The School of Music is currently presenting a week’s worth of new music with exciting guest artists in “A Contemporary Mosaic,” the 2005 Music Today Festival. The performances began Wednesday and will continue through Feb. 23.
Soprano vocalist and Broadway actress Ann Crumb appeared Wednesday night in Beall Hall to perform classical pieces composed by her father, George, and her brother, David, as well as jazz pieces.
“It’s a very special concert that highlights the creative music-making of the Crumb family,” Music Today Festival Director Robert Kyr said.
Tonight, School of Music faculty members — including violinists, flutists, pianists and percussionists — will present an evening of American music. Music professor Anne Dhu McLucus said the concert was designed with members of the Society for American Music in mind, who are in town this week for a conference and will attend the show.
“It came together in a nice way,” McLucus said. “It’s a lovely mixture of things. There will be less
well-known pieces that people will be interested to hear, but people who know American music will know the names of the composers.”
On Friday, composer and accordion player Pauline Oliveros, whom the Society of American Music chose as its honorary member of the year, will perform an avant-garde show on the electric accordion. She led two “Deep Listening Workshops” Tuesday and Wednesday, where she taught participants to hear in new ways, and she will lead a lecture, demonstration and discussion today in Beall Hall from 1 p.m. to 1:50 p.m.
“She is one of the leading avant-garde composers today,” School of Music publicity director Scott Barkhurst said. “The show will include audience improvisation, and it’s quite out of the box.”
Other shows set for the remainder of the festival include the Santa Fe Quartet on Saturday, a South American and Latin American musical group; the Eugene Composers Collective on Sunday, a casual four-hour show of local composers and musicians; the Balinese percussion orchestra Pacific Rim Gamelan on Monday; three faculty string musicians of Trio Pacifica on Tuesday; and Benjamin Bagby’s “Beowulf,” an evening of medieval melodies and vocals that tell the classic tale “Beowulf,” which will wrap up the festival.
With the exception of Trio Pacifica, all musicians will perform contemporary music, or music recently created by living composers. Kyr said current contemporary music is extremely diverse in styles and places of origination.
“In terms of musical styles, the 21st century has expanded our vocabulary in exciting new ways,” Kyr said. “Today, composers are creating musical works that combine many different influences from around the world.”
McLucus added that the festival will teach audiences how beautiful American music can be.
“People think that Europe is the place to go for music,” she said. “For people around town, the concerts will open their ears.”
Tickets range in price from $2 to $9 and are available at the Beall Hall Box Office one hour prior to showtimes. All shows begin at 8 p.m. in Beall Hall, with the exception of the Eugene Composers Collective, which begins at 7 p.m. at Cozmic Pizza. For more information, call 346-5678.

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