Dusk for Symphony Orchestra

I transcribed Dusk for symphony orchestra last weekend, and had the good fortune (thanks to the efforts of Donald Grantham) to have the University of Texas Symphony Orchestra read it yesterday. They did a fantastic job, and I'm happy to announce you can hear it on this page, or at MySpace (same recording in both places). The piece will be distributed by Hal Leonard (but still published by me), exactly the same as the band version, and will be available late this summer. I have a few corrections and revisions to make to the score, and then will post a perusal version on the site sometime in the near future.

Yesterday was a busy day: last night, Jonathan Newman invaded San Marcos, Texas last night, where he was the 2008 guest artist with Rod Schueller, Caroline Beatty, and the Texas State University bands. They did three of his pieces, and WildKoba and I headed down that way to catch the show. I'm sure details will be forthcoming on Jonathan's Notebook in the near future.

Labels: Dusk, Jonathan Newman, Symphony Orchestra, Texas State University, WildKoba

91 F

It's 91 degrees here at the moment. In February. I'm trying to avoid turning on the air conditioner, because that seems so decadent and un-Earth-friendly in the middle of WINTER. I'm loving this sunny warm winter, but sure am glad I won't be around for the summer...

Random miscellaneous:

Dusk scores are sold out at Hal Leonard for the moment, but Shattinger Music has some in stock if you need them. A brand new printing of both scores and sets is coming soon, with some minor revisions (mostly changes that I end up making when conducting it, so now they'll finally be codified). The new score and set also includes an optional Harp part, which I'll post for download on the Dusk page.

Also, I'm working on Dusk for symphony orchestra - I think it will make a great youth orchestra work. Amazing how the strings solve a lot of the sustain/breathing issues from the wind version. I have about a third of it finished. Have two possible performances lined up in the Fall - in two countries! More on that later in the year as plans are confirmed.

Residencies:
Arkansas Composers at Arkansas Tech University in Russellville. They'll be performing "First Light," and I'll finally get to do my first 'gig' with my old teacher, Francis McBeth! The forum and concert are on April 1st (not a joke!). Don't get to do many gigs in my home state of Arkansas, so this is a welcome event!

Going to Fort Wayne, IN on April 20th for a guest residency with Jim Colonna's group at Indiana University Purdue University -Fort Wayne (cumbersome enough name for you?). They'll be playing Radiant Joy.



The neighbors' puppy, Flower, on a little hike with us this weekend:



She's a cutie.

Back to procrastinating on the winds and electronics piece. I have a five-movement architecture laid out, but I can draw Corigliano-sketch-pictures all day long. Making the leap from there to actual notes is the chasm no one can teach you to jump across.

Labels: Apocalypse, Damn Hot, Dusk, F*cking Hot, Flower, Fort Wayne, Hot, Radiant Joy

Mackey Sax, TMEA catch-up

As promised, a few pics from Mackey's visit and TMEA:

John Mackey, Harvey Pittel, and AEJ, immediately after the fantastic UT concert with Mackey's Sax Concerto. Read more about it here. This man's circular breathing is indeed spectacular - I never could master that back in my saxamaphone-playin' days. And of course the ensemble was excellent as usual - they also played a well-done new "West Side Story" arrangement with particular 'verve.'




V and I headed to TMEA for a couple of days - now that it's just down the road, how could we not go? We spent some quality time with EW for the first time in far too long. He gave a clinic on his choral music with the Texas Tech Choir that was rather well-attended:



The choir was great, and ready for anything - Eric threw some new music at them just before the clinic, and they gobbled it up easily. I'm so inspired by hearing them that I've gone and dug up my one and only choral work from circa 1994. As I feared, it needs some serious work before it sees the light of day (even then, still not sure it's worthy of being heard in public). Hearing them did remind me how much I love choral sound.

As usual, E was besieged by fans asking him to sign anything and everything. Including the fans themselves:



At one point the crowd was bordering on the dangerous - almost crushing E and his manager, KC, against the wall. I'm sure that's a normal amount of attention for choral composers, though...

Unfortunately, we had to head home on Friday, and missed Mackey's numerous concerts, but we did make it to a rehearsal of the 5A Symphonic Band with Tom Lee. Holy hell - I'm jealous of all those high C's in the horns. They did indeed sound awesome. This piece was for the JWECC consortium in Japan, which Newman's doing this year, and I'll be composing a work for them next year. They ate up the high C's with no problem, so I figure I'll write some high D's. Why not, right? It's just a whole step... (For the sarcasm impaired, I'm not serious - rabid horn teachers need not write in indignation).


Since I woke up at 3am this morning and couldn't sleep anymore, I figure I'll go and transcribe Dusk for orchestra. Enjoy your day, wherever you are!

