The Ragsdale High School string orchestra, under the direction of Andrew Oldham, will perform Ryan Oldham's "Chords of December" on an upcoming performance with the Greensboro Symphony Orchestra.
The performance is part of the Greensboro Symphony's community outreach program. Both orchestras will play a work by Beethoven, Brahms and a premier of a new work. The Ragsdale High School orchestra will play prior to the Saturday concert.
5.3.08 - Greensboro, North Carolina
Event: Greensboro Bicentennial
Time: 7:00 PM
Location: War Memorial Auditorium at the Greensboro Coliseum Complex
Chords of December (2001) featuring
The Ragsdale High School Orchestra, Andrew Oldham conducting
For more information CLICK HERE
TWO PERFORMANCES
4.17.08
Time: 7:30p
4.20.08
Time: 2:00p
Location: Union Station, Kansas City, Missouri
The Emperor's Madness: a ten-minute opera (2001)
For more information CLICK HERE
============================In Between performance by Rebecca Ashe
March 7, 2008 Lincoln, NB
Contact me for details!
2.25.08 - Kansas City, Missouri
Event: Composer's Guild Concert
Time: 7:30 PM
Location: University of Missouri, Kansas City, White Hall
Poésie Lyrique (2004) featuring Mark Stauffer, cello
2.29.08 - San Antonio, Texas
Event: 34th Annual Conference - Society for American Music
Date(s): February 27 - March 2, 2008
Location: The Historic Menger Hotel, San Antonio, TX
Presenting “MUSIC IS MY WEAPON”: HENRY COWELL’S INVOLVEMENT AS THE CHIEF MUSIC EDITOR FOR THE OFFICE OF WAR INFORMATION
"U.S.Government and Music"
Thursday 29 February, 2:00 - 4:00 p.m.
CLICK HERE for more information!
For flute and a recital of four world premieres for flute by composers from the University of Missouri-Kansas City.
Rebecca Ashe, flute
with Mark Stauffer, cello
Jorge Sosa, Ryan Oldham, Ben Stonaker, Christopher Biggs,
Sunday, November 4th, 3pm At Christ Presbyterian Church 544 Wabash Avenue (on the corner of Independance and Wabash) Kansas City, Missouri
Second Chance!
This recital will be duplicated at the UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance in White Hall at the end of the November!
4.10.2007 - Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City Art Institute presents "Artsounds", featuring a John Cage musicircus. For more information CLICK HERE
4.19.2007 - Rochester, New YorkEastman School of Music's Ossia ensemble will be playing "Wanderlust". For more information CLICK HERE
4.23.2007 - Kansas City, Missouri
Alsi Yesil, a vocal recital featuring music of new composers, to include "Autumn" from Oldham's collection, "Simple Songs".
The University of Missouri, Kansas City's "Composers in the School" program was featured on a local NPR broadcast this morning. KCUR reporter, Laura Spencer interviews composer James Mobberley, UMKC faculty member and the head of the outreach program, as well as several students and graduate teachers in the program, including Ryan Oldham.
Oldham has been a part of the Composers in the School program since August 2004 and has been the coordinator of the program since August of 2005.
CLICK HERE to hear the interview!
The trio "Turning Point" was premiered on November 2, 2006. The work featured Ben Stonaker on clarinet, Elizabeth Dunning on french horn, and Michael Harris on bassoon.
"Turning Point" was Oldham's first work to encorporate his encrypted text theory for pitch generation, inspired by a book by Neal Stephenson. Oldham writes about the process:
"I started looking for ways to plan pitch material that is not harmonically driven in order to detach myself from harmonies that have (within my own music) become too predictable. Harmony will result, of course, when any pitches are simultaneously sounded (regardless of the origin of the individual pitches), but my hope is to discover harmonies and melodic lines that I would not have arrived at otherwise. I could easily stand on the shoulders of past serialists, and certainly I owe to them much of my discoveries. However, I wanted to create pitch sets in a manner that, on a personal level, felt less arbitrary; creation that in it seemed part of or integral to the concept of the piece.
I began work on my new mathematical approach in November of 2004. The original inspiration came from Neal Stephenson’s “Cryptonomicon”, a story that deals with many forms of security and cryptography. In it, a method of “low tech” cryptography known as Solitaire is used and is apparently one of the most secure forms of encryption. Basically, a deck of cards acts as a 54 digit encryption key. This key is then applied to text; letters are treated as numbers in a base 26 mathematical set. The rest is a simple process of addition. First, add the card value to the alphabet number and then reduce the sum to base 26 results in a new letter. If the ordering of the deck remains intact, the message can be decoded easily. (In true Solitaire encryption, there is a process for preparing the deck that ensures security and still allows for proper decoding).
