More than eight years in, Southern Exposure has little left to prove.

With standing-room only attendance and nearly 30 concerts worth of challenging, provocative music — not to mention a hearty 2007 blue ribbon for adventurous programming from ASCAP and Chamber Music America — the series is no longer a secret, either.
 

Real Quiet

Attracting names and ensembles that wouldn’t normally darken recital halls below the Mason-Dixon, the Southern Exposure New Music Series at USC has quickly become Columbia’s flagship concert series.

Most of the credit goes to one admittedly tall man — associate professor of composition John Fitz Rogers.

Long before the sold-out crowds and national commendations, it was his name — and his name alone — that convinced such artists as Martin Bresnick and Carlos Sanchez-Gutierrez to come down South and take a chance on a young, unproven concert series. And it’s been Rogers’ own continued success as a composer and promoter that have kept artists like So Percussion, Alarm Will Sound and Evan Ziporyn coming back.

Never one to rest on his laurels, the 2009-10 season — which opens Friday night at 7:30 p.m. at the USC School of Music Recital Hall — finds John Rogers in a particularly good mood.
“I’m really excited about the new season,” he says. “As you know, Southern Exposure features a very broad range of contemporary classical music, and this season is a prime example.”
 
Gushing with enthusiasm, Rogers seems to know this year’s roster by heart.
“We’ve got everything from the genre-blurring music of Marc Mellits and Real Quiet in the opener; to Wu Man performing classic and new work for pipa; to cutting edge technology in our ‘Exposed Wiring IV’ concert; to the Los Angeles Piano Quartet with Pulitzer prize-winning composer Steven Stucky.”

Friday’s kickoff concert with Real Quiet features three of New York City’s finest working musicians — percussionist David Cossin, cellist Felix Fan, and Andrew Russo on piano — in what Rogers calls a true “all-star band.” Each member is highly sought after soloist in the contemporary classical world, and since forming back in 2004, Real Quiet has worked with everyone from the Munich Chamber Orchestra to Steve Reich to Jim Thirwell’s Foetus incarnation.

Their debut recording for Endeavor Classics, Tight Sweater (featuring the work of composer Marc Mellits), was named an NPR Pick of the Week, and in typical fashion Rogers is flying Mellits down from upstate New York to speak at USC before the concert.

As for the program, Rogers assures that Real Quiet will be performing three selections from Tight Sweater, as well as the world premiere of Jacob ter Veldhuis’s “Things Like That,” a new work by one of Europe’s most important (and controversial) composers that weaves together both live performance and fragments of recordings by jazz legend Anita O’Day.

Also on tap for the evening: Annie Gosfield’s “Wild Pitch,” inspired by the 2004 World Series; Phil Kline’s “Last Buffalo,” a tribute to Hunter S. Thompson; and Lou Harrison’s amazing “Varied Trio,” a piece influenced by music from Indonesia, India and the European pre-Baroque.

As always, Southern Exposure concerts are free and open to the public (although I’m sure Rogers wouldn’t turn down a donation), and you’ll definitely need to get there early if you want to sit down for the show.

Eight years in, all I wish to say to John Rogers and the Southern Exposure New Music Series is “eight more years.”  

The concert is free and starts at 7:30 p.m. in USC’s School of Music Recital Hall. Concerts are standing-room only; early arrival is strongly advised. Marc Mellits’ lecture is also free and open to the public. It will take place on Friday at 2:30 p.m. at the USC School of Music, Room 210.