Labels: Dusk, Eric Whitacre, John Mackey, TMEA

It's Steven with a "V"

Back in November, I was at the Western International Band Clinic in Seattle with the fine Langley High School wind ensemble, and their director, Andrew Gekoskie. This is the group that commissioned and premered "Dusk" a few years ago, and they gave another fine performance of it at the conference. I never got around to posting pictures from the event because this is also where I dropped my laptop and was more or less offline for 3 weeks. So, a little late, but here's a nice tidbit from the conference:

Fellow Juilliard alum John Kilkenny, who performed a movement from Michael Daugherty's UFO percussion concerto on the same concert at WIBC, was recognized by Vic Firth for his performance, and they even have a photo up. Check it out!.

There's even a composer named Stephen Bryant in there. I don't know who this guy is, but he keeps showing up in my place.

It's Steven with a "V." Always has been, always will be. I know, it's a small thing in this world of war, hunger, crashing stock markets (today should be a real doozy), etc., but really, it's simple. Please? SteVen. It even saves you a letter. It's economical, efficient, and just plain the Right Thing To Do.

:)

Labels: Andrew Gekoskie, Arturo Rodriguez, Carl J. Bianchi, Dusk, John Kilkenny, Langley High School Wind Ensemble, Stan Schoonover, Steven with a V, WIBC

Bowie HS performs" Dusk"

Last night, I had the privilege to conduct the Bowie HS WInd Ensemble on my piece, "Dusk." They performed beautifully, especially considering the fact that we only had two rehearsals! It was wonderful to hear their entire concert - they play startlingly well, and I am honored that their director, Bruce Dinkins, invited me to be a part of their final concert of the Fall!

The horn section in particular rocked - solid, balanced, gutsy sound throughout the section:



I wish I'd gotten a picture of the whole band, but didn't manage to. So, imagine a great group of truly stellar high school musicians smiling at you!

Thanks again to Bruce and the staff at Bowie High School, and of course the band - I hope you all have a wonderful holiday, and perhaps we can work together again soon? ;)

Labels: Bowie HS, Dusk

Conducting Dusk at Bowie HS this Friday!

Bruce Dinkins, director of bands at Bowie HS in Austin, has graciously invited me to conduct Dusk with his Wind Ensemble this Friday night, December 14th. I met the band last Thursday and we sight-read through the piece, and I have to say I was blown away. This band is good - they were making music from my first downbeat. I'll go over the piece again with them this Thursday morning, and that's it - who ever heard of a High School group putting a piece together in two rehearsals?

If you're in Austin, come down to Bowie High School Friday night. Concert starts at 7, I believe, and the wind ensemble is last on the program (there are other bands before them).

In other news, I finally have my laptop back, so I'll try to get some pictures up from my recent adventures in Seattle and Rochester. Right now, I must print up a box-load of Radiant Joy scores and sets for Shattinger Music - sounds like he's going all-out for Midwest this year...

Labels: Dusk, Midwest, Radiant Joy

Austin, Texas

We returned from Europe one evening last week, packed our stuff, slept 4 hours, and at 5am began our 8-hour drive from Little Rock to Austin. Ugh.

Nice to be here, though. I've been setting up the apartment, assembling IKEA furniture, and fielding a nice influx of interest in some pieces. It appears H. Robert Reynolds and the USC Thornton Wind Ensemble will perform the first movement of Alchemy in Silent Spaces, the logic of all my dreams, on October 21st. Also, I'll be heading to Seattle in November for the Western International Band Clinic, where Andrew Gekoskie and the Langley HS Wind Symphony will do Dusk (which they commissioned and premiered back in 2004). Never been to the Pacific Northwest and have always wanted to go, so looking forward to that! Two weeks later, I head to Rochester, NY, for the New York All-State, where they'll premiere a new work I'm currently writing for them.

Speaking of the NY All-State Symphonic Band, let me tell you about this group. It's HUGE. 153 players. 30 Bb Clarinets. 6 Bass Clarinets. 16 Horns (ok,that makes me drool with anticipation). And guess how many Oboes they have? You'll need more than one hand. Not sure if that makes me drool or cower in fear (I kid, I kid!). Actually, this piece has been intimidating me for awhile - it presents quite the compositional dilemma. How do I create something that really takes advantage of all those players, but not make it impossible to program for anyone else? One idea I had was to divide the group into 2 - a "wind ensemble" of 1 on a part, and the remainder, which would still comprise a large symphonic band. Here's the kicker - I wanted to put the entire "wind ensemble" out in the audience, or, well, around the audience. So it'd be a piece for symphonic band and antiphonal...band. Now I'm really drooling at that thought. With that I might could even rival that "it's-so-loud-I-had-to-laugh" moment in Corigliano's Circus Maximus.

Unfortunately, the powers that be said the Eastman Theater won't have room for any such shenanigans. Bummer.

Ok, I should be working on the piece right now, in fact, instead of doing this, so...bis spaeter!

Labels: Dusk, New York All State, WIBC