Immediately, I was enthralled with the operations and started to think of its musical possibilities. I started coming up with ways to encode texts into base 12 by similar means. The 54 key encryption creates a very large collection of numbers. These numbers can then be reduced into base 12. If you carefully keep track of these processes, you can easily set words syllabically, gesturally, or in a completely new context.
Also, the number of reductions (to get the sum back into base 12) produces another set of data, usually between 0 and 5. This can be used to assign register, dynamics, rhythm or whatever you like. The choices seem limitless.
The number stream, as best as I can tell, is a non-pattern forming, non-repeating infinite set. It only ends when you are out of text. Important to me is that the stream of data is not entirely arbitrary as it comes from texts I choose. Therefore, I can build motives based on words, I can encode messages in my music, I can discover new forms of text painting…etc. I have yet to discover its full possibilities."
The recording is available in the "Works" section.
On Friday December 9th, Oldham received his first performance of "Wanderlust", a composition for woodwind quintet, saxophone quartet, and piano quintet. The composition was flawlessly conducted by composer/conductor Ben Stonaker, who also assembled most of the ensemble, re-edited the score and also re-edited the parts. The performance was very well received. "I was lucky to have such talented performers," Oldham commented. "Without musicians of this quality, my composition would not have had a chance. It is very difficult."
Listen
Also on the concert, Oldham and Stonaker performed a live improvisation for two pianos. Stonaker remarked later that,"At first, our rehearsal of the improvisation was disappointing and very discouraging - we almost cut the piece from the program. The problem was that we were trying to read from a sketch (or score) - which is something we aren't used to doing. We have been improvising for almost a year now and have learned we have similar ideas and work really well together -- we know each other well enough to play off each other's ideas and have a lot of fun!" The piece turned out to be another success, marking almost a year's worth of practice together.
Listen
Ryan Oldham was recently added as an Adjunct Faculty at KCKCC (Kansas City Kansas Community College). At KCKCC, he is currently teaching Fundamentals of Music, an introductory music theory course.
In addition, Oldham has two other paid music positions. He earned the Composition T.A. position at UMKC, where he assists Professors Dr. James Mobberley and Dr. Reynold Simpson with their Junior/Senior level composition students.
He is also the coordinator for the Composers in the Schools program (CITS), as well as actively teaching in the program.
Oldham's composition titled "Flowers in the Darkness: Four Nocturnes for piano solo" was performed this evening as part of a Composer's Guild concert at the University of Kansas City, Missouri.
Pianist and composer Rodney L. Bake began working on the pieces in September. His performance was very powerful, bringing in elements of himself to the composition.
The program consisted of works featuring UMKC student composers. For information about future Composer's Guild concerts, please email music@ryanoldham.com.
Composer Ryan Oldham will begin work on his Doctor of Musical Arts in Music Composition at the University of Missouri, Kansas City beginning the 2004-2005 academic year. He was awarded financial scholarships from both the University and the composition department.
This decision concludes a strenuous seven month application process. Oldham was granted admission into four other programs, each with exceptional offers. He made his final decision on April 29.
"Muhammad Ali: Outside the Ring" was performed on April 20, 2004. The performance marked the conclusion of the Kentucky Opera's VISIONS program this year, where Ryan Oldham served as the Supervising/Contributing Composer.
The operetta starred Sean Miller as Cassius Clay, Keith Dean as Muhammad Ali and Andrea Jones as Lonnie Ali as well as the support of the Louisville Youth Chorus.
An additional highlight to the performance was an appearance by Muhammad Ali and his wife, who thanked the performers and audience on stage following the performance.
On March 25, Mr. Oldham completed his orchestral version of "Flowers in the Darkness: Four Nocturnes". Parts are to be completed shortly.
Interested in performing or viewing this score? Send an email request.
Oldham has recently completed his work on "Muhammad Ali: Outside the Ring" for the Kentucky Opera's "Visions" program. Oldham served as the composer in residence for the 2 week summer program.
Since then, Oldham has taken the material generated by these students and created a full piano/vocal score. "I used the student generated themes as often as I could," says Oldham about the project. "There are very few instances where the piano writing doesn't reflect or comment on their material...either through quotation and reharmonization, or by mimicing the contour or rhythms of the students' themes."
For more information, visit these websites:
Kentucky Opera - Visions
Ryan Oldham also recently completed an arrangement of the Canadian national anthem commissioned by the General McLane High School Jazz Singers. It will be performed at an upcoming Erie Otters hockey game in 2004.
Best viewed in Internet Explorer, 1024x768
© 2008, Ryan Oldham