A Few Good Min

Whether it's made of 50 bamboo flutes and a lone Tuvan throat singer or fashioned from finely tuned silence, the music called minimalism defies easy definition. But whatever its hallmarks — stuttering repetition here, bracing atonality there, emphasis on brevity — one thing is certain: Plenty of this stuff is srlsly awsm. For proof, the NewEar Contemporary Chamber Ensemble offers up a concert called "Music and Minimalism" tonight at White Recital Hall (on the UMKC campus, 4949 Cherry). The evening includes a recently discovered Terry Riley piece titled "Autumn Leaves" and works by six other composers. None of the music calls for throat singing, but expect a composition for piano and boombox and a couple of hot bass-clarinet workouts. The latter instrument turns up in the evening's finale by Tom Johnson, who will be on hand to narrate his Fibonacci-sequence-inspired "Narayana's Cows." Tickets cost $20 ($8 for students). The program re-re-re-repeats at 8 p.m. September 12 at the Bell Cultural Events Center at MidAmerica Nazarene University in Olathe. And tomorrow, Bay Area pianist Sarah Cahill plays more Riley alongside works by John Adams and Harold Budd. That 8 p.m. show is at All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church (4501 Walnut). See newear.org for details on these and other events.
Sat., Sept. 12, 8 p.m., 2009