... but we all know what we are doing, right? :)
Also, I made a beat, which is not very common for me, so I thought I would share!
... but we all know what we are doing, right? :)
Also, I made a beat, which is not very common for me, so I thought I would share!
News from the East Bay in no particular order...
Spent the summer in Northern Michigan, as composer / sound designer / music engineer for Parallel 45 Theatre. The productions (Hair, Stupid F* Bird, and Little Bunny Foo Foo) were challenging! Made great friends (long summer days will do that). Shout out to my wife for supporting me though 15-hour days for 2 ½ months.
My first year as an Assistant Professor at Cal State East Bay came and went in an instant, it felt. The program is undergoing exciting changes and I am very much looking forward for the year ahead. I love my students, they are truly remarkable.
I spent most of the year involved in getting the Computer Studios up and running. The most exciting part of this was when our very own Buchla (70s modular synth) made the news. Some videos of the news story HERE, and HERE.
And! I had the guys from The Hub come by the music department this past Spring for our first ever computer network music workshop!
Jason Hardink premiered my latest piece, Hiraeth (for piano and chamber ensemble) in Utah before we moved West. It was an incredible performance. It must have been a good experience for him too, because I just confirmed a second commission. The new piece, for piano and tape, will be part of larger project he is working on to commemorate the 100-year anniversary of the publication of Ives' Concord Sonata. The piece will be premiered in the Spring of 2021.
And, last but not least, shout out to Zoo Labs, a wonderful local non-profit organization that empowers artists, who's had me over twice already in a mentorship role. I have greatly enjoyed my experience there, and have learned so much from these cultural leaders who are changing lives (including mine) through their art.
Happy Fall everyone!
... is wonderful.
Some exciting new events / projects in the recent months, in no particular order:
Happy November everyone!
I'm happy to announce my new position as Assistant Professor of Composition and Music Theory at Cal Estate East Bay. Excited for the move to the Bay Area, and to get started!
The live recording of Hiraeth, my latest work for piano and chamber ensemble, is now available. Jason Hardink and the rest of the ensemble did an incredible job. I am so very thankful for their time and talent.
In other good news, I have been invited to participate in UC Davis' Valence Lectures in January of 2019. More information on this will be posted shortly -- stay tuned!
Happy Summer everyone!
The Utah Review, on the upcoming premiere of my chamber piano concerto:
Unconventional pairings, old and new, highlight NOVA Chamber Music Series' Bach and New Horizons.
A great read by Les Roka!
More information on the concert, HERE.
Happy Spring everyone!
The Lexical Tones Podcast, hosted by Robert McClure, offers a weekly conversation with a guest composer, performer, and/or artist creating new works of contemporary art/music. Each creative supplies three adjectives about their work or themselves, and Rob tries to discover additional connections through discussion and listening examples (several complete compositions). These conversations often focus on aesthetics, technique, process, meaning, perception, and the musical origins of the featured guest.
You can listen to the new episode (in which I am featured) HERE
Please subscribe to the Lexical Tones Podcast on iTunes or find them on Soundcloud and Stitcher to get new episodes as soon as they are released.
St. Francis College Professor of Fine Arts and flutist Roberta Michel performed with accompaniment by pianists Mirna Lekiƈ and Andrea Lodge my new piece for flute(s) and piano: Sound Imagert No.6 at the Concert at Half Past Twelve, The Flute Through the Ages, II on Monday, October 23 in the College's Founders Hall.
The video of the performance can be found HERE
The Flute Through the Ages, II
Date: Monday - October 23, 2017
Time: 12:30 PM
Location: Founders Hall
More information about the program and the performers, HERE.
Happy to announce that I will be presenting my current research at Society for Music Theory's national meeting (SMT 2017), to be held in Virginia from November 2nd to the 5th. I will be presenting along with my fellow coauthor Nicholas Nelson. The title of the paper is "Near-Symmetry: A Theory of Chord Quality with Implications for Voice Leading".
I am very happy to announce that Nova Chamber Music Series has commissioned me a chamber piano concerto for their 40th anniversary season to take place in the Spring of 2018. Exact date TBA!
NOVA’s current Artistic Director, Utah Symphony Pianist Jason Hardink (who will be performing my piece) was appointed in the fall of 2009. Under his leadership the series has deepened relationships with Utah composers while broadening NOVA’s profile nationally through commissions and recordings of works by composers Curtis Curtis-Smith, Jason Eckardt, and Michael Ellison. Since 2009 NOVA has featured collaborations with Utah Symphony Music Director Thierry Fischer, soprano Celena Shafer, and the PLAN-B Theatre Company.
Stay tuned for more news!
Cambridge Scholars recently published Form and Process in Music (An Analytic Sampler), a book in which I contributed a chapter, and helped edit. Basic information below. And HERE, the website if you want to purchase it.
