Dennis Bathory-Kitsz aka Kalvos

Did you know that if you buy my book on Amazon, Jeff Bezos makes 5 times as much as I do on each copy sold? Sharing some behind-the-scenes book math on why buying directly from presses is best for EVERYONE (except Bezos) in my newsletter today! aubreyhirsch.substack.com/p/book-math

Pages from "Soiled Amplitudes", showing a frame from my "Underside" video with block colors and structural designs, and three captures from Jesper Pedersen's "Kesselschleicher" animated score.

Bluesky only allows four images, so here's another of interest.

Cover of "Soiled Amplitudes" by Dennis Bathory-Kitsz, showing the title words crossing each other in blue and red on a yellow background and the subtitle "My musical composition and notational aesthetic in five seasons" with clips from two graphical scores in the background.

A page from "Soiled Amplitudes", showing a Beethoven score page written in Klavarscribo, and text referencing notational limitations, sound, and image.

A page from "Soiled Amplitudes" with photographs from the chamber opera "Plasm over ocean", including the "Uncello", three performers playing the "Hharp", and four singers representing the clergy.

Pages from "Soiled Amplitudes", including a block diagram of the interactive electronics used in "In Bocca al Lupo" and three of the buildings created for "Traveler's Rest (Wolf5)".

Here are a few pages from my new 320-page book "Soiled Amplitudes", officially available April 1 (no joke)! It's on Amazon, but for my social media friends, a copy can be had directly from me, autographed, for only a little more than my cost. Message or email me if you want one.

For any composer friends still considering a graphical score for my book: alas, the book is officially closed and going for a proof copy on Thursday. (There are two still coming for which I've locked in space.) My thanks to the 32 composers whose scores will be represented in the book!

Finished first draft of "Soiled Amplitudes: My Musical Composition and Notational Aesthetic in Five Seasons". 350 pp. w/ 110 ill., 14 graphical scores by living composers are here; still waiting on 8. (Temp. cover image.) Full-color book is ~$50 but b&w paperback is ~$25. Msg me if interested.

As long as it looks cool. 😀 Don't want to bore my readers.

Many composer friends have moved here; I've been busy & absent. Are you a composer who works with graphical notation? A small clip of your work (especially handwritten) would be welcome for an upcoming book on my notational aesthetic. DM/email with clip, 100-word description, and permission. Thanks!

Good story. Amazing that the nearest town is 60 miles away. No wonder they can't get stock inexpensively. Here in Vermont, most towns are a horse's drink apart (about 7 miles).

You did. It is a piece that is nearly impossible in demands on technique and endurance, and it stands as a wonderful premiere performance.

Haven't been here in weeks. Obsessed with cleaning up my scores. Most are written for specific concerts and don't get second performances. Now if they're cleanly engraved, they might get more plays. Here are pages from four different scores out of the 188 (of 465) that I've finished since July 24.

Thanks! Now working on #118 of 465. Those updates from Finale 2.2 take a bit of time, but all the info is there. Maybe I'll finish by next year! Here's a comparison of a page from a Finale 2.2 score done in 1994 with the a clean-up just finished in Finale 27. The old version had all the abilities!

Any with Cage screws & nails. The rest, mmmnngh.

Thank you. Yes, I have always been doing a mix of traditional and various levels of scores with custom notation. (My first traditional/graphical score hybrid was in 1969.)

Thank you! Excellent -- be inspired! (This was a commission from 2007, but the singer never got around to performing it.)

Thank you! Yes, back issues are exhausting. I injured my back when I was 28, and occasionally it shows up again (nearly 50 years later now).

I have a 2007 composition for cello & piano called, "Earth, Air, Water, Sleep". Not descriptive, though.

A page from "Return to Nineveh" by Dennis Bathory-Kitsz for solo voice and effects (filtering, loops, levels, microphone actions, reverb, and other effects). The section shown includes the text "yet they shall flee away. stand! stand! but none shall look back ... Take ye the spoil of silver, take the spoil of gold, for there is none end of the store and of the glory."

Where have I been? In July I cracked some ribs, had a bad BPPV episode, injured my back. Better now. This season's work? Alas, no composing. Updating & inputting all my scores & parts worth saving. So far, 78 of 465 pieces (402 documents with parts). Here's a partial page of "Return to Nineveh".

If there's all white noise and the blanked notes become bands of silences, what does it sound like? (There is no group called Band of Silences? Why not?)

I've always done that. It counterbalances and keeps me from falling forward off the stage.

Happened to me in the 80s. My publisher went bankrupt after overprinting thousands of copies of my book. I got 3% of my $55K royalties and the contract was terminated. Books were sold as scrap to a company in another state. That company, owned by the same people, sold my "scrap" book at full price.

I have tinnitus and it sounds just like that. 🙁

Yes. When I was teaching undergrads (2010-2020), they had no idea that Mozart's Don Giovanni, the French Revolution, and the American Revolution were even in the same century. And science, philosophy, and art? No connection at all. I felt like I was teaching all five subjects at once.

But could you dial a dial phone by clicking the plungers in rhythm? Lots of free calls on any phone with a finger lock.

No boombox, but everything else. Heck, send handwritten postcards in April. 😀

Large crowd at the NoKings protest in Montpelier, Vermont in an image taken from the state house steps.

Montpelier, Vermont #NoKings

YouTube video by Dennis Bathory-Kitsz Dennis Bathory-Kitsz: "Winter: Three Songs on the Nature of Armageddon", Symphony No. 4 (1987)

Wouldn't mind a repost boost from my friends here. I'd love to have this symphony end up in front of an adventurous conductor or two. Thanks!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dt5m...

I'd love it if a few more Bluesky folks listened and commented and shared this video. It's been 38 years getting to have this performance.

YouTube video by Dennis Bathory-Kitsz Dennis Bathory-Kitsz: "Winter: Three Songs on the Nature of Armageddon", Symphony No. 4 (1987)

Hi everyone! As promised, here is the link to the Bulgarian performance of my Symphony No. 4, "Winter: Three Songs on the Nature of Armageddon". Thank you for your support and enthusiasm!
Please turn on captions/subtitles (the YouTube [cc] symbol).
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dt5m...

I know Charles Amirkhanian wasn't very enthusiastic about K&D when we had him as a guest in 1999. After that, our only contact was OM fundraising appeals, but no personal interaction.

Seriously, our guest interview list is pretty good. 😍
kalvos.org/cmpindx.html