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Category Archives: Chamber
New year, new live recordings:
Greetings: a quick post to let you know that I’ve added some recordings of some recent pieces to my pages up here. The Inscape Chamber Orchestra gave a solid premiere of Get Up in May, and you can here the second movement Haze here. The Catholic University Symphony, under the direction of Simeone Tartaglione, premiered …of such light last April, and I have some clips from the performance here.
Aqua Vitae recording posted
Colin Hill and the percussion ensemble at Tennessee Tech University gave the premiere of my new percussion quartet Aqua Vitae last month. I just got a recording of the piece from them: take a listen below:
More info on Aqua Vitae here.
Two new pieces
Two new pieces were premiered this spring: back in March, cellist Dan Shomper gave the premiere of Vox Animarum, and in April, Colin Hill and the percussion ensemble at Tennessee Tech University premiered Aqua Vitae, for percussion quartet.
Both of these pieces were written over my sabbatical last fall, and in each work I’m trying something entirely new to my compositional vocabulary: in the cello piece, I worked with Dan on bow pressure techniques that widen the timbral spectrum to include quite a bit of noise in the cello’s tone. In the percussion quartet, I decided to work with a collection of junk instruments (bits of metal and wood) alongside traditional percussion instruments like bass drums, toms, marimbas, and vibraphone. Aqua Vitae, as you might guess from the title, was written as an homage to the centuries-old whiskey making process. You can read more about both pieces via these links: Vox Animarum, for solo cello, Aqua Vitae, for percussion quartet.
Posted in Chamber, News, Solo, Uncategorized
Upcoming recording session; two new recordings posted
Next week I’ll be gearing up for a recording session with Inscape Chamber Orchestra. They’ll be recording What I decided to keep, in a new arrangement specifically for them. You can check out the original version here, premiered by David Searle and the Catholic University Chamber Orchestra last year.
I’ve also just posted recordings of two performances from the past few months: take a listen to Her Exit, written for and performed by DC’s Great Noise Ensemble, here, and Bounce, in a new arrangement for large wind ensemble, performed here by David Vickerman and the wind ensemble from the College of New Jersey.
New recordings, upcoming performance:
Go here to check out the Spektral Quartet tearing through Passage Through the City, premiered this past summer out in Chicago at The Hideout. It was absolutely amazing working with these guys: I love the energy they brought to my piece, and I’m looking forward to hearing it again this season in DC.
On November 8th, Bounce will be premiered in its new incarnation as a piece for large wind ensemble. David Vickerman and the winds from The College of New Jersey are going to rock: the program is quite an ambitious foray into newer repertoire for winds (Schwanter’s In Evening’s Stillness and Mackey’s Asphalt Cocktail are also on the program!). Have a listen to some excerpts from the original orchestra version of Bounce here. I’ll be visiting the TCNJ campus the week before to work with the group in rehearsal, and to be a guest on the College’s brown bag series to talk about the process of converting orchestra to wind ensemble.
Posted in Chamber, News, Orchestra, Uncategorized
Welcome back: new piece for DC’s Great Noise Ensemble
After a relaxing year away in New England, I’m very excited for my first DC premiere since returning to the area. With a little help from my friends the Great Noise Ensemble, Her Exit will be premiered along with 12 other new works at the Atlas Theatre on Saturday, September 21st at 8pm. Tickets here. Each composer involved in the project was asked to write a piece in response to a particular track on the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper album: my track was She’s Leaving Home.
When I started thinking about this project, the perspective of the lyrics in She’s Leaving Home really stuck out at me: the story is delivered by an omniscient outsider, seemingly gazing down at the characters as their lives play out. After finding out that the song was written about a real person and an actual sequence of events that Paul McCartney read about in the newspaper, I thought it would be interesting to try to write my piece solely from the perspective of the pregnant teenage runaway. In Her Exit, I tried to create a musical world that’s the polar opposite of the sweet and delicate She’s Leaving Home, akin to looking at a photographic negative image of the Beatles’ presentation of the story. Hope to see you there.
Passage through the city: interview and premiere with Spektral Quartet
Almost 1 year ago I had a short residency in Chicago at High Concept Labs, an interdisciplinary arts space on the north side of town. While in the city, I got started on a collaboration with the Spektral Quartet, a young string quartet that’s quickly established itself as one of Chicago’s premiere new music groups. The fruit of these labors will be unveiled on Saturday, June 29th at the Hideout (across the street from HCL). For a preview of what to expect, head over to the Spektral Quartet’s blog to check out a conversation about the project between myself and violinist Austin Wulliman. Tickets can be purchased here; more info on this special end-of-season event is on the Spektral’s website here. This is going to be a really great show at a fantastic venue: along with my piece, they’ll be playing some Haydn, Verdi, Liza White, and Ben Hjertmann, with premieres by Alex Temple and Castillo Trigueros. Hope to see you there.
New video! Push at the University of Kentucky
I had a great time earlier this month hanging out in Lexington, Kentucky with Colin Hill, James Campbell, and the University of Kentucky percussion ensemble. Colin conducted my piece Push, for 12 percussionists. Check out this video of the performance: the opening ambient textures are beautifully shaped, and I love the energy in the faster music towards the end.
Upcoming: masterclass and performance in DC
Over the weekend of April 19th I’ll be in DC, spending some time at the Levine School as their 2013 Composition Masterclass guest. In addition to meetings with their students, Pictures on Silence will be performing my piece Plunge, for alto sax, harp, and electronics (written for them back in 2010). The performance is Friday evening at 7pm on Levine’s NW DC campus; the masterclass takes place the following morning. Both events are free and open to the public. Sponsored by the awesome folks at The Randy Hostetler Living Room Music Fund and The ASCAP Foundation Jack and Amy Norworth Fund.
New Recording: Such sphinxes as these
Such sphinxes as these obey no one but their master, my new vocal octet and longest title to date, was premiered last week by the inimitable Brad Wells and Roomful of Teeth. Click here to listen to the performance and read more about the piece. Special thanks to the Beinecke Library at Yale University, who, along with hosting the concert, put the Voynich Manuscript on display as part of their current manuscript exhibition.