N. Mandel performance

Website(s) : http://www.nathanmandelmusic.com / http://www.suonomobileusa.weebly.com / http://www.pgblu.com

Biography

Saxophonist Nathan Mandel is dedicated to presenting programs that explore “listening further.” His programs include blending contemporary music with pop culture, new tonal realities with traditional overtones, multi-disciplinary performance with dance, art, poetry, and music, and exploring true computer and live audio design duo music. Nathan is the co-Director and saxophonist for Suono Mobile USA along with artistic Director Philipp Blume (www.suonomobileusa.weebly.com) Nathan currently manages property, space, instructional support at the University of Illinois School of Music, and is also Associate-Faculty at McKendree University teaching music online courses. Nathan holds degrees from the University of Illinois, Bowling Green State University, and the University of North Texas.

More information

My proposal features 16 minutes of music for saxophone and electronics that highlight the professional new music scene in Champaign-Urbana, IL, USA. This program was created through collaborations between myself and the composers, both through Suono Mobile USA and local artistic endeavors, as well as a teacher-student collaboration in Blume and Harold.
“To Watch Over Me” (2013) by Philipp Blume is a piece was dedicated to me/Suono Mobile USA, and was premiered in November 2013 at the Staerkel Planetarium in Champaign, IL as a multimedia work for 7.1 surround and “dome” projection. For the presentation at the Congress, we are submitting a version in stereo with HD projection. Philipp and I are co-directors for Suono Mobile USA, and have worked together to premiere several new works by Philipp over the past 7 years. I performed Blume’s work “Stuelp” at the North American Saxophone Alliance Conference in April 2012, of which the techniques and notational style of Blume are continued here.
Philipp Blume is a composer of new chamber music whose works have been featured in cities throughout Europe and the Americas, including London, Paris, Berlin, Caracas, Buenos Aires, San Francisco, Freiburg, Stuttgart, Darmstadt, and the Banff Centre for the Arts. He was a student of Professor Mathias Spahlinger in Freiburg until 1999, and in 2006 completed his doctoral studies under Professor Cindy Cox at the University of California, Berkeley, where he was also recognized for outstanding work as an instructor. From 2005-2013 Philipp was a Visiting Assistant Professor of Composition and Theory at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Philipp Blume is artistic and co-director of Suono Mobile USA based in Champaign, Illinois, USA.
“There is no image … there is no poetry” (2014) is a piece is based on the slow movement from Mozart’s Oboe quartet (K. 370). Here, Mozart’s lines are deconstructed and reinterpreted for saxophone and tape. The oboe’s melodies become splintered over time, and the string trio’s harmonies are reconstructed as a shifting timbral landscape. Thus, as the former loses its focus, the latter seems to gain it, creating a work wherein no aspect of Mozart’s piece is either totally lost, or explicitly present.
Sean Harold began his career as a jazz bassist. As his interests moved towards Just-Intonation and free improvisation, however, his concern shifted to composition. His work of late has focused on re-interpreting pieces from the ‘classical’ canon. This involves deconstructing, and consequently reconstructing, pieces of music that he finds especially beautiful. Each new piece is treated differently depending largely on its source music. However, while these compositions are dependent on works of the past to provide their framework, they never fall into the category of parody, nor are they simply arrangements.