#245 Michael Compitello- Percussionist, Faculty at Arizona State University & More!
This episode is sponsored by Dream Cymbals. Check out their Tasting Tour Dates.
This week’s guest is Michael Compitello. Michael is a dynamic, “fast rising” (WQXR) percussionist dedicated to commissioning and premiering new works that explore the sonic and expressive possibilities of percussion instruments.
He has developed sustained collaborations with composers such as Thomas Kotcheff, Tonia Ko, Amy Beth Kirsten, and Robert Honstein on new works, in addition to working with Helmut Lachenmann, David Lang, John Luther Adams, Alejandro Viñao, Marc Applebaum, and Martin Bresnick on premieres and performances of new solo and chamber works. Currently, Michael’s project Unsnared Drum (released August 2021 on New Focus Recordings) seeks to reexamine the snare drum through new works by composers Nina C. Young, Hannah Lash, Amy Beth Kirsten, and Tonia Ko.
With cellist Hannah Collins as the “remarkably inventive and resourceful” (Gramophone) New Morse Code, Michael has created a singular and personal repertoire through collaboration with some of America’s most esteemed young composers. New Morse Code's 2017 debut album Simplicity Itself on New Focus Recordings was described “an ebullient passage through pieces that each showcase the duo’s clarity of artistic vision and their near-perfect synchronicity” (I Care if You Listen) and “a flag of genuineness raised” (Q2 Music). In 2019 they released the title suite of Matthew Barnson’s portrait album, Vanitas, on Innova recordings and collaborated with Eliza Bagg, Lee Dionne, and andPlay on and all the days were purple, Alex Weiser’s Pulitzer Prize-finalist work on Cantaloupe Music.
Michael is also a member of Percussion Collective, an ensemble dedicated to refined performances of contemporary percussion repertoire, with whom he performed as soloist with the Colorado Symphony, and on concert series across the country.
As an orchestral musician, Michael has performed with the Lucerne Festival Academy Orchestra, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra, and the Aspen Festival Orchestra, and with conductors Pierre Boulez, Marin Alsop, Reinbert de Leeuw, David Zinman, James Conlon, Brad Lubman, and Gustav Meier.
Michael is currently Assistant Professor of Percussion at Arizona State University. He previously taught at the University of Kansas, Cornell University and Mt. Holyoke College, and was Interim Lecturer in Percussion at UMass Amherst in the fall of 2012. Michael earned a DMA and MM from the Yale School of Music, and a BM from the Peabody Conservatory, where he studied with renowned percussionist Robert Van Sice. From 2009 to 2010, Michael performed and studied contemporary chamber music with the Ensemble Modern and the International Ensemble Modern Academy in Frankfurt, Germany on a Fulbright Grant from the US Department of State.
R.I.P.
Rest in peace to the great Ralph Irizarry. The loss was immediately mourned by various figures in music, especially salsa, such as Rubén Blades and Willie Colón.
Blades remembered him with a 1982 image of the original members of the Seis del Solar orchestra, including the late timpanist.
Willie Colón, for his part, regretted that he was unaware of the health crisis that Irizarry was facing, as well as the financial problems that placed him close to being evicted from his home.
About five years ago Irizarry was diagnosed with myositis, a progressive disease that affects the muscles of the body, weakening to the point that, in this case, it had already forced him to support himself in a wheelchair, according to press reports.
The trajectory of the percussionist, winner of a Grammy Award, placed him in the orchestra with legendary figures such as Ray Barretto, Larry Harlow and Rubén Blades himself. He also formed his own Latin jazz groups, Timbalaye and Son Café. -Article
If you would like to donate to the family as well as the funeral costs, you can do so HERE.
Ralph was a friend of the show (episode 41) as well as a friend in real life. He will be missed.
Happy Birthday!
Happy birthday to (friend of the show), James Williams. James is an experienced drummer with a demonstrated history of working in the music industry. Skilled in Drum Set, Studio Recording, Music, Music Production, and Ableton Live. Strong arts and design professional with a Master of Arts - MA focused in Jazz/Jazz Studies from AP Hogeschool Antwerpen.
Happy birthday to (friend of the show), Roland Dénes. Roland was born in Szolnok, in 1974. He started his music studies in his hometown, then continued them in Budapest under Gábor Madarassy. In 1989 he was admitted to the Béla Bartók Secondary School of Music, where he studied with Oszkár Schwartz. In 1993 he won a prize at the National Percussion Competition and started his studies at the Franz Liszt College of Music, where he earned his degree in 1997. From 1996 until 2006 he was a member of the BM Duna Symphony Orchestra. As of 1998 he has been involved in the productions of the BFO. From 2009 he regularly gives master classes in Hungary (Franz Liszt Academy of Music, College of Music, Pécs) and abroad (University of Maryland, USA, Columbus, USA). As of 2011 he has been invited to work with foreign orchestras (Berlin Konzerthaus Orchester, l’Orchestre Symphonique de Radio France). Since 2010 he has been an official representative of the Fromme Company in Vienna. He has been a regular guest artist at the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra since 2015.
