Miscellany: Bob Hurwitz, Tony Conrad, etc.

Robert Hurwitz, the longtime head of Nonesuch Records, one of the keenest listeners in the recent history of American music, is celebrated with a concert at BAM on April 1. Bob is an avid amateur pianist, and the concert will feature music written for him by a fairly imposing lineup of composers: John Adams, Laurie Anderson, Timo Andres, Louis Andriessen, Donnacha Dennehy, Philip Glass, Adam Guettel, Brad Mehldau, Pat Metheny, Nico Muhly, Randy Newman, and Steve Reich. There will also be performances by Kronos Quartet, k.d. lang, Stephin Merritt, Dawn Upshaw, and Caetano Veloso, among others.... One of my favorite programming initiatives of recent years was Spring for Music at Carnegie Hall. The concept of that festival — orchestras from across North America, chosen on the basis of creative programming — is finding new life as SHIFT, a collaboration between the Kennedy Center and Washington Performing Arts. The first edition begins next week with performances by the Boulder Philharmonic, the North Carolina Symphony, the Atlanta Symphony, and the Knights.... In town for SHIFT, I will talk to Will Robin at the University of Maryland on March 28.... Will has an excellent New York Times piece on the late Tony Conrad, who will be celebrated in a series of events and concerts in April. Tyler Hubby's documentary Tony Conrad: Completely in the Present is as riveting as Will says, and Corey Arcangel's archival site Music and the Mind of the World is worth hours, if not days, of your time.... Amy Beth Kirsten's Quixote is playing at Peak Performances in Montclair, NJ.... The Lou Harrison centennial is approaching, and Sarah Cahill is touring with a Lou program, touching both coasts.... #HearAllComposers is an Ireland-focused campaign for gender equality in programming. Lisa Hirsch and Brian Lauritzen have been compiling stats on American 2017-18 season announcements: they are pretty dismal to see. More on this soon.