Cedar Ridge HS Bands tonight!

The Cedar Ridge HS Wind Symphony and Symphony Bands are playing my MetaMarch and Radiant Joy tonight, in Hillsborough, NC. I'll be working with both bands in rehearsal today, and at the concert tonight. Triangle people, come on out!

The Fall Schedule

Lots of performances coming up, and I'm happy to say I'll be at a number of them. The madness begins this coming Tuesday, as I make my very first trip to Kansas City (eager for BBQ - I've been to Memphis many times, lived in Austin, now live in NC, so KC is the last of the big 4 BBQ holy lands I have yet to visit). Here's a rundown of my travels this Fall:

Sept. 22-25: UMKC Wind Symphony (Ecstatic Waters concert 9/24)
Sept. 30-Oct. 5: Univ. Michigan Symphony Band (Ecstatic Waters concert 10/2)
Oct. 11-15: Univ. Miami Wind Ensemble (Ecstatic Waters concert 10/14)
Oct 27: Cedar Ridge HS (NC) Wind Symphony and Symphonic Band concert (Radiant Joy and MetaMarch)
Nov. 15-17: Oklahoma State University Wind Ensemble (Ecstatic Waters concert 11/17)
Nov. 18-20: Univ. Nebraska - Lincoln / NMEA residency - WORLD PREMIERE of The Marbled Midnight Mile (concert 11/20)
Nov. 20-Dec. 1: UNC Greensboro Wind Ensemble (Ecstatic Waters concert 12/1)
Dec. 2-5: Williams College WInd Ensemble (Ecstatic Waters concert 12/4)
Dec. 5-7: Michigan State Univ. Wind Symphony (Ecstatic Waters concert 12/6)
Dec. 14-19: Midwest Clinic, Chicago, IL

So, those are the ones I'll actually be in attendance. A fuller (though not complete) list of upcoming concerts is here.

What makes this extra fun is flying with all my laptop and audio gear. Airport security loves to see me with my backpack full of cryptic (to them) audio interfaces and cables. Explaining that the big MOTU letters stand for "Mark of the Unicorn" doesn't really clarify the situation any, either.

Festival of Winds Concert, Conway, Arkansas

I'm heading to Arkansas this weekend for the Festival of Winds Honor Band and concert on Saturday night (May 2nd). This is a joint concert between the honor band and the Little Rock Wind Symphony, both of whom will be performing my music (with me conducting!). In addition, I'm conducting Eric Whitacre's Sleep with the honor band - my first time to conduct someone else's music! The festival is organized by Karen Fannin, director of bands at Hendrix College, and the conductor of the LRWS. Showtime is 7:30pm, Saturday night, at Staples Auditorium on the Hendrix campus in Conway, AR. Come out if you're around!

Texas State has Suite Dreams

The Texas State University Wind Ensemble and Symphonic Winds concert was last night, and both groups did a fantastic job. I let the professionals handle the conducting, except for the last of my pieces, Suite Dreams, for which I just couldn't resist taking the podium. The group played really, really well, and I think it all went over well with the audience, as well. :)

Now it's off to Ohio State University tomorrow for rehearsals with Rock Blatti and the Symphonic Band on Ecstatic Waters, which they're performing Wednesday night. However, I have to leave from there on Wed. morning for St. Charles East High School (Chicago suburb), where Jim Kull and the Wind Ensemble are ALSO doing Ecstatic Waters, so I can perform it with them on Thursday night. If you're in either of those towns, you should go to one of the concerts - won't be quite like any band concert you've ever been to before!

Texas State University residency this week

I'm pleased to serve as the 2009 Texas State University Dept. of Bands Visiting Artist this week. I'm heading down to San Marcos for rehearsals with the Wind Ensemble and the Symphonic Winds (Rod Schueller and Caroline Beatty, directors) today, and then will return for a full day of seminars, rehearsals, etc. on Thursday, and then Friday evening for the concert, featuring Radiant Joy, Suite Dreams, Dusk, and MetaMarch. Concert is Friday night at 8pm, in Evans Auditorium on the campus of Texas State University.

