Steven Bryant

I finished two new pieces last week. That makes three in the past month. This can’t be good for me… The first, Anthem, is a brand new work for Jay Gephart and the Purdue University Wind Ensemble, commissioned to celebrate the Purdue Bands’ 125th anniversary. It’s 7’30” of joy, featuring twittering flutes, vibraphone, glockenspiel,… continued

Crazy weekend of performances ahead! (Late) tonight, Verena and I drive down to Columbia, SC, for the University of South Carolina Band Clinic, featuring the three USC bands, the Palmetto Concert Band, and hundreds of high school students in 4 honor bands. And almost all of them are doing at least one piece… continued

Back in May, 2010, my dear friend Hila Plitmann performed her own concert of songs at the Boston Court Theater in LA. In addition to her own amazing originals, she asked a number of people to arrange some popular songs for her. I was honored to arrange Nine Inch Nails’… continued

Rod Schueller and the Texas State University Wind Ensemble will perform Ecstatic Waters for Wind Ensemble + Electronics at TMEA (San Antonio, TX) this Thursday afternoon, at 2pm. I’ll be there dropping the mad beatz (i.e., pressing the laptop buttons). The program includes first movement of Jonathan Newman‘s Symphony… continued

In addition to composing a Cello Concerto for Caroline Stinson, Euphonium + electronics piece for Robert Benton, and a work for Jay Gephart and the Purdue University Wind Ensemble, I have a few guest appearances coming up: FEBRUARY 8-11 [San Antonio, TX]: TMEA – Texas State University Wind Ensemble performs… continued

I’m in Columbus, OH for The Ohio State University Wind Symphony’s performance of my Concerto for Wind Ensemble. Heard rehearsal tonight, and they sound GREAT. They’ve obviously been putting in the practice time, and they own the piece. They’re also playing a newly-transcribed work, Vigil, by Michael Gilbertson, who’s here as well, and… continued

If you’re waaaay up near the Canadian border in New York state, you have the opportunity to hear the second-ever performance of my brand new Concerto for Wind Ensemble. Brian Doyle and the Crane School of Music Wind Ensemble will perform the work tonight (Nov. 22nd) at 7:30pm, in Hosmer Concert Hall…. continued

Fellow composer and friend Michael Markowski spent the week with me in Austin, generously volunteering to follow me around TMZ-style with a video camera for the world premiere and recording of my Concerto for Wind Ensemble. This means I now have a LOT of footage that I’ve managed not to edit together…… continued

The Concerto for Wind Ensemble world premiere performance is posted (look in the dark green box for the “UT World Premiere” link)! Given the surround/antiphonal nature of the work, this isn’t quite the same as sitting in the middle of it all, but it still sounds great. The University of Texas Wind Ensemble players… continued

7:30 pm (Central), 10-27-2010 Audio stream: http://www.music.utexas.edu/calendar/details.aspx?id=14829 Video webcast: http://www.banddirector.com/article/banddirector-live-webcasts/live-webcast PDF scores and program notes, if you’d like to follow along: Concerto for Wind Ensemble (program note) Stampede (program note)

I’m in Austin this week for the University of Texas Austin Wind Ensemble’s world premiere of my Concerto for Wind Ensemble. Had a great 2.5 hour rehearsal this afternoon – Jerry Junkin and the band have worked their butts off on this piece – all 54,210 notes of it. The concert is this coming Wednesday… continued

A recent exchange with fellow composer John Mackey on Facebook about saxophone samples (he uses the Vienna Symphonic Library series, and I’m currently using the built-in General MIDI samples, which possess the subtlety of a chainsaw) reminded me that I’ve long wanted to do a post comparing MIDI and live versions of a… continued