Biography

Augustus Arnone | Biography

Augustus Arnone is an adventurous pianist who has made a home at the edge of transcendental extremes in the modern repertory. His repertoire includes the complete works for solo piano by Milton Babbitt, Michael Finnissy's complete monumental eleven movement piano cycle, "The History Of Photography In Sound," as well as works by Cage, Xenakis, Stockhausen, Rzewski, Carter, Nono, Lucier, Feldman, Martino, Rakowski, Sierra, Campion and Eckardt. Composers who have written for him include Michael Finnissy, Robert Morris, Christopher Bailey, Yotam Haber, Elizabeth Hoffman, Jeff Snyder, Michael Klingbeil, Elizabeth Adams, Lou Bunk, Spencer Topel, and more. A stalwart champion of the ever controversial Babbitt, Mr. Arnone performed the composer's complete solo piano music on two occasions, first in 2008 at Merkin Concert Hall, New York City, and again in 2016, in honor of the centenary of Babbitt's birth year. He is currently recording the cycle for commercial release. Mr. Arnone has been presented at venues throughout Manhattan and Brooklyn including Merkin Concert Hall, the Issue Project Room, Roulette Concert Space, the cell, the Firehouse Space, Spectrum, and the Greenwich Music House.

Driven to a large extent by the writings of Marshall McLuhan, Mr. Arnone began the Collide-O-Scope Music series of collaborative concerts in the Spring of 2010 along with composers Stephen Gorbos and Christopher Bailey. The fundamental artistic directive behind these concerts was the simultaneous combination of numerous diverse media forms, both visual and aural, electronic and acoustic. Now in its Fifteenth Season, the Collide-O-Scope Music concerts, besides featuring cutting-edge ambitious repertoire, have remained experimental and perceptually challenging, mingling the old with the new, and fixed compositional forms with improvisation and musique concrète. Collide-O-Scope Music's debut album, "Eidos," featuring music by Jason Eckardt, Robert Morris, Lou Bunk, and Yotam Haber, is now available for purchase at BandCamp.

Mr. Arnone completed his doctoral studies at Cornell University where he studied historical performance practice with Malcolm Bilson. During that time, he presented recitals using period instruments spanning the entire history of the piano, from eighteenth-century five-octave pianos to mid-nineteenth-century precursors to the modern piano. In addition, he was active as a musicologist, focusing research on the music of Brahms and the performing culture of the mid-to-late-nineteenth century. This led to the publication of two articles as well as lecture-presentations at a number of universities, and at the national meeting of the American Musicological Society. Mr. Arnone holds degrees from the Boston Conservatory, the University of Michigan, and a Doctorate in Musical Arts from Cornell University. Principal teachers include Malcolm Bilson, Marilyn Nonken, Jonathan Bass, Logan Skelton, Penelope Crawford, and William Heiles.

Mr. Arnone is also an expert piano technician servicing pianos in Central NJ since 2011. For more information or to make an appointment visit augustusarnone.com/pt.html

Collide-O-Scope Music

Augustus Arnone serves as Executive Artistic Director of Collide-O-Scope Music, a contemporary music collective that he founded in 2009. The group has been presented at some of the premiere contemporary music venues in New York City, including The Issue Project Room, Symphony Space, Roulette Concert Space, The Cell, and more. Now in its Fifteenth Season, the group has offered an eclectic mix of newly composed works and essential classics from the modern repertory. http://www.collidemus.com

Milton Babbitt: Tutte Le Corde (1994)

Augustus Arnone performing Milton Babbitt's "Tutte Le Corde," at Spectrum, New York City, March 6, 2016. This performance was part of Mr. Arnone's traversal of the complete solo piano works of Milton Babbitt, in honor of the centenary of the composer's birth year.



News

Recording: The Complete Piano Works Of Milton Babbitt

Mr. Arnone is currently working on a commercial recording of the complete solo piano works of Milton Babbitt. Arnone first performed this cycle of works in 2008, following it up a second time in 2015/16 in honor of the centenary of Babbitt's birth year. The recordings will be released as a three volume series on the Hanging Bell Records label, a new recording label dedicated to contemporary composition founded by Augustus Arnone. The first volume is projected for release in the Fall of 2022.