And as a TMEA recap - Baylor did a great job with Alchemy in Silent Spaces, Mvt. I, the logic of all my dreams last week! It was a pleasure to hear them play, and I had a great time as always in San Antonio!

Off to San Marcos...

Colorado State University

I've just spent a packed and rewarding two days at CSU here in Fort Collins, Colorado, working with the Wind Ensemble (directed by Steve Moore) and the Symphonic Band (directed by Miller Asbill). The Symphonic Band performed MetaMarch and Rise, and I must say Rise is even harder than I'd thought - especially at the tempo and phrasing Miller took it (which I thought was *perfect* btw). Just as with all slow piece, the slower and more elongated the piece is, the more difficult it becomes. As I told the group, they just need to bring their extra sets of lungs - not sure they thought that was funny. They really rose to the occasion, though, and played very well.

The Wind Ensemble did Suite Dreams, and in fact closed with it, which is an interesting programming choice, considering that it ends so quietly. I thought it was incredibly effective, and the audience seemed to respond to it, too! They also did Gordon Jacob's Concerto for Bassoon with Barrick Stees from the Cleveland Orchestra, and holy COW can that man play the Bassoon. It was extraordinary to hear.

Yesterday, I also make a side detour to work with Matt Arau and his group at Loveland HS, on THREE of my pieces - it was a fast and furious rehearsal, and lots of fun. The group was very, very good, and very large! I had a great time working with them as well - it's always heartening to see such a fine and disciplined high school group.

Gotta head to Denver to catch my plane back home, and madly finish up this new piece for the JWECC consortium in Japan...

Duluth Days 2 & 3

(posting from a fogged-in Duluth airport, where I await a bus to Minneapolis since my 7am flight (and all flights) in and out of Duluth are not happening...)

The remainder of the weekend here in Duluth was great. Saturday (Day 2) the two High School Honor bands rehearsed in the morning, and we gave the concerts in the afternoon. At the 1pm dress, Rich Mowers (director of the Maroon Band) and I decided I'd conduct Interruption Overture with his group, so went through it a couple of times with them. More for me than for them - I hadn't looked at the score in a couple of years, so was interesting to remember on the fly. It went great as well as Dusk and MetaMarch with the Gold band. It was quite a new experience for me to take band from first rehearsal all the way through the concert, and in a way, it was the most comfortable conducting gig I've ever had. By the time we reached the concert, I knew the band well, and knew where to anticipate problems in performance and how better to fix them on the fly. So, a great experience for me, and they all seemed to enjoy it too!

Day 3: Met the UMD Concert Band for rehearsal at 1pm to go over Dusk and MetaMarch, and then we gave a combined concert with the Symphonic Band doing Suite Dreams again. The Concert Band is big - 80-100 people I believe, so the music was LOUD. They adjusted well (my tempi in Dusk are slow and very fluid, which threw them a little at first, but they adapted quickly), and gave a really nice performance of it, and of course MetaMarch, which is just good fun. The final performance of the weekend was Suite Dreams with the Symphonic Band, and I think this was one of the best conducting and musical experiences I've had. I went well on Friday night, but Sunday felt truly extraordinary. They played fantastically well, and this particular hall (Weber Hall) seems perfectly suited for the piece. It's rather reverberant, but not excessively so, and it can be quite loud and full sounding, which was PERFECT for the big tutti section of Suite Dreams. I can't wait to get the recording and find out how subjective my memory is, but it felt like a truly great performance. They did a bang-up job on the whole concert, too - they closed with Mackey's RedLine Tango, which sounded great from backstage (though I was on the other side of the wall from the Piano and percussion, so it sounded like a Piano and Marimba concerto sometimes). The director of bands, Mark Whitlock, sent me out for an additional bow after the whole concert, which meant I came out while they're still applauding for Mackey's piece. Kinda felt like I took a bow for RedLine Tango. Which I didn't mind. ;)

So, a fantastic weekend, conducting 6 of my works with 5 bands in 3 days. This is definitely a record. And I'm happy to let it stay as such - that's a lot of work!

