This weekend, I had the pleasure of listening to a delightful CD of Paul Salerni’s chamber music entitled “Touched.” His works are charming and the performances (by the groups who commissioned the works) are lovely. If you're a NFA member, I recommend you take advantage of the Naxos subscription and check it out!

His newest work featuring the flute, U-Turn for woodwind quintet, was premiered March 6, 2016 by the East Winds wind quintet at Lehigh University where he is a Professor of Music. Salerni teaches theory and composition, and conducts the Lehigh University Very Modern Ensemble (LUVME).

Paul was a finalist in 2014 for Bad Pets for Baritone, alto flute, and guitar.

Q&A with Paul….   
           
Do you have any upcoming events that you would like our friends and followers to know about?
 A performance of two movements of my woodwind quintet entitled "U-Turn" will be given by the East Winds quintet at the International Flute Convention on August 13 in San Diego. (Saturday at 2:30)
 
What pieces do you have with prominent flute parts and where can we find recordings:
 I would suggest the following pieces that appear on my Albany CD entitled "Touched."
1) Turns, flute, guitar, and string quartet (you can hear a movement of this piece on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_vEc1RPaew
2) Two Partita, flute and guitar (you can hear a movement of this piece on YouTube):
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmU-p_jL964
3) Bad Pets, baritone, alto flute and guitar. Bad Pets is one of my most popular pieces and there is an alternative version for mezzo soprano, alto flute, and guitar. If you'd like to see a charming performance of this piece please visit the following video on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/NK5WmycKAEY
 
Where can performance materials for your pieces be obtained?
 Contact me directly at [email protected].
 
More About Paul….

Paul Salerni’s music “pulses with life, witty musical ideas and instrumental color” (The Philadelphia Inquirer), and has been described by the New York Times as “impressive” and “playful.” His one-act opera Tony Caruso’s Final Broadcast won the National Opera Association’s Chamber Opera competition in 2007, and a definitive recording of the opera was released on Naxos in 2010. His second one-act, The Life and Love of Joe Coogan, an adaptation of a Dick Van Dyke TV Show episode, had its premiere in September 2010. Both one-acts are published by Theodore Presser. Salerni’s latest large-scale project was a ballet (FABLES) commissioned and premiered by RIOULT New York. Other recent commissions include Philadelphia Brass, Gabriel Chamber Ensemble, Cape Symphony, San Diego Chamber Orchestra, New Haven Symphony, Emory Chamber Music Society of Atlanta, and SATORI. ACD of Salerni’s chamber music (“Touched) was released by Albany Records in January 2015.
 
Salerni is the NEH Distinguished Chair in the Humanities and Professor of Music at Lehigh University. He received his Ph.D. in composition from Harvard University, where he studied with Earl Kim. Salerni has performed and lectured about Kim’s music in Korea, at the Kennedy Center, the 92nd St. Y, and the Aspen Music Festival. A dedicated educator, Salerni was the recipient of the Stabler Award, Lehigh University’s most valued acknowledgement of excellence in teaching. He served for seven years on the Board of Directors of the Suzuki Association of the Americas, including two years as its Chair.
 
For more about Paul, visit his website www.paulsalerni.com
 
Salerni’s Other Works for Flute
 
Chamber Works
 
Toddler Riffs
Instrumentation: flute, violin, cello
Commission: Animè
Year: 1990
Duration:  20 minutes
 
Turns
Instrumentation: flute, guitar, and string quartet
Commission: SATORI
Year: 2006
Duration: 13 minutes
 
Two Partita
Instrumentation: flute and guitar
Commission: Two-Part Invention
Year: 2008
Duration: 10 minutes
 
U-Turn
Instrumentation: wind quintet
Year: 2016
 
Witches and Rappings
Instrumentation: flute, clarinet, violin & piano
Commission: SATORI
Year: 2010
Duration: 10 minutes
 
Song Cycles
 
Bad Pets (song cycle on poems by Doty, Frost, and Gioia)
Instrumentation: for baritone, alto flute, and guitar (also version for soprano, alto flute, and guitar)
Commission: Two-Part Invention
Year: 2007
Duration:  10 minutes
 
Family Letters (song cycle on a poem by Dana Gioia)
Instrumentation: mezzo, flute, clarinet in A, violin, and violoncello
Commission: the family of Eileen Wavrek Wescoe
Year: 2015
Duration: 10 minutes
 
Sad Stories (song cycle on poems found in the New Yorker)
Instrumentation: mezzo-soprano, alto flute, mallet percussion, violin, cello
Year: 1991
Duration: 13 minutes
 
Speaking of Love (song cycle on poems by Dana Gioia)
Instrumentation: soprano, viola, piano/mallet percussion (also version for soprano, flute, and guitar)
Year:1993
Duration:  10 minutes

Argentinian composer Alex Nante was a finalist in the 2015 FNMC Composition Contest for his delightful work for solo flute, Garuda. FNMC members have performed this piece at the Kentucky Flute Fair and Great Plains Regional CMS Conference. Alex recently sent us his bio and answered a few questions to help our members get to know him better.

Q&A with Alex.....

