BRUNSWICK — Frontier Café presents the ninth installment of its continuing contemporary music series, Frontiers of Music, on May 16, at 7 p.m.
Created by Frontier and Brunswick-based composer and bassist Joshua DeScherer, Frontiers of Music presents programs of contemporary chamber music and experimental improvisation in a relaxed setting.
Frontiers of Music No. 9 will feature the USM String Quartet, trombonist Dan Barrett, and saxophonist Frank Mauceri.
A news release describes the program as follows:
Consisting of violinists Aaron Pettengill and Samuel Schuth, violist Roy MacNeil, and cellist Shannon Allen, the USM String Quartet is the resident student string quartet at the University of Southern Maine. It will be performing the Maine premiere of Daniel Sonenberg’s “Sirens of Sombor.”
The USM String Quartet will also perform two works composed by members of the quartet. Roy McNeil’s “Conspiracy” was originally written for the ETHEL quartet’s residency at USM, and has recently been named one of two winning compositions to be performed on the Composers Concordance series in New York City.
Violinist Aaron Pettengill’s “Aria” suggests that the strings transcend their instrumental nature and begin to sing on their own.
Bass trombonist Dan Barrett, of Orono, will perform Beth Wiemann’s “Sallee and Rumsey at Mann Gulch,” a multimedia composition for bass trombone with video accompaniment. This composition tells the story of two young smokejumpers in the 1949 Mann Gulch Fire in Montana using the bass trombone, electronic accompaniment, video, and text from Norman MacLean’s book “Young Men and Fire.”
A contrasting approach to computer music will be presented by Brunswick-based composer and saxophonist Frank Mauceri. Combining the live sound of the saxophone with a computer-generated tapestry of synthesized sound, Mauceri allows the computer to come alive on stage as an actively engaged member of a duo.
Admission to all Frontiers of Music events is name-yourprice. For more information, call 837-8269 or email jdescherer@hotmail.com.
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