JCFA COMPOSERS ORCHESTRA
( NEW MUSIC ENSEMBLE )
(you won't know who to trust . . . where to turn . . . or what to believe . . . )
FRANK FELICE, associate director / engineer
the JCFA COMPOSERS ORCHESTRA (NEW MUSIC ENSEMBLE) is dedicated to the preservation (and presentation) of music by 'not dead yet' (or recently dead) composers and as a live performance ensemble for the university student composers (BM, MM). The versatile, energetic, action-packed JCFACO programs - over 100 concerts on and off campus - consist of new works by many Butler composers, 20th / 21st Century avant garde 'classics' & experimental new music by highly respected contempory composers from across the US and abroad such as Steve Reich, Philip Glass, John Cage, Meredith Monk, Terry Riley, Ed London, Barney Childs, David Tudor, Harold Budd, Alvin Curran, Michael Nyman, Charlemagne Palestine, Robert Ashley, David Bedford, Laurie Anderson, Pauline Oliveros, Cornelius Cardew, Christian Wolff, Eve Beglarian, Olivier Messiaen, Ornette Coleman, Daniel Lentz, Dick Higgins, Jim Fox, Phil Winsor, Yoko Ono, R. Murray Schafer, Frederic Rzewski, Toshiro Mayuzumi, Akira Ifukube, Krzysztof Penderecki, Aurelio de la Vega, James Tenney, Cecil Taylor, Danny Elfman, Thomas Newman, Elliott Schwartz, Stephen Gryc, Kirk Nurock...
Visiting composers (JCFACO / BSO concert programs, composition master classes, seminars) have included: George Crumb, John Adams, Karel Husa, John Corigliano,
Chinary Ung, Christopher Young (film composer of Species, Nightmare on Elm Street, Hellraiser, Hellbound, Ghost Rider, Tales from the Hood, Exorcism of Emily Rose, The Grudge....), Paul Chihara, Sven-David Sandstrom, Elliott Schwartz, David Stock, Steven Stucky, Michael Daugherty, Jim Fox, Arnold Franchetti, William Albright, John Downey, Henry Gwiazda, Rocky Reuter, Dinos Constantinides, James Mobberley, Rocky Reuter, Phillip Schroeder, Stephen Gryc, Masao Honma (Tokyo), Lai Sheung-Ping (Hong Kong), Aleksander Vujik (Prague), Janos Kokkonnen (Helsinki)
( JCFACO guest composer JIM FOX (Los Angeles) and MICHAEL SCHELLE )
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for JCFACO visiting composers since 1991
RECENT JCFACO PERFORMANCE HIGHLIGHTS
JCFA Composers Orchestra was the invited ensemble (and paid) to perform an entire program
at the state convention of the National Innovative Change Network Society - 4/99
( JCFACO performs CUT PIECE by YOKO ONO )
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JCFA Composers Orchestra, the Butler Symphony Orchestra with Hollywood film composer Christopher Young. Orchestral concerts of his film music, composition master classes, talks. October 1999. Commercial CD (Citadel STC 77130) released in 2000:
(Butler Symphony Orchestra concert and OST original soundtrack of Chris' Judas Kiss)
1999: JCFA Composers Orchestra on tour: Capital University (Columbus, OH) - February
1999: JCFACO performs for the Morgan Swift Arts and Culture Mayoral Candidacy fundraiser:
Susurrus Space, 429 E. Vermont, Indianapolis, IN - 20 February 1999
2002: members of JCFACO perform in the streets of St. Petersburg, Russia - directed by JCFACO co-director, Frank Felice . . . March 2002
2004: JCFACO - Terry Riley's In C, Clowes Hall, MidWinter Dance Festival: Feb 19-21, 2004
2004: JCFACO performs concert: Clowes Hall - for Freshman Orientation! August 2004
2004: JCFACO performs full-length concert at Wabash College, Crawfordsville, IN: September
2007: JCFACO performs full-length concert at Anderson University, IN: November 2007
2008: Members of JCFACO perform in the streets of PRAGUE, VIENNA and AMSTERDAM, directed by JCFACO co-directors Michael Schelle and Frank Felice . . . March 2008
REUTERFEST 2007
( MICHAEL SCHELLE and JCFACO Guest Composer, ROCKY REUTER )
( Elliott Schwartz (Maine), Matthew Lanier, and Michael Schelle )
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ANNUAL JCFA COMPOSER / CHOREOGRAPHER PROJECT:
Since 2000, annual pairing of 10 - 12 JCFA student composers with 10 - 12 JCFA Dance
Department choreography students for original collaborative presentations / performances.
