Steven Bryant

Familiar faces are swooping into town from everywhere, as the national CBDNA conference gets underway here in Austin. It's nice to go to one of these big conventions...and still be at home. In fact, I've lived in or near the city of each of the past three national conventions - New York in 2005, Ann Arbor in 2007 (I lived down the road in Bowling Green), and now Austin in 2009. If this...

Yesterday I taped an interview with Dan Welcher for his radio show Knowing the Score, which will air tomorrow evening (March 22nd) at 8pm on KMFA (89.5 here in Austin). This is the same show that John Mackey just did a couple of weeks ago, with the difference that I did it in a jet-lag-induced haze, having just gotten back from Japan the day before...good thing it wasn't live! :)

If you're not...

I've started a post about everything that happened in Japan, but it's apparent I'm not going to finish it any time soon, so it will have to wait until after CBDNA. In the meantime, here are a few photos...

Just a brief note to say that the premiere of Axis Mundi was spectacular. The bands in Japan are unbelievable. Outrageously good. My eternal thanks to Mamoru Nakata for spearheading the JWECC consortium, and to Shintaro Fukumoto for conducting the hell out of the piece. They'll be bringing a recording with them to CBDNA in a week, so I'll post it soon!

Much much more to report, but must now...

Jerry Junkin and the UT Wind Ensemble just blew the doors off the Meyerson with Ecstatic Waters tonight. Holy cow. I've been extraordinarily fortunate to have had such time with, and access to, one of the very top wind ensembles in the nation, if not the world, and am infinitely grateful to Maestro Junkin for taking on the challenge of this work. I can't WAIT to do this again at CBDNA here...

...at ABA last Thursday night. I rode over to the ABA convention with Verena and AEJ on the band bus (hooray for band bus trips!), to hear the UT Wind Ensemble give their concert at Texas A&M. It was a hell of a concert - for me, the biggest highlights were Sunil Gadgil's absolutely astounding performance of Bolcom's Concert Suite for Alto Saxophone and Band, and John Mackey's Kingfishers...

I'm back in Austin tonight, after boarding a flight in the snow in Chicago, and walking off the plane into 86 degree heat 2 and half hours later. Good to be home... :)

Last night, the [wind ensemble of the] Fighting Saints of St. Charles East HS gave a very successful performance of Ecstatic Waters, after a FULL first half consisting of Newman's Avenue X, my own Dusk, Joseph Spaniola's...

Last night, the Ohio State Symphonic Band under Rick Blatti gave a great (by all accounts I've heard) performance of Ecstatic Waters. I heard the dress rehearsal on Tuesday, which was fantastic, not just because they played the piece well, but because this is the first time I've ever been able to sit and listen to the entire work live without pressing buttons on the laptop. Big thanks to Pete...

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...

I'm heading back down to San Marcos for a full day of rehearsals and presentations to various classes. Rehearsals on Tuesday went *very* well - both groups sound great. The concert is tomorrow night at 8pm in Evans Auditorium on the TSU campus - come if you're in the area!

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...

V, JM, and I will head down to TMEA in San Antonio tomorrow morning for the Texas Tech and Baylor University concerts. Texas Tech is doing two movements of Mackey's Sax Concerto at noon, and Baylor will follow at 2pm, with Mvt. I the logic of all my dreams, from Alchemy in Silent Spaces. I heard Baylor last week at rehearsal, and again this morning in a pre-TMEA performance at Westwood HS...