Form and Process in Music, 1300-2014
An Analytic Sampler
Editor(s):
Jack Boss, Heather Holmquest, Russell Knight, Inés Thiebaut and Brent Yorgason
Contributors
Timothy Chenette, Susan de Ghize, Barbora Gregusova, Brent Yorgason, Dale Tovat, Sara Bakker, Laura Emmery, Ines Thiebaut, Adam Shanley, Jack Boss, Rich Pellegrin, Mathhew Ferrandino, Yi- Cheng Daniel Wu, Russ Knight, Heather Holmquest, Aaron J. Kirschner
Book Description
Form and Process in Music, 1300–2014: An Analytic Sampler draws together papers delivered at the 2014 meeting of the West Coast Conference of Music Theory and Analysis. The conference spanned an unusually wide spectrum of musical styles, including papers on European twelve-tone music after the Second World War, fourteenth-century music, pop music and jazz, the music of living composers, narrative and characterization, and the history of music theory. The title of the book reflects the large span of musical cultures that are represented within, but also accounts for the common thread through all of these essays, a strong emphasis on understanding the forms and processes of music through analysis. The reader will find within it a compendium of analytic techniques for numerous musical styles.
This is a bit late, but I'm pleased to share that I was featured, along with fellow GC composition student Elizabeth Adams and GC Faculty member Dr. Jeff Nichols in The Wall Street Journal for our participation in a concert at the Tenri Cultural Institute on Saturday, October 17th, 2015. Part of the “Anti-Capitalist Concert Series” founded by GC composer Elizabeth Adams and composer Julie Harting, the theme of income-inequality was the point of inspiration for each new composition. The article, entitled “Turning Wonky Economic Graphs into Chamber Music,” delves into the specific inspirations behind each new work, including quotes from the composers and photos from the event. The concert featured the Cadillac Moon Ensemble performing, as well as a discussion led by Chad Kautzer, a professor at the University of Colorado, Denver.
December 6, 2015
VII Ciclo de Conciertos de Solistas Fundación BBVA
Palacio Marqués de Salamanca
Paseo de Recoletos 10, Madrid
Spain
Featuring Julián Elvira and his Prónomo flute. My piece Promissus received its Spanish premiere.
October 17, 2015
Julie & Elizabeth's anti-capitalist concert
Tenri Cultural Institute
43 W 13th Street, New York
Featuring The Cadillac Moon Ensemble, premiered new works by Jeff Nichols, Leung Chi-Hin, Julie Harting, Elizabeth Adams and myself.
June 22, 2015
promissus (for prónomo fl., electronics)
Julián Elvira, prónomo flute
CUNY Graduate Center, NY.
May 20, 2015
Sound Imagery No.5 (for vln., electronics)
Karen Kim, violin
Dr.Faustus: New Synchronisms
Willow Place Auditorum, Brooklyn, NY.
May 18, 2015
quintessence (for fl., cl., hrn., trb., vln., bss., perc.)
Ensemble Mise-En
Composers Alliance Spring Concert
CUNY Graduate Center, NY.
April 8-11, 2015
Cyrano (music for theater)
Parallel 45 Spring production
InsideOut Gallery, Traverse City, MI.
February 21, 2015 @7:30PM
Symbiosis II
Spectrum, NY
cuncta fluunt got a new performance from Jane Sheldon, soprano and Roberta Michel, flute(s).
On December 12, my piece Promissus will have it's Spanish premiere by the hands of Julián Elvira. Below, is the Spanish press release:
El próximo 12 de diciembre de 2015 tendremos la oportunidad de escuchar en Madrid una magnífica selección de piezas compuestas expresamente para flauta Prónomo, de la mano de su creador Julián Elvira.
El repertorio cuenta con obras de compositores españoles de gran prestigio como los premios nacionales de música José Mª Sánchez-Verdú y Alberto Posadas, pero también promueve la creación de jóvenes compositores que se encuentran en pleno auge de su carrera, como Julián Ávila e Inés Thiebaut. El programa se completa con tres obras versionadas por el propio Julián Elvira para flauta Prónomo, que no sólo reflejan la capacidad de este nuevo instrumento como interfaz capaz de convertirse en otras flautas, sino también la reflexión sobre cómo interpretar obras clásicas con instrumentos de vanguardia en la actualidad.
Este concierto se incluye dentro de la séptima edición del Ciclo de Conciertos de Solistas Fundación BBVA, coordinado y ejecutado por el conjunto instrumental PluralEnsemble.
PROGRAMA
JULIE & ELIZABETH'S ANTI-CAPITALIST CONCERT SERIES
INCOME INEQUALITY
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2015 7:30 PM
TENRI CULTURAL INSTITUTE
43 WEST 13th STREET
NEW YORK, NY
Admission Suggested Donation
1/2 your hourly wage, pay what you think is fair, pay what you want.
