Ostrava Days 2021

Planning and producing the 2021 Ostrava Days Festival and Institute was in itself a big adventure – therefore the success of the project was surprising. Overall, this year’s Festival had larger audience sizes than two years ago. The Festival featured 12 concerts and events, including an 18-hour continuous program of concerts and site-specific performances in spaces that ranged from outdoors to the great hall of the Jiří Myron Theatre to Ostrava’s central Cathedral. The OD Festival presented 109 compositions (41 world premieres) by three orchestras – ONO (Ostrava New Orchestra), Ostravská banda, and the Prague Philharmonia. Seven chamber ensembles from Prague, Brno, Ostrava, Slovakia, Estonia and Switzerland performed. Resident composers included Alvin Curran (Rome), Raven Chacon (Albuquerque, NM), Petr Kotik (NYC), Bernhard Lang (Vienna), Miya Masaoka (NYC), Mark Sabat (Berlin), Ana Solović (Montreal) and Martin Smolka (Prague). The OD Institute included 24 young composers form 11 countries, including Iran, Israel, USA, and Europe. The festival’s program presented works by these young composers at each concert, including some for large orchestra. Among the soloists were Gareth Davis (bass clarinet), Hana Kotková (violin), Daan Vandewalle (piano), Tamás Pálfalvi (trumpet), and the Czech pianists Ivo Kahánek and Miroslav Beinhauer. There was an evening length tribute to Frederic Rzewski, who twice visited Ostrava Days in the past. Rzewski passed away a few weeks before the start of Ostrava Days. Ostrava Days also included the Minimarathon of Electronic Music at the Galeria of Fine Arts and two Fluxus events directed by Eric Andersen from Copenhagen. To view the full program, please visit:

newmusicostrava.cz/en

"Letters to Olga" and "Observing with Variations"

S.E.M. ENSEMBLE PRESENTS

“Letters to Olga” by Petr Kotik (1988)

For two narrators, winds and guitars

On text by Václav Havel

And the world premiere of

“The Lost Guitar” by Petr Kotik (2021)

For solo guitar

Wednesday, May 19 @ 7 pm

WhiteBox @ El Barrio's Artspace PS109 in collaboration with 2B&2C

215 East 99th Street – East Harlem

Thursday, May 20 @ 7 pm

Kentler International Drawing Space

353 Van Brunt Street, Red Hook, Brooklyn

(On view at Kentler: Joanne Howard’s exhibition SKID MARKS through May 30^th)

Sunday, May 16 @ 5 pm

The Yard Outside the Willow Place Auditorium

25 Columbia Place, Brooklyn Heights

New Music Outdoors II

Socially Distanced Concert
Outside 25 Columbia Place, Brooklyn NY 11201

Saturday, November 7, 2:00pm

Amina Claudine Myers and Petr Kotik

Plus Guests

PROGRAM:

Jon Gibson Equal Distribution No. 1 (1977)

Petr Kotik No Agency Plus (2020)

Amina Claudine Myers Down on Me (Spiritual)
Song For Mother E
God / Ritual
Chopin's Prelude in C Minor / The Blues
Cameloupe
Soul Funk #2

Doing Music Outdoors