The complete Well-Tempered Clavier II and complete The History Of Photography In Sound Recital Series

Beginning in the Fall of 2023, Augustus Arnone will embark on a 6 concert solo recital series pairing the complete 24 Preludes And Fugues from JS Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier Book II with the complete 11 movement cycle "The History Of Photography In Sound" by Michael Finnissy. This will mark his second traversal of the monumental Finnissy cycle, the first occuring in 2014-15 which received great critical acclaim including being named to NY Classical Review's Top Ten Performances Of 2015.

"EIDOS" — Collide-O-Scope Music's Debut Album - NOW AVAILABLE

Collide-O-Scope Music's debut album "Eidos" is now available for purchase at BandCamp. The album features music by Yotam Haber, Jason Eckardt, Robert Morris, and COSM co-director Lou Bunk. The album showcases a number of works composed for the group, including two quintets: Yotam Haber's "Estro Poetico-Armonico II," commisioned by the group through the Fromm Foundation for New Music, and Lou Bunk's "Fortune." Both quintets draw from the music of antiquity, with Haber's re-composing music of Benedetto Marcello, and Bunk's re-composing music of Machaut. Another work of Bunk's on the album is his delicately evocative work for two pianos, "A Shadow On The White," performed here by co-Director Augustus Arnone and the eminent contemporary music champion, Marilyn Nonken. Also on the album are two works by Robert Morris, "Yugen" and "Foray," the latter of which was composed for Arnone in 2016. Finally, the album includes the darkly provocative "Rendition," for piano and clarinet, by Jason Eckardt. This album is released on the Hanging Bell Records label.

"The History Of Photography in Sound" named to NY Classical Review's Top Ten Performances of 2015

Between 2014 and 2105, Mr. Arnone became one of only three pianists to perform Michael Finnissy's complete 11 movement piano cycle, "The History Of Photography in Sound." The performances took place over four concerts at Spectrum, New York City. The final concert, completing the cycle, was presented as part of a four concert festival with the composer in attendance. The festival featured performances by Michael Norsworthy and Daniel Beilman, with the composer at the piano, The International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), Collide-O-Scope Music, and Arnone's solo recital, which was recently named to NY Classical Review's Top Ten Performances of 2015. A full review of the concert is available at http://newyorkclassicalreview.com/2015/03/in-arnones-hands-finnissys-piano-music-proves-spellbinding/

Upcoming Performances


October 1, 2023 @4pm, 111 4th Ave., New York City

Salon Concert featuring music of Bach and Finnissy

November 10, 2023 @7pm, Renee Weiler Concert Hall at Greenwich Music House, New York City

The Complete Well-Tempered Clavier II and Complete The History Of Photography In Sound, Concert I

December 10, 2023 @8pm, Christ And St. Stephen's Church, New York City

Collide-O-Scope Music: Music Of Schoenberg, Berg, Babbitt

Current Season

October 1, 2023 @4pm

Salon Concert: Augustus Arnone, Irena Portenko, Jonathan Bass

JS Bach: Prelude And Fugue in C Minor From WTC II
JS Bach: Prelude And Fugue in C Sharp Minor From WTC II
Michael Finnissy: Le réveil de l'intraitable réalité
Franz Schubert: Sonata in B Flat Major, D 960
Claude Debussy: Images Bk I
Franz Liszt: Dante Sonata
111 4th Ave., New York City
Purchase Tickets

November 10, 2023 @7pm

The Complete Well-Tempered Clavier II and Complete The History Of Photography In Sound, Concert I

JS Bach: Prelude And Fugue in C Major From WTC II
JS Bach: Prelude And Fugue in C Minor From WTC II
JS Bach: Prelude And Fugue in C Sharp Major From WTC II
JS Bach: Prelude And Fugue in C Sharp Minor From WTC II
Michael Finnissy: Le Démon de L'Analogie réalité
Michael Finnissy: Le réveil de l'intraitable réalité
The Renee Weiler Concert Hall at Greenwich Music House, 46 Barrow St., New York City

