music to live audiences with orchestra I merely set the scene and ask them to close their eyes and enjoy their own imaginative movies - making 'Imagined Scenes' successful as a concert piece as well as a movie in development. Scene One - Walter is in a house at the edge of town. He was to 'show' it, but the clients never arrived and he falls asleep and dreams... the house is a very old Victorian mansion and rumored to be haunted.... MUSIC And here Walter is on an Alien Shore... the colors and rhythms of the waves are different.... wild orbs of color emerge from the sea... a creature tries to contact you... at long last you try to say hello.... and you wake up to find that you have dozed off on a subway platform and people are giving you strange looks. - MUSIC Here Walter imagines himself a Warrior King of the past... you emerge from your tent... survey your troops and lead the Mongol Horde into Battle... MUSIC Music from 'COMING TO AMERICA' - an East Meets West piece - MUSIC
Here is an exerpt from a recent work in prog for String Quintet.
Here are sounds from a Show which music I created under the direction of writer/director Dominick Rossetti called' Pickles and he Junkman's Daughter' (spring 2005). We performed 'revue-style' sets at the United Nations twice - for the benefit events for the victims of the Tsunami and Katrina. It evolved into a film project and here are a couple of scenes from that result. Here the main hero 'Pickles' flees the evil gang-leader Razor and falls into the arms of Lilly - the young mermaid woman... 'Lilly and Pickles' - here Pickles and his brother Wheezy greet dawn on the roof of a tenement in old New York after surviving the attackes of Razor's gang - 'Brothers on the Rooftop' - Here 'Slappy', 'Li'l Sister and 'Baba' talk about eating toads, missing Mama and surviving the streets - 'Slappy's Trio' - Here Lilly's younger sister Mary sings of her desire to leave the mean streets of New York and return to her ocean home - 'Angelfish' - and here is a short compilation of 'Oceanmusic'. Here are some examples from Concert-style works: Here is an excerpt from my chamber ballet THE PHOENIX (fall 2003) which features here the amazing flutist/composer Robert Dick as soloist. This work was my reaction to the 9/11 disaster, is dedicated to the City of New York and - through the myth of the Phoenix - expresses the hope of a positive future. Here the Phoenix is transporting the 'ashes' to - 'Heliopolis' - for renewal. from ICELAND (pron. 'Eeslahnd') - fall 2001, a work for full orchestra and narrator. This music was commisisoned by great friend and conductor or the Marshall Symphony, Daniel Rieppel. This work tells the story of Iceland through 14 poems and is metaphoric of one's personal journey. This short excerpt is from 'The Glacier Trembled' and depicts a volcanic eruption. Icelandic poet Bill Holm was the first narrator and contributed an original poem to the work. Recently I have composed a few orchestra pieces I call my 'Young Ulysses Series' - where I can allow my imagination to roam freely in mythological territory free from a specific story. These excerpts are from - MYTHAGOS (spring 2006) - Mythagos is a forest where all myths wander freely. This piece is a cinematographic ballet. IN SHORT - Young Ullyses - from Intro - is lost in the forest - Episode 2 - ... he flees a myriad of creatures - Episode 3 - ...he comes to a glorious pageant of birds - Episode 4 - ...he sees the dryad woman in a forest glade... Dryad - they - Dance... and on. A dear friend of mine named Wendy Maraniss died in a tragic car accident about ten years ago in Ithaca, New York. She was a very well-respected pianist and teacher. She created a tome of short piano pieces for teaching purposes which I helped organize. In so doing I created 'response pieces' to hers which I recently orchestrated and titled SPIRIT ('97/'06). Here are a few excerpts from the movements of SPIRIT - for chamber orchestra. Opening SPIRIT - Cool Gust - Beautiful Dream - Wendy's Name - Something Good - Ostinato - Spirit2 - Contrary Dance. ****************************************** NEW SOUNDS: EXCERPTS from MUSIC FROM EARTH on AUDIO PAGE:: Here is another short bit from something I am working on titled 'Naturemusic'. You will hear music composed from the sounds of Dolphin, Whale and Elephant seal - and String Quintet. - Naturemusic. ****************************************** Visit my Older Composer page: which has news from previous years. ****************************************** Acknowledgements: Thanks to the many who have helped me on my way: my family, my teachers, my many artistic friends and collaborators, and advisors. - all new and old - and especially my dear wife Maryclare for her love and constant support.
LINKS:
International Trombone Soloist Haim Avitsur Artist/Illustrator Alice Cotton
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