Now, if I could just get home...

Madison, WI and Duluth, MN

This afternoon I'll be on my way to WMEA in Madison, WI, where the Univ. MN Duluth Wind Ensemble under Mark Whitlock will perform Suite Dreams on Thursday morning at 11:30. Immediately after that, I hop on the bus with the UMD band and we drive six hours up to Duluth, where I'll spend Thurs. night through Monday morning in residence at the Twin Ports WInd Festival. I'll be conducting something like five of my pieces with five different bands in three concerts over three days.

I should look at my scores...

Parody Suite

Wow - it was great to hear Eugene Corporon and the UNT Wind Symphony do the complete Parody Suite last night. This is the first time I've heard them all collected in a single set. Bruce Moss did all four of them on a program at Bowling Green when I was there, but they were interspersed with the originals they quoted, so this was the first time I've heard them all in concentrated-no-applause-allowed-between-them mode. First impression - that's a LOT of freakin' music - the whole thing together is almost 22 minutes. I think the whole thing together works, and I'm going to revise my suggested piece order. Basically, do it in whatever order fits your program the best. I originally recommended (as it says on the Parody Suite page) this order:

• ImPercynations
  
• Suite Dreams
  
• MetaMarch
  
• Chester Leaps In
  

However, last night they performed it as follows:

• Chester Leaps In
  
• Suite Dreams
  
• ImPercynations
  
• MetaMarch
  

I think this works really well - ending with the march is an obvious choice, and it adds a light upbeat ending after the introspective Suite Dreams, and the wickedly-angular and disjunct ImPercynations. I suppose to really determine the best order, I need several groups to program the set in all its permutations, and bring me out to hear them. Hint, hint...

Cindy McTee came over to the rehearsal that afternoon and surprised me - always great to see her. She hadn't heard Suite Dreams yet, and seemed to particularly like it, which I find exceptionally gratifying. She and I discussed the umbrella title, Parody Suite. She initially suggested I consider Parody Symphony since it does have a quasi-symphonic structure and length, but we both ended up agreeing that since each work is a fully autonomous stand-alone entity, much moreso than if they were movements of a symphony. All of which to say is that we had a great conversation and it was a fun day in Denton!





Huge thank-you to the GAs: Shannon "Loin-tamer" Kitelinger, Jennifer Kitelinger, and Erin Bodnar for entertaining me between the rehearsal and the concert. And of course ultimate thanks to the band and Maestro Corporon for performing so much of my music. And the fun doesn't end - they'll be recording the whole thing for they're Klavier series in October! Hopefully I'll make it back up for the session.

UNT Parody Suite - Sept. 25th

So, the Big Piece is basically finished - still need to finish the parts for Mvts. II and III, and squeeze the electronics down into a performable package, but the music is all there - about 21 minutes long, and 62 pages of 11"x17" score. I'll post more about it very soon.

In the meantime, I'll be at the University of North Texas tomorrow night (Thurs., Sept. 25th) for their Wind Symphony concert, featuring the complete Parody Suite. If you're in the Greater Dallas/Ft. Worth area, come on out! 7:30pm, Winspear Performance Hall, Murchison Performing Arts Center, Denton, TX.

Marktoberdorf, Germany

I'm now in Marktoberdorf, Germany, giving a week-long composition masterclass as part of the Bavarian Summer Music Academy. This is in conjunction with a wind band component, which is currently rehearsing four of my works (Suite Dreams, Dusk, Stampede, and MetaMarch) for their concert Saturday night. They're all in sectionals at the moment, so I can hear the clarinets rehearsing Suite Dreams juxtaposed against trumpets working on Stampede. Ivesian ... and very cool.

Had a great vacation last week in Malcesine in northern Italy - this is the same place we went last year, and is the location for the sunrise that inspired First Light. This year, I managed to get a cool photo of a night-time storm from the terrace: