Jan 21, 2012. New Voices Festival @ CUA, Washington, D.C. 10am concert in the St. Vincent de Paul chapel. Wisdom will be performed by Matthew Yost, accompanied by John Henderson.
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Jan 212012
Jan 192012
February 2, 2012: Critical Mass will be the closing work on a solo recital by Ryan McMasters. Center Avenue United Methodist Church, Pitcairn, PA. 7:30 pm. I am incredibly grateful to Ryan for continuing to champion this tough piece!
Nov 092011
Another MSU Premieres concert is on the horizon. This one will include my solo clarinet piece, Water:Dance, written for and performed by Dr. Cassandra Hibbard. I may also be premiering a fun little piano solo called The Latin Tinge. Hope you can make it!
Oct 242011
Big news for East Lansing- Ryan McMasters has agreed to come up from Pittsburgh to play Critical Mass, my piece for solo bass, at a concert of new music November 1 (At 7:30pm in Hart Recital Hall). Alysa Treber will also encore Astor’s Nod, a tango-inspired flute solo she premiered in April. I’m looking forward to hearing these!
Aug 122011
Ryan McMasters, bassist extraordinaire, played Critical Mass in Pittsburgh a couple weeks ago as part of a solo bass recital. He’s a very talented guy and I appreciate both his interest in new music and the exposure this piece is getting!
Apr 302011
So I’ve been involved in a seminar on Composer/Performer Symbiosis. During the course of this seminar, composers were paired with performers and worked closely to develop a new work. I had the privilege of working with Alysa Treber, an excellent flutist. The end result was a solo flute piece called Astor’s Nod. I wanted to explore a few different things in this piece, including implied harmonies with a single line & the natural agility of the flute. As we began this process, Alysa played me a tango by Astor Piazzolla which intrigued me, so I decided the piece would take a latin turn while exploring other virtuosic things. (This is Juxtacomposed Music, after all…).
Astor’s Nod premiered Wednesday night (April 27th) at the Symbiosis concert. Alysa knocked it out of the park and there was lots of great feedback! A recording is here or via the music page. Check it out~
tom
Apr 142011
Cassandra Hibbard will be premiering my clarinet solo Water:Dance which was written for her on Monday the 18th at Michigan State. The piece was inspired by two paintings (actually hanging in the auditorium where it will be performed) whose characters are intertwined through the piece. Its a tough piece and Cassandra is outstanding! Come hear it on Monday.
Apr 062011
Word from Ryan is that Critical Mass (for double bass) went well and was well-received. I’ll hopefully have a recording up soon!!
I have three (count ‘em) premieres happening this month. This is a flurry of activity after last year’s work on a large piece for wind symphony.
Ryan McMasters will premiere “Critical Mass,” a piece written for him for solo double bass on April 8. It will be the featured work on a solo recital at the Hartt School of Music, University of Hartford in Connecticut. Ryan has collaborated quite a bit with me and I am utilizing several interesting techniques that he has developed.
Cassandra Hibbard will premiere “Water:Dance” for solo clarinet on April 18th. The concert is at Michigan State University and will feature the clarinet studio there. Water:Dance was partially inspired by two paintings hanging in the Music Auditorium, the interpretation of which has been a topic of conversation for Cassandra.
Finally, Alysa Treber will premiere a solo flute piece, the name of which is still in limbo (the piece isn’t done yet!) on April 27, also at Michigan State. This is the culmination of a seminar on symbiosis, the collaboration of performers and composers.
Having my music performed is always rewarding. Thanks to the wonderful performers out there who put in all the hard work learning them!
The folks at Dennison University did an excellent job with Rush Hour. You can hear my bootleg recording of it on the site now. The whole weekend was a great experience, getting to meet some interesting composers and performers! I ha d a great response to my piece, which opened the first concert on Friday. Several performers asked me for more of my music.
