John Corigliano @ Midwest 2006

I never got around to the Midwest recap post, and since I'm supposed to be doing my taxes right now, this is as good a time as any. Eric didn't make it out this year - first time he's missed in something like 11 years (or was it 13?). Definitely wasn't the same without him (for one, I went to sleep a lot earlier...), but we were joined by someone I just never would've expected to see at Midwest:



That's right, John Corigliano himself. And yes, that's a customized BCM International polo shirt he's proudly sporting. We have a few more of these (without John's name on them, of course), so if you're interested, contact us...

Another highlight was the premiere of Loose Id for Brass Ensemble and Drumset by SoundInn Brass on Saturday morning, conducted by Ray Cramer:



And of course, there's always Mackey taking pictures of his food. This was at lunch with Newm, Corigliano, Verena, and myself. Corigliano bought us all a couple bottles of wine. Hell yes.




Best way to finish out the week? Of course - a gathering of BCM Forumites at the booth!


L-R: Will Hays, Jamie Henderson, Newm, Jim, Montoya (our ever-faithful booth assistant), Matt Schoendorff, and me

That's all I have time for right now - perhaps a few more photos will surface on the BCM Blog at some point.

I love doing taxes. Ugh.

Labels: BCM, Corigliano, Forum, Midwest

Radiant success

The MSU Wind Symphony's performance Tues. night was a great success - really fine performance. The hall was less than optimal (very dry and the audience is too far from the stage, so there's little impact or presence in the sound), but ironically, I suspect that will make the recording sound quite good. The band played nearly flawlessly, of course due in no small part to VM's superb conducting!

Hope to have a recording sometime soon. If it turned out as well as I'd hoped, I'll post it...

Labels: Radiant Joy

Radiant Joy @ Michigan State tonight

We're back in East Lansing after a quick (but wonderful) trip to Austin, TX. Verena is conducting Radiant Joy tonight with the Michigan State Wind Symphony, which promises to be quite good. The hall is a bit dry and tends to 'sand off' the edges a bit much, but they're playing really well, and anyone in the area should come to the concert if you can! It's at the University Auditorium on Auditorium Rd. on the MSU campus.

Big shout-out to Daniel Montoya for being an excellent host this past weekend. It was great to have the inside perspective on Austin, and a free ride. And of course, for the unparalleled honor of guest hosting the Montblog... (I was coerced - they made me do it!!!) ;)

Labels: montblog, Radiant Joy

Leonard Slatkin @ BGSU

BGSU is hosting a conducting workshop this week, and today's featured guest and clinician was Leonard Slatkin. I spent the better part of the day and night watching him work with the BG Philharmonia on Brahms 2nd, and then working with a number of student conductors on the same piece, as well as hearing him speak at the conferral of his honorary doctorate from BG. Quite an experience. He's incredibly articulate, both on the podium and off, and his dedication to young musicians (not just composers, though he's renowned for that as well), is inspiring. Watching him conduct was an education in and of itself, and is just one more reason this year at BG has proven to be invaluable.

Another of those reasons is that the Wind Symphony dedicated its entire rehearsal to my music today, sightreading Chester Leaps In (and taking it REAL FAST), then to working on Suite Dreams, and finally, spending 35 minutes sightreading my brand new Concerto for Wind Ensemble. It is a luxury beyond description for me to be able to finish a piece on a Monday, and get to hear it just 2 days later. No waiting until I hear the dress rehearsal to find out if the pacing works, if there are wrong notes in the parts, or if it will be as exciting in real life as I thought it was in my head. Now I know that, 1) Yes, 2) Yes, a few, but nothing too egregious, and 3) Holy cow YES!!

Anyway, my undying gratitude to director Bruce Moss for giving me so much of his rehearsal time, and to the band for sightreading some fiendishly difficult parts with me breathing down your necks.

Coming up next Tuesday - the Michigan State Wind Symphony, under the direction of Verena Moesenbichler, performs Radiant Joy! I've heard them in rehearsal, and this should be a VERY joyful rendition!

Mid-Europe 2007, July 10th-15th

I've mentioned the festival before, but I thought it warranted its own post, most importantly to invite any players ages 15-30 who want to perform with the World Youth Wind Orchestra Project - you should apply NOW! If spending a week in the stunning Austrian Alps, playing lots of music, and hanging out with all sorts of interesting people from Europe and the world sounds intriguing, then come on - I'd love to see you there!

