Saunders Featured on Podcast
11-2-17: Last month, my former trombone student Kendall Halman interviewed me for his podcast Waiting Here for Everyman. The result was very cool, so check out this episode, which had some great questions from a very smart interviewer.
World Premiere of Maximum Impact
11-2-17: Last spring, Ed Michaels asked me to compose an original big band chart for Lakeland Jazz Impact. The result, Maximum Impact, is my first chart for big band, and will be premiered on Sunday, November 19 at the Rodehorst Performing Arts Center at Lakeland Community College on a joint concert by Jazz Impact and the Lakeland Civic Jazz Orchestra. Tickets are $7, $6 for seniors, and $2 for students, and are available at the doors or on Lakeland's website. I've played in big bands my entire musical life, and I'm excited have now created a work for the medium. Percussionist Larry Smith will be a featured soloist.
World Premiere of On a Clear Night You Can See Forever
11-2-17: My piece for violinist Galo Arboleda will receive its world premiere on Sunday, November 26 on a concert by the Cleveland Composers Guild at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. The title is On a Clear Night You Can See Forever, and the work is inspired by the Shafran Planetarium. The concert is at 3pm, and admission to the concert is free with museum admission.
New Works
The rest of 2017 is going to be busy for composing, and 2018 is shaping up that way as well! I will be writing a piece for Troika Melange, an ensemble headed by Alan Wenger at the University of Central Missouri, for the intriguing combination of trumpet, violin, and piano. I'm most of the way through this piece, and it has ended up being inspired by the epic tale of Robert Manry, a fellow Willowickian who sailed solo across the Atlantic in at 13.5-foot boat in 1965. I'm starting on a longer piece for soprano Carrie Hennessey based on The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam and incorporating ideas from the Great American Songbook.
On the horizon...
After many years, I finally have (almost) arranged for a performance of Woman/Night, my song cycle on Wallace Stevens poetry for soprano and trombone. Rachel Ware Carlton will be coming to Lakeland Community College for a performance during Spring 2018!
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!
In terms of performances, there are the usual conference and festival submissions out there. I'm happy to provide perusal materials to anyone interested in anything! Let me know what piece you'd be interested in!
I will be presenting my Twenty Views of the Trombone throughout Ohio in 2017-2018, beginning with a performance at Lakeland Community College in the fall. Specifics are still to be determined.
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!
In terms of performances, there are the usual conference and festival submissions out there. I'm happy to provide perusal materials to anyone interested in anything! Let me know what piece you'd be interested in!
I will be presenting my Twenty Views of the Trombone throughout Ohio in 2017-2018, beginning with a performance at Lakeland Community College in the fall. Specifics are still to be determined.