Dennis Báthory-Kitsz composer - engraver - author - editor - photographer | |||||||||||
365-Day Composition Project
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Publications You Must Have!
Read All About Me, Me, Me!Kyle Gann wrote a complimentary profile about me (I'm "a shadowy figure" -- yeah!) in Chamber Music Magazine in November. It was a very nice piece which you can read here (PDF).
What Year 2011 Has Wrought!Wow. It's hard to describe what's happened in the year since I've last had time to update my own personal website. The overwhelming part has been staging three performances of Erzsébet, the monodrama about the Countess Erzsébet Báthory. Full details of this production are at The Bathory Opera Website. I'll just say that it was a staggeringly beautiful production with astounding work by Lisa Jablow as the Countess, direction by Ann Harvey and with Anne Decker conducting the Vermont Contemporary Music Ensemble. The full production will be available on DVD shortly (by January 2012). Here is a 70-second clip. The year was more than that. It was the Year of the Vermont Composer, which you can read all about in New Music Box and Sequenza21. One of the great pleasures of the year was the premiere of my three-movement Sonata for Viola, including the three movements "In Search of the Seven Blue Stars," "In Search of the Lightness of Horizon," and "Evasively Transcendental". Violist Elizabeth Reid played it beautifully at Radio Bean in March, a performance you can see and hear on YouTube or download in score form. In May, Starry Night was premiered by the genius young pianist Joe Pepper (score available in the keyboard catalog), and the performance was thrilling -- very powerful. My father-son duet Counting Myself was played by Tristan Blais and his dad Bob in February, a delightful performance you can also see and hear on YouTube and which you can download in score form. Bob and his cello chamber ensemble also premiered The Four Elements (Earth, Air, Water, Sleep) for cello quartet. I don't have a score or recording for you yet ... haven't gotten to it, but I will! Autumn Dig, a piece for intermediate orchestra, was revised for Bob Blais and the Green Mountain Youth Symphony. They performed it enthusiastically and dramatically a few times in March; check it out on YouTube and grab a score and parts from the Large Ensemble Catalog. It's fun to play for orchestras of any age! Another performance from early in the year was the premiere of the piece for alto flute, bass clarinet, bassoon, guitar and djembe entitled Giè, done by the Vermont Contemporary Music Ensemble. This commission is wonderful and evocative, and you can see and hear one of several fine performances on YouTube and then check out a copy in the Expanded Chamber Catalog. 2011 was also the year of a huge flood in Vermont, which damaged our home and tossed us out of the house for a few weeks. We recovered, but not in time to hear the VCME perform Fuliginous Quadrant on the 10th anniversary of 9/11. The group did a performance in April. You can see and hear the April performance on YouTube and of course download a score from the Chamber Music for Four Instruments Catalog. (This work had its world premiere in Belgium in 2003. These were the U.S. premieres.) There are a bunch of new pieces which haven't been premiered yet. iota for solo violin, Parched Fields for violin and cello, A Breath on the Kitchen Window for two violins, and O: Eleven Songs for Chorus on text by Gary Barwin, some of them read at the Warebrook Music Festival this past summer. The three short ones are available for download from the catalog. Last and somewhat least were premieres of You Spotted Snakes for voices and strings for the Johnson State College Theatre Department, and an arrangement of Mad World for the JSC Chorus. Fun!
New Scores and MP3s Are Up!It's been a really long time getting some material up -- just busy. So here is what is new in the catalog. Crosscut, the concerto for piano and large wind band is in the Keyboard Catalog; this one's a real honey and is to be premiered sometime soon in Valencia, Spain. Also up is the third movement of my viola sonata, Evasively Transcendental, as well as a short bassoon piece To the Secretary of Good Fortune, both in the Solo Catalog. Also there is the premiere of Meta-Dream Twice as played by Thomas L. Read, and the final (13th "newmoon") month of Lunar Cascade in Serial Time. There's nothing new for two instruments (though a great performance of O Vox Pop on YouTube). An updated version of Wedding Changes is in the Music for Three Instruments -- five new variations each five years, now up to 50 variations for three flutes. There are no new quartets either, but there is a really cool quintet for winds called Binnen in the catalog of Music for Five or More Instruments. In the Vocal Music Catalog there are the two lullabies for Janet Brand, A Spiral Lullaby and A Spiky Lullaby. Also there is the reworked version of I lift my heavy heart for solo voice alone (the previous version included flute and guitar). Premieres of XLII: Adeste Hendecasyllabi and She Who Saves are both there for your enjoyment. The Performance Works Catalog now includes the majestic Contraflow Symphony for sixteen large and sixteen small vehicles; it was performed in virtual form in Athens, but it awaits its real-world premiere. The Electroacoustic Catalog is chock full of new pieces: Alien Angels, blinded, Conjim for Ed, Driving My 1948 Limbo, imanuevilla and smuttle. Oh, yeah. Only the latter is NSFW. Finally, the Music for Large Ensemble catalog presents the scores, demos, and performances of Autumn Dig (new version for large student orchestra, with parts for download); Csárdás in a newly composed version for string orchestra; Dualis Extensualis, a one-minute 60x60 Orchestral piece; and White Landscape With Moon and Water, a mysterious piece for large orchestra. You'll also find the Crosscut concerto for piano and large wind band there with a complete set of parts.
New Younger Performer SectionI've added a section to my catalog, Music for Young Performers. This was done on request because my music for young players (and emerging amateurs) was mixed in with the other several hundred in my catalog. So here it is!
Opera Lyrics FontI've created a TrueType font based on 19th century opera scores. It has all the typical characters and a few more, but is missing still a few of the special characters. I'll improve it over the next few months, but if you're interested, here it is: Opera-Lyrics-Smooth. If you distribute it, please keep in mind that this version (1.65) will occasionally be updated. Click image for full-sized chart.
Build 4 U!People have remarked for years about the imaginative character of our little New England cape, full of hand-made furniture, cabinets, closets, shelves and other interesting items. Now you can have these, too because I will build it 4 u!
Yes I am...
Getcher Bumper Sticker!Join the nonpop "Buy Local" campaign! If you're a composer or supporter of new nonpop, you can get a bumper sticker for five bucks at CafePress, item number 80570307, or even better you can download and print it yourself. The CafePress one is only 10 inches wide, but you can use the full-size image to print a big one on 11x17 paper and trim it to standard 3.75" x 15" bumper sticker size.
We Are All Mozart -- Over but Not ForgottenWe Are All Mozart A 365-day composition project. 
The plan was to finish one piece of commissioned music a day in 2007. The commissioning goal wasn't met, but I finished 100 pieces, every one commissioned. The project was a success, and ultimately has influenced many other composers to pursue their compositional goals with intensity and commitment.
Openings for Engraving and EditingI have openings for new music engraving clients and book editing clients. Here are samples of my music engraving work, and you can find the results of some of my book editing work at the admittedly very old Transitive Empire site. Here's how to contact me.
People Have Asked......why I give away my music. Here is the answer.
Older NewsWhat's in the Older News section? Stuff you can use...
...and much more back to 2000. |
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About Me |
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Landmark Projects
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Diverse Work
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Photos, Books and Instruments
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2011 Performances and Events
2010 Performances and Events2009 Performances and Events2008 Performances and Events2007 Performances and Events2006 Performances and Events2005 Performances and Events2004 Performances and Events2003 Performances and Events |
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Essays, Papers, Presentations, Polemics, and Stuff
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