It's official, The Juilliard Orchestra, under the amazing James DePreist, will give the world premiere of the orchestra version of Alchemy in Silent Spaces in May, 2006!
I'm working on the arrangement this Fall. The first and third movements will be very similar to the wind version, but I'm considering rewriting the second movement from scratch, and using only string orchestra, solo flute, and harp. And I may add a small, fourth-movement "epilogue" - that's still up in the air.
I have to say I'm pretty excited about this - I've long thought that Alchemy would find it's ultimate home in the symphony orchestra, but never quite expected to get the opportunity. I literally cannot wait to hear this!
The performance will be May 25th, at Alice Tully Hall (Lincoln Center) in New York. It's the final concert of Juilliard's Centennial celebration. Mozart, Lutoslawski, and me. I'm not nervous. At all. Really...
Spent the weekend painting the core of the house. Almost finished. We're going with "Mexican Feather Grass" for the living and dining rooms, which you'll see below. It's a muted "Pottery Barn" green - very classy. The molding and trim is all some sort of slightly eggshell off-white. Granary white or something. It works. House already looks ten million times better.
Here are the test strips I put up so we could decide which color to go with:
The one on the left is the "Mexican Feather Grass" though the lighting makes it hard to tell what they actually look like.
Here's Craig and Maria busy painting the living room. Tina and Dave also made an extremely productive appearance on Saturday. You can tell who your true friends are by who shows up to help paint...
Mike's Hard Lime also put in some time. If you haven't tried it, I recommend it highly. Haven't tried the other flavors, but Lime is seriously addictive.
Oh, one more thing: RedLine for Wind Ensemble will finally be premiered next March at a regional CBDNA conference. More details to follow...