Who is/are your favorite “new music” composer/s and why?
I don't have one favorite composer, I love Wolfgang Rihm's music, Michael Finnissy's and of course, Stefano Gervasoni's music, which is now my teacher. These three composers are totally different, and have found a personal, authentic musical voice.

Describe your musical background and current activities.
I'm an Argentinian composer living in Paris, continuing my studies in the Conservatoire de Paris. I write chamber, orchestral and solo music that is played in France and abroad. at the moment I'm co-directing the ensemble "Écoute" of the Cité Universitaire de Paris.

Do you have any upcoming events that you would like our friends and followers to know about?
If you'd like to see my upcoming events, please take a look at my website : www.alexnante.com

More About Alex.....
Alex Nante (1992, Buenos Aires, Argentina) holds a bachelor’s degree in Musical arts, oriented in composition, from the National University of Arts of Argentina (UNA), where he studied composition with Santiago Santero and orchestral conducting with Luis Gorelik. He also studied guitar with Antoliano Rojas, piano with Mónica Opansky and composition with Marcelo Delgado and Luis Mucillo.
Since 2014 he lives in Paris. He obtained a Master’s degree in Musicology in Université Paris 8 of Saint Denis, where he took composition lessons with José Manuel López López. He also obtained a “prix de perfectionnement” in Reims Conservatoire where he studied with Daniel D’Adamo. Currently, he continues his studies in composition with Stefano Gervasoni in the Conservatoire National de Paris. He participated in composition workshops, such as the “Writing for Vocal Ensemble” of the Britten Pears Programme, with Michael Finnissy and Exaudi and “Noirlac Academy” with Quatuor Diotima.
His compositions have been awarded with several prizes, particularly in three orchestral composition competitions: “Daegu Contemporary Music Orchestra” in South Korea, for his piece “Fulgor” (2010), “Guillermo Graetzer” (SADAIC) in Argentina, for “Tres Sueños Lúcidos” (2013) and “Île de Créations” in France, for “La pérégrination vers l’Ouest“ (2015).
His works were interpreted by Víctor Torres, Enrico di Felice “ Accroche Note”, “Parma Ensemble”, “Ensemble Itinéraire”, “Excelsis Percussion”, “Compañía Oblicua”, “Ensemble SpazioMusica”, “Exaudi”, “Flame Ensemble”, “Orchestre National d’Île de France”, “Daegu Contemporary Music Orchestra”, among others.
His interest in contemporary music has lead him to co-found in 2010 with Gonzalo Argüello and Juan Miceli the orchestra OANM (Orquesta amigos de la nueva música) which premiered many pieces from argentinian composers. In 2014 he co-founded with Fernando Palomeque and Gabriela Czerednikow the contemporary music ensemble “Écoute”, composed by musicians from the  Cité Universitaire of Paris.
Alex Nante received the scholarship “Gisela Timmermann” from the Mozarteum Argentino and the Ibermúsicas grant for composers.

Did you enjoy Garuda? Alex has many other works for flute

Canto da perda
Instrumentation : soprano, flute, soprano/alto saxophone, violin, viola, accordion, harp, piano
Duration : 8'
Year :2015

Himnos
Instrumentation : Flute/alto flute, percussion, organ, three narrators
Duration : 30’
Year : 2015

Quattro Melodie
Instrumentation : flute, piano
Duration : 12’
Year : 2015

Tempi Arcani
Instrumentation : flute, vibraphone, piano
Duration : 8’
Year : 2014

Excepto el amor intenso…
Instrumentation : flute, viola, harp
Duration : 7’
Year : 2013

Trueno : Intelecto perfecto
Instrumentation : actress, flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, trumpet, percussion (glockenspiel, tom-tom, gran-cassa, tam-tam), harp, soprano, alto, tenor, bass, violin, viola, cello, double bass
Duration : 14’
Year : 2013

Kosmeo
Instrumentation : flute, clarinet, piano, violin, cello
Duration : 4’ 30’’
Year : 2012

Hermes
Instrumentation : flute, oboe, clarinet, bass clarinet, bassoon, alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone, horn, trumpet, trombone, euphonium, tuba, double bass
Duration : 9’
Year : 2012

Aleph
Instrumentation : flute, soprano saxophone, clarinet, cello, piano
Duration : 4’
Year : 2012

De anhelos y sombras
Instrumentation : flute, clarinet, piano, violin and cello
Duration : 10’
Year : 2012

Garuda
Instrumentation : flute
Duration : 5’
Year : 2014

Three mysteries
Instrumentation : Flute
Duration : 3’30’’
Year : 2010

We've added some great new content to our webpage to better showcase the work our organization and its members are doing in support of new music for the flute. Check out our new multimedia page which features video interviews with FNMC winning composers and performances by FNMC members of our first commissioned work, Confluence  by Zhou Long, as well as finalist works. We're also working on a slideshow of photos from FNMC performances. FNMC members who would like to submit  recordings or pictures for inclusion may do so via email.

We've also started a Composer Spotlight Series which will feature composers whose works were finalists in our composition contests. Our first spotlight will feature Alex Nante, finalist in the 2015 FNMC Composition Contest for his work for solo flute Garuda.