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HISTORY The American Festival of Microtonal Music, Inc. (AFMM) was founded by Johnny Reinhard to showcase past and contemporary microtonal music and to introduce microtonality to the listening public. Through his direction of the AFMM and his other individual efforts, Reinhard has almost singlehandedly revived public awareness of microtonality in the 1990's. The AFMM has become a leader in new music activity today. Reinhard, born in 1956, formed the AFMM in the Spring of 1981 while he was pursuing postgraduate studies. At this time, Reinhard conducted extensive research on microtonality. The philosophy of microtonality contends that alternatives exist to the traditional Western 12-tone equal temperament system. Johnny Reinhard asserts that: "The number of pitches is infinite ... just because more importance is placed on the Western system today does not mean it's the best." Furthermore, he believes that all music is microtonal. Reinhard is not alone in his beliefs; he derives his philosophy from the pioneering work of composers and musical theorists dating back to antiquity. The AFMM produces concerts of Microtonal Music internationally. Microtonal Music is Music which is generally not based on the 12-tone equally tempered scale which is so prevalent in western music. It is not constrained to any style or time period. Concerts have included traditional music, rarely performed pieces, lots of original pieces, theatrical pieces, audience participation, ensemble work, well-known classics in original tunings, microtonal rock, hoomi singing, music for Homemade instruments, and of course lots and lots of bassoon music. Each concert has been digitally recorded and since 1985 or so, also videotaped. The AFMM maintains a loosely organized ensemble of virtuoso musicians who often perform in some combination or another in the concerts. The AFMM also puts together seminars and symposia on Microtonal Music. Board of Directors Edgar (Ted) E. Coons, Jr. is a neuroscience psychology professor at New York University. Since discovering the music of Carrillo while a Texas student, Ted went on to create with Thais Lathem the Electric Circus in the '70s. Ted is now President of the American Festival of Microtonal Music, and sits on several Boards. David Bernstein joined the AFMM Board of Directors in 2002. He has worked with the festival since 1994 and has performed on the World Premiere's of "Atlantis" and "Odysseus" He is the staff assistant for the President of US Pharmaceuticals and serves on the Board of Directors of the Chinese American Business Development Center and the Sino-American Culture and Arts Foundation works. David received his bachelor of fine arts in jazz performance and composition at The City College of New York. Orlanda Brugnola is an interdisciplinary scholar, poet and painter, writing in the areas of art, philosophy and religion. She is a Fellow of the Society for the Arts, Religion and Contemporary Culture. Some of her paintings may be found HERE. Gregory Evans has performed all over the world in all capacities from television jingles to avant garde electronica. He has been a sergeant in the Army, a soloist, chamber musician, contractor, touring Broadway and jazz musician, and university professor. Gregory was trained at the Juilliard and Manhattan schools of music. As a soloist he has premiered solo horn pieces and chamber music of some of the most challenging composers of our time including "Portrait Of Gregory Evans" by Pauline Oliveros. Gregory has been a frequent performer of microtonal music over the years with a solo role in Odysseus and Ultra for solo horn as well the music of Harry Partch and many others. Gregory is a founding member of the Crosstown and STX Xenakis Ensemble USA and has made many recordings with Absolute Ensemble, American Festival of Microtonal Music, Manhattan Chamber Orchestra, and several others. Mr. Evans is currently the membership director of Chamber Music America. David Galt is a NYC-based games expert as well as the owner of Games & Names, a consulting service in the areas of game design and name development. He also instructs and directs tournaments in bridge and poker. He earned a Ph. D in Education from Claremont Graduate University, and a BA and MA in Linguistics from Yale. For over 20 years, Galt has been a board member of the American Festival of Microtonal Music. He has performed in numerous venues on the valve trombone, ocarina, conch shell and didjeridoo. His father composed for television shows, films, and pageants. Brendan Glynn has sung on AFMM concerts since 1981, from Binchois' "O Solis Ortus Cardine" to Wendy Carlos' "Afterlife." He is a manager for the New York Housing Authority, and continues his commitment to champion contemporary music. Stuart Isacoff is a pianist, composer and writer and Editor of the magazine PIANO TODAY. He is a recipient of the ASCAP Deems Taylor Award for excellence in writing about music, and author of TEMPERAMENT: HOW MUSIC BECAME A BATTLEGROUND FOR THE GREAT MINDS OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION (Alfred A. Knopf). In addition to an active writing career, he performs recitals