WYWOP (World Youth Wind Orchestra Project) application and information
Ray Cramer, Douglas Bostock, guest conductors
Steven Bryant, guest composer

Information about the whole festival.


Pass the info along to anyone you think might be interested. Trust me, it's an amazing week spent in an amazing place. I had a great time last summer, and can't wait to go back!

Concerto for Wind Ensemble

Sunday afternoon, I finished my "Concerto for Wind Ensemble" for the USAF Band of Mid-America, led by Commander Donald Schofield. Cdr. Schofield asked me for something virtuosic, and we batted around ideas along the lines of a concerto grosso that represented the USAF Thunderbirds. As the idea evolved, I gravitated away from a specific, fixed concertino group opposed to the wind ensemble toward a full concerto for winds, focusing on small groups, often individual players, and shifting this throughout the entire ensemble. To highlight the separation, and also to pay homage to the Thunderbirds, I placed several instruments antiphonally above and around the audience: 2 horns left and right, 2 trumpets left and right, 2 clarinets left and right, and a clarinet and trumpet directly behind. I think the results will be spectacular, as various lines jump around the concert hall. While there's a fair amount of virtusoic, technical daredevilry (is that a word?), the piece also has a surprising amount of quiet, lyric material.

The title has been problematic for two reasons.

1) I swore long ago I'd never call a piece by any standard title, such as "Symphony," or "Sonata," etc.
2) A concerto is usually multiple movements of 15 minutes or more. This is only 7'30".

The title "Concertino" is actually the appropriate word for a small concerto, but it just sounds... small ... like a chamber work. This piece, while dealing extensively with small groups within the larger ensemble, is anything but 'small' in its attitude...

So, I guess I should write two more movements to this thing... maybe over the course of 10 years, like the Parody Suite...

It's been a blast to write this piece. The antiphonal instruments opened up a world of orchestrational possibilities. I managed to compose it in 24 days, from very first note to double-bar, though I hope it doesn't sound like that...

The premiere is scheduled for their Wisconsin tour April 12th-18th (Appleton, Fond du Lac, Manitowoc, Fish Creek, Sheboygan, Hartford, and Lake Geneva). Not sure I'll be able to make any of the performances, as I'm in residence at St. Charles East HS that week, and then have a major concert of several of my works at BGSU on the 14th, but we'll see...

I finished the parts around 3:30 this morning, so I think I will take a long nap now...

Lone Star Wind Orchestra does Radiant Joy - TONIGHT!

Eugene Corporon and the brand-new Lone Star Wind Orchestra will be performing Radiant Joy tonight. This is their first season, and the group owes its existence to fellow composer and UNT survivor, Christopher Tucker. I strongly suspect the group is red hot - definitely looking forward to hearing them in person at some point. If you're in the DFW area, check it out. It's at the Eisemann Center in Richardson, TX.

Suite Dreams

Suite Dreams, my fourth (and final?) Parody Suite piece, is finished and in rehearsals at Jasper High School in Jasper, Indiana! I'll go out there for the premiere in late April. I have a feeling I'll need to make some fairly serious revisions - not sure if the timing and flow works well yet (there's a fair amount of aleatory in the piece, which I didn't mock up in the computer, so I had to rely on that old-school technology called "imagination" while composing this one).

And yes, the title is corny as hell. Had to be consistent with the other three (Chester Leaps In, ImPercynations, and MetaMarch). The piece itself is different in character than its counterparts, however - Suite Dreams isn't intentionally funny. Rather, it's a dream-like, atmospheric work, with bits of Holst's First Suite in Eb drifting through the landscape. Thus the title: Suite... Dreams... get it? Yeah, I know. Groan-inducing. I had the same thought when I decided to use "ImPercynations" as a title: "that's awful, Steve - you're punning people to death". Not that it stopped me, obviously.

So, almost exactly ten years after finishing the wind ensemble version of Chester Leaps In, the entire Parody Suite is finished.

....or is it? (cue ominous Godzilla music...)

I will post a PDF of it at some point, but want to wait until I've made aforementioned revisions.