December 10, 2023 @730pm

Collide-O-Scope Music: Music of Schoenberg, Berg, Babbitt, Bailey

Arnold Schoenberg: Das Buch Der Hängenden Gärten, Op. 15
Alban Berg: Vier Stücke for Clarinet and Piano, op. 5
Christopher Bailey: The Stuffed Ones
Milton Babbitt: Canonical Form
Milton Babbitt: Semi-Simple Variations
Milton Babbitt: Minute Waltz
Christ And St. Stephen's Church, 120 W69th St., New York City

March 24, 2024 @730pm

Collide-O-Scope Music: Music of Harting, Geers, Sandresky, Martino

Arnold Schoenberg: Das Buch Der Hängenden Gärten, Op. 15
Julie Harting: Oh, llama de amor viva (1987) **world premiere
Doug Geers: Tremor Transducer (2004-2005)
Eleonor Sandresky: Absence (2021) **world premiere
Donald Martino: Notturno (1974)
Elebash Recital Hall at CUNY, 365 5th Ave, New York City

Recordings

Repertoire

Milton Babbitt

The Complete Works for Solo Piano
Three Compositions for Piano
Duet
Semi-Simple Variations
Partitions
Minute Waltz
Playing For Time
My Complements To Roger
Tutte Le Corde
Tableaux
About Time
Canonical Form
Emblems
Takes 12 To Tango
Lagniappe
Overture
Post-Partitions
Preludes, Interludes, and Postlude
The Old Order Changeth
Allegro Penseroso

Christopher Bailey

Meditation 3(2006)

Bela Bartok

Piano Concerto no. 2
Piano Concerto no. 3

Ludwig van Beethoven

Variations on an Original Theme, Op.35 ("Eroica Variations")

Pierre Boulez

Piano Sonata no. 2

Johannes Brahms

Sonata Op. 1, C Major
Variations on a Theme by Schumann Op. 9
Ballades Op. 10
Variations on an Original Theme Op. 21 no. 1
Variations on a Theme by Handel Op. 24
Klavierstücke Op. 76
Klavierstücke Op. 116
Klavierstücke Op. 117
Klavierstücke Op. 118
Klavierstücke Op. 119

John Cage

Music Of Changes
Etudes Australes Books I & II
One

Edmund Campion

Natural Selection

Elliot Carter

Piano Sonata

Claude Debussy

Etudes Book I
Etudes Book II
La Plus Que Lent
Bruyéres
La cathèdrale engloutie

Jason Eckardt

Tango Clandestino(1997)

Morton Feldman

Palais De Mari

Michael Finnissy

Brahms-Lieder (2015) (**written for Augustus Arnone)
The History Of Photography In Sound (complete)
Chapter 1: Le démon de l'analogie (2000)
Chapter 2: Le réveil de l'intraitable réalité (1999)
Chapter 3: North American Spirituals (1998)
Chapter 4: My Parents' Generation Thought War Meant something (1999)
Chapter 5: Alkan-Paganini (1997)
Chapter 6: Seventeen Immortal Homosexual Poets (1997)
Chapter 7: Eadweard Muybridge - Edvard Munch (1997)
Chapter 8: Kapitalistische Realisme (mit Siziliänische Männerakte und Bachsche Nachdichtungen) (1999-2000)
Chapter 9: Wachtend op de volgende uitbarsting van repressie en censuur (2000)
Chapter 10: Unsere Afrikareise (1998)
Chapter 11: Etched bright with sunlight (1999-2000)

Stephen Gorbos

Chez Monk (2008)
Surely Some Revelation? (2006)

Yotam Haber

Etude 3
Etude 5.1
Slip

Michael Klingbeil

Monoliths & Interludes (2003)
Vers La Courbe (2012) (**written for Augustus Arnone)

Donald Martino

Fantasies & Impromptus

Robert Morris

Foray (2016) **written for Augustus Arnone
Sabi (1998)
39 Webern Variations (2010)
Entellechy (2012)

Luigi Nono

...Sofferte Onde Serene...

David Rakowski

Etudes:
Zipper Tango
Eight Misbehavin'
Cell Division
Zeccatella

Maurice Ravel

Gaspard de la Nuit
Sonatine

Frederic Rzewski

Four Piano Pieces(1977)

Roberto Sierra

Piezas Imaginarias
Segundo Álbum De Boleros (2017)

Karlheinz Stockhausen

Spiral

Iannis Xenakis

Mists