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JCFACO NEW MUSIC FESTIVALS / CONFERENCES
MICHAEL SCHELLE and FRANK FELICE: Program Co-Directors / Co-Coordinators -
2005 SCI Region V Festival Conference: Midwest regional conference of Society
of Composers, Inc. at Butler University. 9 concerts (chamber, orchestra, band, choir)
of members music, lecture series, etc. Four days in November, 2005
MICHAEL SCHELLE Program Director / Coordinator - 1985 ASUC Region V Festival
/ Conference: Midwest regional conference of the American Society of University
Composers at Butler University As co-chair of the region (1984 - 1996), I organized /
hosted the festival/conference which included 8 concerts (chamber, orchestra, band,
choir) of members music, lecture series, etc. November, 1985.
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REVIEW (NUVO, Indianapolis' weekly Village Voice-style underground newspaper):
are enough to induce vertigo. Throw in "student orchestra," and they can go positively psycho. But no one should be spooked by the JCFA Composers Orchestra (JCFACO) at Butler University. This rapscallion ensemble, under the direction of Butler Composer in Residence Michael Schelle, dishes out contemporary musical fare with saucy style. Those who equate "student bands" with "student drivers" - as something to be given a wide berth - should summon the courage to drive over, take a look. JCFACO refuses to let jazz and rock have all the fun when it comes to musical experimentation.
JCFACO concerts present numerous premieres and a repertoire of late 20th century chamber musicm with an emphasis on pieces that otherwise wouldn't have a ghost of a chance of being heard in Indianapolis. It's for 'people just looking for something very different in the local music world,' Schelle says. 'If you are into the weird, the bizarre, the unusual, the somewhat irreverent, we are for you.' But, he adds, it's all done with professionalism, serious rehearsal, pedagogical bjectivity, and a 'wink of the eye.'
JCFACO's next program will include Moon Babies Get Off My Car by Tim Perrine (ed. note: Tim's a recent graduate of the USC Film Scoring Program), My Mother Told Me by Rob Simpson, Schemascapes by Adam Cotton, Unexpected Voices by James Mobberley (UM Kansas City), and This is Halloween (from Nightmare Before Christmas) by Danny Elfman, arr. by Tim Perrine."
NUVO, October, 2005 - Gary Weir
WHAT OTHER PEOPLE SAID ABOUT THE JCFA COMPOSERS ORCHESTRA CONCERTS:
It's a new world order! - Prof. Melissa Williams
Get me the hell out of here - Laura Thomas
Daddy, do you really get paid to do this? - Katie Schelle
Do you think this will hurt? - Raymond Leppard
This stuff is terrific! - Dr. Peter Alexander, Dean, JCFA
More fun than Schoenberg - Dr. Louis Chenette
Better than Pork Butt on a Stick - Maren Urness
Is this like musica ficta or something? - anon. JCFA theory student
Am I being punished? - Matt Bertsch
Do you guys rehearse? - anon. JCFACO parent
Repulsive, yet strongly seductive - Anderson University faculty member
Made me eager to avoid Hell at all costs - Anderson University
I thought I was dying, and found myself afraid I wouldn't - Anderson University
Music started going to shit when the Romantics died. Yeah, every once in awhile
they (the Composers Orchestra) will have something decent, but if they do another
one of those IN C minimalist concerts, I'll f---ing kill them all - Cory Ellison
Sit in the back row, it's safer there - Gary Weir, NUVO
Uproarious and insightful, provocative - Helen Straight
Too loud for Fluffy! - Molly Pratt (age 5)
Duck! - the artist formerly known as Dean Sells
Four thumbs up! 2 stars! Too hip for NUVO - Dr. Robert Grechesky
Dr. Schelle, do you permit this kind of music? - Dainis Michels father
What the Hell is this stuff? - anon. JCFA voice major
I didn't say anything - Natalie Booth
I laughed till I stopped - Dr. Wayne Wentzel