Happy birthday to Mark Guiliana. Hailed by The New York Times as “a drummer around whom a cult of admiration has formed,” Mark Guiliana brings the same adventurous spirit, eclectic palette and gift for spontaneous invention to a staggering range of styles. Equally virtuosic playing acoustic jazz, boundary-stretching electronic music, or next-level rock, he’s become a key collaborator with such original sonic thinkers as Brad Mehldau, Meshell Ndegeocello, Donny McCaslin, Matisyahu, and the late, great David Bowie.
No matter the focus of a particular album or project, Guiliana’s music blends those three major influences in varying balances: the raw power and intensity of hard rock; the spiritual questing of John Coltrane and the aggressive musical curiosity of Miles Davis; the brain-twisting manipulations and cut-up hybridizations of Squarepusher and Aphex Twin.
Those diverse influences have converged in different ways throughout Guiliana’s career. On one end of the spectrum is his Jazz Quartet and on the opposite is BEAT MUSIC, with which he’s recorded twice before – on a self-titled 2012 EP as well as the 2014 album The Los Angeles Improvisations – and the similarly-inclined outings A Form of Truth (2013) and My Life Starts Now (2014).
Gig Alerts
Bonnaroo 2021 is canceled due to waterlogged festival grounds after the remains of Hurricane Ida dumped tons of rain in Tennessee. -Article
Bonnaroo 2021 is canceled, but festival organizers have announced an indoor show in Nashville. Among this year’s scheduled Bonnaroo performers were Deadmau5, Foo Fighters, Lizzo, Megan Thee Stallion, Run the Jewels, Young Thug, and Tyler, the Creator. -Article
Damon will be playing percussion with Morgan James at the newly constructed Little Island in Manhattan as part of the Little Island Dance Festival.
Educational Spotlight
A Message from NAfME President Mackie Spradley.
Amplify, the online forum exclusively for NAfME members
NAfME Academy, with clock hours for online professional development on your own time
Access to six outstanding NAfME periodicals
Our online Virtual Learning Community
Leadership opportunities through your state MEA and NAfME Societies and Councils
Recognition for your students through composition contests and honor ensembles
Valuable insurance offerings created especially for educators
And much more, including all the benefits offered by your state MEA!
To join NAfME or renew your membership, please click this link.
Iconic Recording
This week’s iconic recording is “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” by The Rolling Stones, released first as a single and then from the album, “Out Of Our Heads”.
Music News
KISS is postponing four upcoming tour dates after Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley test positive for COVID-19. The band has announced that four upcoming tour dates are canceled as a result. Shows in Clarkson, Michigan, Dayton, Ohio, Tinley Park, Illinois, and Milwaukee, Wisconsin are impacted. -Article
Rage Against the Machine’s guitarist Tom Morello is speaking out on behalf of female guitarists trapped in Afghanistan and is also is seeking help evacuating them. -Article
Mike Compitello Interview
The song leading into the interview is called “heart.throb” by Nina Young, from Mike’s newest album, “Unsnared”.
Mike talks about his new album and the pre-release concert.
The four works were composed by Nina C. Young, Hannah Lash, Amy Beth Kirsten, and Tonia Ko.
Mike talks about one of the pieces being worked on at Avaloch Farm Music Institute.
Damon talks about some of the precautions of seeing live music post pandemic.
Mike and Damon bring up how to modernize classical and contemporary music with the composition and lighting.
Shout-out to Four/Ten Media.
Mike brings up “The Noble Snare” compositions. This is where you can find copies of that music.
Mike and Damon talk about collaborating with the composers to come up with the best possible outcome in the commissions.
Damon brings up Mike’s percussion/cello duo and the new piece titled “DWB (Driving While Black)”.
Composed by Susan Kander, libretto by Roberta Gumbel, directed by Chip Miller.
Performed by: Roberta Gumbel - soprano, Hannah Collins - cello, Michael Compitello - percussion.
Damon and Mike talk a little about Sundown Towns.
Here’s more on David Byrne’s protest song playlist.
Mike talks about his upcoming tour for “The Language of Landscapes”.
Shout-out to friend of the show, Andy Akiho.
Damon talks about artists going green for their tours. There’s even a guide to help those efforts of green touring. He also mentions the Questlove Documentary.
Mike talks about how to change the curriculum to teach to include everybody.
Damon talks about festivals helping encourage change. One of those at the forefront is the Global Citizen Festival.
Mike has a new job teaching at Arizona State University.
R.I.P. to Michael K. Williams. Shout-out to The Wire and The Tipping Point.
Mike uses Pearl Drums, Adams Percussion, Vic Firth Sticks and Mallets, Remo Drumheads, Black Swamp Percussion, Zildjian Cymbals, and Beetle Practice Pads.
Shout-out to (friend of the show) Robert Van Sice, Norm Weinberg, and Homero Cerón.
The song leading out of the interview is called “Ghost in the Machine” by Amy Beth Kirsten from Michael’s new “Unsnared” album.
