Recent Goings On
7-29-18: I've been neglecting the site a little bit the last few months, but it's finally time to get back to it!
Here's what's been happening with my music in the first half of 2018:
In April, I was at the College Music Society Great Lakes Regional Conference at Otterbein University in Westerville, Ohio, for a wonderful performance of The Specious Present by the duo that commissioned it, Juan Carlos Ortega and Jacqueline Eichhorn. I also gave a talk on my orchestra role-playing project, the Cabot Symphony Orchestra.
I've completed four pieces, and two have had premieres:
It's been busy at home and at school, but there has been time to compose and to have performances of the results!
Here's what's been happening with my music in the first half of 2018:
In April, I was at the College Music Society Great Lakes Regional Conference at Otterbein University in Westerville, Ohio, for a wonderful performance of The Specious Present by the duo that commissioned it, Juan Carlos Ortega and Jacqueline Eichhorn. I also gave a talk on my orchestra role-playing project, the Cabot Symphony Orchestra.
I've completed four pieces, and two have had premieres:
- I'm currently finishing up a song for baritone voice and piano for Loren Henz-Reash based on a poem by his grandmother Janice Reash, called And I Live With the Fiction that I Never Get Mad. Look for a premiere in the near future!
- I wrote a solo cello piece called Fire Floated for the Cleveland Composers Guild Creativity: Learning Through Experience XXVI concert in May. Cellist Theodora Bowne gave a splendid performance of this piece written in reaction to the February shootings at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida.
- I created a fanfare for orchestra to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Lakeland Community College. The piece is called The Lovely Soul of Lakeland and had its premiere by the Lakeland Civic Orchestra in April.
- Finally, this summer I've finished a duo flute and clarinet for flutist Tammy Evans Yonce. A somewhat conservative piece, Duo Capriccio is a set of variations on the theme from Paganini's 24th Caprice for solo violin. Looking forward to a premiere this year!
It's been busy at home and at school, but there has been time to compose and to have performances of the results!
New Works
7-29-18: I'm in discussions with Margaret Brouwer to compose a piece for her new music group, the Blue Streak Ensemble, commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Cuyahoga River fire in 1969 and its jump-starting of the environmental movement.
I'm wrapping up work on two pieces, And I Live with the Fiction that I Never Get Mad and Place of the Sea Mountains, hopefully for premieres in 2018-2019. Place of the Sea Mountains is
I'm considering a choral setting of one of the psalms for the Cleveland Composers Guild collaboration with the Cleveland Chamber Choir.
I've also been discussing the possibility of a piece for clarinet and guitar with Erika Cikraji, a clarinetist from my Ohio State days who now lives in Cleveland.
I'm wrapping up work on two pieces, And I Live with the Fiction that I Never Get Mad and Place of the Sea Mountains, hopefully for premieres in 2018-2019. Place of the Sea Mountains is
I'm considering a choral setting of one of the psalms for the Cleveland Composers Guild collaboration with the Cleveland Chamber Choir.
I've also been discussing the possibility of a piece for clarinet and guitar with Erika Cikraji, a clarinetist from my Ohio State days who now lives in Cleveland.
On the horizon...
7-29-18: I'm looking forward to the world premiere this fall of Woman/Night, my song cycle for soprano and trombone on poetry by Wallace Stevens. This piece has been much-delayed, but I now have a new collaborator, soprano Kaitlyn Bourne, and she and I will be presenting the piece on a program by Resonanz in the fall, and possibly at other venues. Check back for details!
I'm also hoping to organize a local premiere for Place of the Sea Mountains, and to that end, I've recruited trumpeter Brian DePoy and violinist Natalia DePoy. This piece is about Willowick resident Robert Manry's solo crossing of the Atlantic in his 13.5-foot boat Tinkerbelle, so it's important that it have a local presence.
I've completed my solo piano piece Sisters in Stone, inspired by the statuary collection at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, which I visited on my trip there in February 2017. More details on my blog here. Dianna Anderson, who gave the premiers of my Starry Wanderers and my piano sonata has signed on for the premiere! More details to follow!
I'm also hoping to organize a local premiere for Place of the Sea Mountains, and to that end, I've recruited trumpeter Brian DePoy and violinist Natalia DePoy. This piece is about Willowick resident Robert Manry's solo crossing of the Atlantic in his 13.5-foot boat Tinkerbelle, so it's important that it have a local presence.
I've completed my solo piano piece Sisters in Stone, inspired by the statuary collection at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, which I visited on my trip there in February 2017. More details on my blog here. Dianna Anderson, who gave the premiers of my Starry Wanderers and my piano sonata has signed on for the premiere! More details to follow!
