I’m putting the finishing touches on my final notes to the recording engineer from last summer’s WGBH Tortoise and the Hare sessions in Boston! Look for this in CD/digital form in a few months—details will, of course, be posted here.
Boston Musica Viva, Marimba Magic, and Steve Aveson did a truly incredible job with my music and Mr. Pickett’s libretto. We can’t wait to share the finished product with all of you.
Greetings, Earthlings!
It's been a while, I apologize. The last few months have been intense! Before I tell you why, though, I want to share with you some exciting projects on the horizon. Keep in mind, many of the details on these projects are pretty vague---sometimes it's because I'm leaving room for commissioners to make formal announcements on their own, and sometimes it's because I just don't have the details completely nailed down yet.
Here's what we're looking at:
Fall 2012
Winter 2012
Spring 2013
Summer 2013
Summer 2014
All of these will eventually be added to the calendar, and all will be blogged about. You've been warned.
Anyway, here's a little of what I've been up to for the past few months!
I covered more than Handel, I swear.
In June, I delivered a talk at my Trinity five-year reunion in Hartford. The presentation was a thoroughly updated (though similarly titled) version of Sounding It Out, the lecture I gave at Trinity back in April 2011. At some point I'll be uploading the whole thing here---the problem I'm having now is that a) it's a Prezi and b) the audio track was recorded on an iPhone sitting in the audience. If I can make those two parties work together, I should be able to upload it soon.
The Elmsmen, reunited with Pinky the Water Bottle (our publicity-shy fourth member).
The nature of the talk was the evolution of Western classical music, and how I, as a modern composer, fit into it. Special emphasis was given the increasing diversity of material (harmonic, melodic, thematic, rhythmic, etc.) over time, and how my music---which has been characterized as aesthetically mercurial---is a logical (to me, at least) extension of that trajectory.
It ended with a performance of three of my pieces---How sweet I roam'd, and the Kyrie and Agnus Dei from my Missa Brevis for Three Male Voices---by the Elmsmen (our first time performing together in over a year). When all was said and done, I was pretty pleased!
Then, just a week later, I had the honor of premiering i carry your heart(i carry it in), set to (of course) E.E. Cummings, at the wedding of two great friends. Despite the performance being outside (and our numbers being a bit diminished), everyone pulled together and sang beautifully.
Performing in the ceremony. Credit: Kasey Matson Photography
A particularly full-of-character (read: sloppy) page from my sketches for the piece.
Then, the morning after said wedding, it was straight into the (absurdly gorgeous) studios of WGBH in Boston for The Tortoise and the Hare!
Check out the ceilings in this place!
Taking recording notes in the score.
The control room. That's our producer in the driver's seat.
It was wonderful seeing both the Boston Musica Viva and Marimba Magic again, and Steve Aveson (as always) nailed the narration. This project will be taking on a life of its own in the months to come, but for now it's under wraps. Rest assured you haven't heard the last of either of those furry woodland creatures.
As a side note, Christopher Pickett (the librettist, of course) and I are already discussing future projects---hopefully there will be announcements up here for those soon too.
Things quieted down for a couple of weeks. And then ...
I GOT MARRIED!
My best friend and I tied the knot on July 14 in Narragansett, Rhode Island. It was easily the best day of my life.
Micah and I on the beach where I first told her I loved her. That's right.
The wedding featured music by my great friend and colleague, Andrew Paul Jackson. My best buddy/Best Man, Devin Romanul, conducted a choir of my male friends in a beautiful rendition of Stephen Paulus' Shall I Compare Thee?, and Micah walked down the aisle to the theme from my Variations for String Quartet (2009), the first piece I composed for her.
We then enjoyed a gut-wrenchingly beautiful nine days in on the Isle of Capri, in Italy. I might do a blog post about this, or I might just write a novel. I'm not quite sure yet. Here are three pictures.
About to get dinner in Capri Town.
I wasn't even posing here, I'm just that much of a badass.
This is an actual place. That you can visit.
Then I came back to the real world.
That's all for now. I'll be more frequent with updates going forward, so please don't be a stranger!
Looks like the late spring is shaping up to be a busy time! Here's a look at what's coming down the pike.
Hope to see you at some of these!
A vaguely pretentious, semi-arranged look into what I'm doing at this ungodly hour.
From left to right: a manuscript from Tortoise and the Hare, my trusty new Samson Meteor Mic (you can expect an "Objects of My Affection" post on this puppy, mark my words), a fascinating Italian orange wine by Angiolino Maule, more from T&tH on my beloved laptop, and my casually askew sitar propped against the wall.
Who's got time to sleep, anyway?
I'm extremely happy to announce a new commission from Richard Pittman, founder and Music Director of the phenomenal Boston Musica Viva!
The piece will be for the BMV core ensemble, percussion ensemble, and a narrator, and will likely be based on some sort of fairy tale. The piece will be featured alongside a work by Michael Gandolfi at the BMV's 2012 Family Concert in Boston. There will be numerous updates on this project as it evolves, so be sure to check back in periodically!
The percussion ensemble will be Marimba Magic, a remarkable group of young musicians based at The Rivers Music School in Weston, MA. I've heard a lot about them---I'm very much looking forward to collaborating!
The narrator is TBA.
Check out this year's Family Concert this coming Sunday, February 6, at the Tsai Center for the Performing Arts at Boston University. Curtis K. Hughes (a former professor of mine, and a truly remarkable composer) will have a piece premiered alongside the evergreen Peter and the Wolf of Prokofiev.
