Sequenza21

The first Wandelweiser release by composer Paul Beaudoin, bright shining light, is now available as a digital album download at Bandcamp. Consisting of the composer’s complete organ works to 2025, the five tracks on this album are performed by Carson Cooman, organist at Memorial Church, Harvard University. Paul Beaudoin is a composer, educator and interdisciplinary artist, born in Hialeah, Florida.

Photo: Hilary Scott Nordic Boomers at Tanglewood Festival of Contemporary Music July 27, 2026 Published in Sequenza 21 By Christian Carey LENOX – The annual Festival of Contemporary Music concludes with an orchestra concert by the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra.

My Steve Reich odyssey has taken me to several cities so far this year, including Liverpool, Manchester, London, Cologne and New York, so it seemed fitting that at least one event marking the composer’s ninetieth anniversary year should happen closer to my doorstep, in Wales. In fact, it’s a two-hour drive from where I live to Aberystwyth, where Solem Quartet and singer Alice Zawadzki were performing as part of this year’s Musicfest Festival.

Photo by Gabe Palacio. Les Arts Florissants at Caramoor July 17, 2026 Published in Sequenza 21 By Christian Carey KATONAH, NEW YORK – Les Arts Florissants are the premiere ensemble devoted to French music of the baroque era. Though they have branched out from this remit in recent years – their most recent recording is of Haydn masses – the group remains devoted to performing French opera.

Alongside Steve Reich’s Violin Phase (1967), Philip Glass’ Strung Out (1968) ranks as early minimalism’s most important work for solo violin. However, unlike Violin Phase—which has received countless performances and several recordings during its sixty-year shelf life—Strung Out has largely flown under the radar. This twenty-minute work has remained something of an enigma, consigned to the periphery of Glass’ back catalogue.

Ambrose Akinmusire and Mary Halvorson – Slo-Mo Neon Luminate Hoverings (Nonesuch) Slo-Mo Neon Luminate Hoverings is the first recorded collaboration by the duo of trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire and guitarist Mary Halvorson. Spontaneity and through composed material are on display, with both playing roles in all of the pieces. “Prelude in the Ash” begins with a questing trumpet solo before the guitar joins with a sinuous arpeggiated chord pattern.

Improvisation, especially of the largely unplanned and entirely freeform variety, can be a bit hit-and-miss, particularly when it becomes apparent that the performers aren’t singing (or playing) from the same hymn sheet. Nevertheless, when collective interactions click into place—as on this seven-track mini-album by Alexander Varty on guitar & electronics, Andres Kahre on percussion and electric cello, and violin virtuoso Jack M Campbell—the results can be truly striking and illuminating.

During the first decade of the twenty-first century, music took another turn on its ambient axis, and ‘post-classical’ was born. Mark Prendergast had already claimed the previous century to be the ambient century, with everything from Mahler to Trance falling under its all-encompassing sonic spell.

On February 13, 2026, Sub Rosa Records released Gendarme de la Libertad, a digital album featuring music composed by David Toub with performances by pianist Stephane Ginsburgh. This is an hour of piano music, solidly in the minimalist tradition that, according to the liner notes: “… reflects today’s anxieties and uncertainty.” Gendarme is music with a strong moral viewpoint.

Beth Willer Voices of Ascension: Canticle of the Sun Voices of Ascension, Beth Willer, conductor Church of the Ascension May 21, 2026 Published in Sequenza 21 By Christian Carey NEW YORK – Beth Willer, Director of Choral Activities at Peabody Conservatory and Artistic Director of Lorelei Ensemble, served as guest conductor for Voices of Ascension’s recent Canticle of the Sun concert. To say the program was ambitious is to undersell the challenges posed by all of the pieces.