No one is turned away.
I'm very excited to be a part of this series. Below, the press release, for your information! I hope you can all make it. See you there!
Income inequality is the focus of the next concert of Julie & Elizabeth's Anti-Capitalist Concert Series. New music quartet Cadillac Moon Ensemble will premiere pieces by composers Jeff Nichols, Julie Harting, Chi-hin Leung, and Inés Thiebaut whose compositions were inspired by graphs showing income inequality. The graphs will be projected during the performances.
The concert will also feature spoken interludes and conversation led by Chad Kautzer, Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Colorado, Denver and author of the book “Radical Philosophy: An Introduction.” Kautzer sees inequality as a foundational element of capitalism. “Capitalism transforms everything it comes in contact with into conditions for its own reproduction and, more specifically, for the accumulation of capital. Capitalism emerges under conditions of great inequality, and it can survive only by reproducing such inequality.” Chad Kautzer, Radical Philosophy (2015).
The concert is the fourth concert produced by “Julie and Elizabeth’s Anti-Capitalist Concert Series,” a new music concert series founded by composers Julie Harting and Elizabeth Adams. The series programs music and conversation to stimulate thought and discussions around an anti-capitalist economy.
In addition to the four premieres, Cadillac Moon Ensemble will perform Nicholas Deyoe's “fl/vn” for flute & violin and an excerpt from Annie Gosfield's “Daughters of the Industrial Revolution” for cello and percussion, a piece inspired by her grandmother who worked in sweatshops in the Lower East Side.
December 11, 2014 @8:00PM
Cadillac Moon Ensemble: Perfect Nothing Catalog
Signal Gallery
260 Johnson Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11206
My piece alcmaeon (fl, vln, perc) was performed.
November 23, 2014 @ 1:00PM
Jan Hus Church
351 E 74th Street, New York, NY
Vox Novus - Fifteen Minutes of Fame
Mary Hubbell, soprano
Alice Jones, flutes
Tamora Petitt, choreography
My piece cuncta fluunt performed with dance!
June 5th, 2014 @ 7:30PM
Dr. Faustus New Music w/ Ensemble 365
The Firehouse Space
Curated by Dan Blake in collaboration with Dr.Faustus
May 28th, 2014
"Time Notations: Silence, Words, and Music"
Westbeth Gallery
55 Bethune, NYC
Alice Jones, flute; Mary Hubbell, soprano
curated by Elisa Decker and Barbara Lubliner
April 9th, 2014
Cadillac Moon Ensemble
Elebash Recital Hall
CUNY Graduate Center
365 Fifth Ave / 34th Street
New York
The Cadillac premiered my new piece alcmaeon, for amplified flute, violin and percussion.
February 26th, 2014
Composers Now Festival
Elebash Recital Hall
CUNY Graduate Center
365 Fifth Ave / 34th Street
New York
Happy to hear the wonderful Cadillac Moon Ensemble will be performing the piece I wrote for them last year, alcmaeon (for amplified flute, violin and percussion) at their upcoming Perfect Nothing Catalog concert. Excited! Here is the information:
December 11, 2014, 8pm
Signal Gallery 260 Johnson Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11206
Perfect Nothing Catalog
CME premiers Conrad Winslow's the perfect nothing catalog with support from the Jerome Fund. The perfect nothing catalog references the structure of Caryl Churchil 's 2012 play Love & Information, in which a large thematic arc is drawn by tiny non-repeating miniatures. It was also inspired by Frank Traynor's the perfect nothing catalog which interrogates the power of curation and restricted control in the making of things. CME will also perform works by Inés Thiebaut and Andrew Struck-Marcell.
As the leaves of the trees in Prospect Park start to turn, I gear up for a busy Fall.
Busy indeed since I starting working as the managing director of the SEM Ensemble in the early summer. Perks: had a lovely conversation with George Lewis as we walked up slowly Joralemon St to Borough Hall. A total treat.
Busy, yet excited to be working with fabulous trombonist David Whitwell on a new piece for low brass trio, with Maestros Dave Taylor on bass trombone and Jay Rozen on tuba. The piece will be premiered sometime in the Spring, 2015.
I'm also working on a new piece for Ensemble Mise-En, to be premiered as part of the Graduate Center's Composers Alliance spring concert in May, 2015.
And very thankful to Mary Hubbell and Alice Jones for still touring my piece cuncta fluunt. This time, with dance! (Tamora Petitt, choreography).
November 23, 2014 @ 1:00PM
Jan Hus Church
351 E 74th Street, New York, NY
Vox Novus - Fifteen Minutes of Fame