that combine classical repertoire and improvisation, and has taught musical subjects ranging from jazz improvisation to the philosophy of music at such institutions as Purchase College, William Paterson University, the Verbier Festival & Academy, the Van Cliburn Piano Institute and many others. The music of Elodie Lauten has been presented by the Lincoln Center Festival, the New York City Opera, WNYC, The Kitchen, the Performing Garage, the Dance Theater Workshop, La Mama, the Soho Baroque Opera, Downtown Music Productions, the American Festival of Microtonal Music, Interpretations, the SEM Ensemble, The Whitney Museum, and at the Paris Museum of Modern Art. Her compositions have been released on Lovely Music, O.O. Discs, Point/Polygram, New Tone (Italy), and 4-Tay. Her discography includes 24 titles to-date. In addition, she owns a record label, Studio 21, and she works with a wide variety of artists as a producer. Her pieces span categories and styles, with improvised as well as fully scored music including operas, orchestral, chamber and electronic works. She has received awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Massachusetts Council on the Arts, ASCAP, Meet the Composer, the American Music Center, and The Music Liberty Initiative. Her work is documented in American Music in the 20th Century and Music Downtown, Writings from the Village Voice by Kyle Gann, New Sounds by John Schaefer, Soho: The Rise and Fall of an Artist Colony by Richard Kostelanetz, La Musica Minimalista by Giovanni Antognozzi and the Novocento music dictionary. She is on the music composition faculty at New York University. For more information, see her website:www.elodielauten.net |
 Charles Ives's Universe Symphony realized by Johnny Reinhard exclusively from Ives's Universe Symphony sketches performed by the AFMM June 6, 1996 Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center, NYC The UNIVERSE SYMPHONY is just over an hour in length and is orchestrated for 70 musicians. Seriously worked out by 1915, Ives set out an algorithmic series of sketches asking for someone to finish the work. Beginning with a 27 minute percussion Prelude of the Cosmos, the composition is at once abstract and programmatic. "The Ninth at one end and the 'Universe' Symphony at the other: together they enclose the trancendentalist epoch in music" (Richard Taruskin, New York Times 10/23/94) The work's polymicrotonal content, use of homemade instruments, improvisation, clever instrumentation, and use of an "overtone machine" place it quite in advance of later developments. The AFMM Orchestra draws upon the very best NYC Musicians - specialists in the virtuosic world of contemporary music in general, experts in microtonal performing practices in specific. Universe Symphony: Instrumentation Universe Symphony: Structure Universe Symphony: Concordance between Source, Score and CD by Ted Coons For More Info Click HERE  Board of Directors (continued) Carol LoPresto is a visual artist with a passion for microtonal sound. Music serves as a diving board for her new paintings and designs. Carol is possibly the most visible Board member in her role as head of the AFMM box office. Henry Lowengard has been the webmaster for the American Festival of Microtonal Music even before there was a World Wide Web to speak of - at the time, it was hosted on a gopher server. Musically, he has been associated with the AFMM since 1985 as a performer on retuned autoharp and hammered dulcimer, and also on "loudspeaker," writing his own software to realize Tenney's "For Ann (rising)", Slavensky's "Music for Natur-Tone System" and his own "November 13, 1987". Mr. Lowengard also tuned and programmed various MIDI synthesizers to be used as Chromelodeons when the AFMM Ensemble plays Partch pieces which requires them. Read much more at www.jhhl.net and http://www.echonyc.com/~jhhl/ M. Joel Mandelbaum is the author of the first dissertation on microtonal music, from Indiana University on "19-tone Equal Temperament and Multiple Divisions of the Octave." He is Professor of Music at the Aaron Copland School of Music, Queens College in New York. His compositions frequently employ just intonation or 31-tone equal temperament. Joseph Pehrson has been co-director of the Composers Concordance in New York since 1983. He writes in many intonations for choruses, orchestras, stringed instruments, horns, reeds, winds, theremins and probably a few other families of musical instruments. Several of his compositions have been presented at AFMM concerts. For more information, see his website at http://users.rcn.com/jpehrson/JosephPehrson.html Joshua Pierce is the official pianist of the AFMM. His large list of honors, concert tours, collaborations and recordings , as well as exciting current work with fellow board member Michael Harrison can be viewed at his website at http://www.jamesarts.com/pierce/. Johnny Reinhard founded the AFMM in 1981. He is the keeper of a huge collection of theoretical works, scores, recordings and papers on the subjects of Tuning. For the AFMM, he produces all the concerts, frequently playing virtuoso bassoon parts, intoning vocals and composing such works as Odysseus, Dune, and Raven.  |