Composer
Finished the new piece, Axis Mundi, for the Japanese Wind Ensemble Conductors Conference this past weekend. The piece is a study in intertwined opposites. Mvt. I, Apatheia, is unvaryingly soft, never rising above a p, and opens with around 80 seconds of solo marimba. Mvt. II, Hêdonê, is the opposite -… continued
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… continued
Jerry Junkin and the Dallas Wind Symphony will perform my Stampede tonight at the Meyerson Symphony Center. Full program and more info on their website. If you’re there, say ‘howdy’!
(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… continued
Last night we had the first of three concerts this weekend here in Duluth, MN. I had the pleasure of conducting Chester Leaps In and Wings That Work with the Twin Ports Wind Orchestra on the first half of the concert, followed by Suite Dreams with the UMD Symphonic Band on… continued
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… continued
The Ecstatic Waters performance yesterday here at UT went really well. I’m still a bit stunned by it. We had one problem with feedback in the Bassoon mics (same thing that happened at Bowling Green – in the same place I think), which is weird in that it never happened in any rehearsals, but has… continued
Ecstatic Waters will be webcast live from the University of Texas Austin Wind Ensemble concert on Sunday, Oct. 26th.You can listen here (it’s only a LIVE webcast – it will NOT be archived online):http://winds.music.utexas.edu/eventDetails.aspx?id=9525DATE AND TIME:4:00 PM CST, Oct. 26th, 2008
Got back yesterday morning from Bowling Green, and headed straight from the airport to rehearsal at UT for this Sunday’s concert. More about that shortly.It was great to be back in BG – sort of a second home to me after spending a year in residence there, and this was my third time at their… continued
After rehearsal today at UT, I’m off to Bowling Green State Univ. for the premiere this Thursday night of Ecstatic Waters, and then back here immediately for the second performance on Sunday! Not sure I’ll be taking many pictures – I have some button-pressing I have to do for the piece…
Announcing a new consortium by world-class cellist Caroline Stinson, for cello and orchestral winds. Caroline is an extremely versatile and truly fantastic performer – she’s toured with Bang on a Can, is a member of the cello quartet CELLO, was personally invited by Pierre Boulez to work with him as part of… continued
Just got out of rehearsal for Ecstatic Waters – this is the first time we’ve done the whole piece…and it’s going to work like gangbusters. This is also the first time we had the mics on the clarinet and bassoons, which is going to be quite cool. The clarinet sounds exactly like I’d hoped, and… continued