Steven Bryant

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...

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...

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...

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...

The Symphony Band's performance last Wed. night was wonderful. Many thanks to Miller Asbill for programming the piece and the great job conducting, to Michael Haithcock for making this possible (and for dinner!), and of course, the band. As is often the case, the dress rehearsal was even better than the performance (it was, in fact perfect). The opening 4 minutes or so were the best I've...

Just a quick announcement:

The University of Michigan Symphony Band will perform Mvt. I from my Alchemy in Silent Spaces this Wednesday night, February 21st, at 8pm. I heard them in rehearsal on Friday, and this promises to be a spectacular performance!

If you're in the southeast Michigan / northwest Ohio area, I'd love to see you there! The concert is at Hill Auditorium in Ann Arbor, and is...

On Monday, we head to the annual Midwest Clinic in Chicago. This year, the Austrian brass ensemble, "Sound INN Brass" will premiere a brand new version of Loose Id for brass and drumset. The concert is Saturday morning, 9:30, in the Grand Ballroom. If you're at the convention, don't miss this concert - this group will floor you!

And of course, don't forget to come by and say 'hello' at the...

The MSU Wind Symphony concert was particularly good this past Sunday. "Blink!" went really well, and sounded leagues better in the hall than it had in the rehearsal room (and also because I was actually sitting in front of the ensemble this time). The ending is a gorgeous, unexpected wash of sound, and is probably the most likely candidate for "I'm gonna steal some of that"...

The concert also...

Joel Puckett is the guest composer at Michigan State this weekend, with the Wind Symphony (conducted by fellow composer and DMA grad. student, Jim Colonna) doing his recent work, Blink!, tomorrow. I first met Joel a couple of years ago at the CBDNA convention in New York, and then again briefly at Midwest last year, but we had never had a chance to really hang, so this weekend has seen some...

I'm proud to announce the third release from Salamander Studios, Give It To Me. This is our first instrumental, and we're delighted to feature guest artist Jonathan Newman on this track. His solo in the 'B section' may well be the defining element of the work.

I also make an appearance on alto sax and ocarina, against my better judgment.

The phenomenal Austrian brass group, SoundInnBrass (warning: very out of date website), will be premiering my Loose Id for brass ensemble and drumset at the Midwest Clinic this December.

The group's instrumentation is 4 Trumpets, 2 Horns, 4 Trombones, Tuba, and Drumset/Percussion. I decided to make this version expressly for drumset, unlike the original brass quintet which used Timpani - I...

VOTE.

Some personal advice: if you have the option between a paper ballot and an electronic voting machine, choose the paper ballot. If you must use an electronic machine, check your vote very carefully (there should be a printed ballot on the side of the machine in most cases) - there are numerous reports (as in 2004) of the machine choosing a different candidate than the one you selected. ...