January 2022 News
Zooming in to rehearsal with the Consolatio Choir from Indonesia
Happy New Year! As 2021 ends, I am grateful that this fall semester was mostly back to normal in terms of classes being back in person and many performances resuming (although still with masks on).
In November, I headed to New Hampshire where the Dartmouth College Wind Ensemble (directed by Brian Messier) premiered The Dove in the Ash Grove as a winner of their composition competition. We also had a recording session to record the work which should be ready to share in the near future.
One year ago I was in residence at the Copland House, and the two works I wrote while there are finally beginning to bear fruit. In November, the ONIX Ensamble of Mexico premiered my piece Rock Hill (named for Copland's House) at the International Festival of New Music in Queretaro, Mexico, and then a few days later performed it again in Mexico City.
While the premiere won't be until this summer, my wife Diane and I made a recording of my Mottainai for Voice and Piano, which is the other work I wrote while at the Copland House. "Mottainai" is a Japanese expression of regret at the full value of something not being put to good use or the feeling of regret at something being wasted, and I'm really proud of this song which I also wrote the words for. It follows the events during the singer's birthday where the weight of their wasteful decisions hangs ever heavier on them.
In November, I had my first performance in Indonesia as the Consolatio Choir of the University of North Sumatra-Medan led by Tony Siagian performed the Asian premiere of Lord, Make Me an Instrument of Your Peace for SAB Choir and Piano. I also had the opportunity to virtually attend a rehearsal back in September which was a very special experience; it's amazing to be able to use my music to connect with others on the other side of the world! (see the photo above.)
December saw another performance in Asia, as my Sound of Cowbell for piano was chosen to be performed on the 2021 Seoul International Online Composition Festival “RE-CREATE” in South Korea. I also received a nice performance of my solo cello work For Natalie by Kyle Pearl at the University of Miami in Florida that month as well.
Back in the early days of the pandemic, I wrote a short piece for clarinet and string trio called Together While Apart about how we could find greater connection to each other despite being physically apart. In it, the players become more connected musically even after they physically move away from each other on the stage and are quarantined in their own octaves. I was lucky that the College Music Society's National Conference this year was held here in Rochester and that I was able to have the piece premiered by fellow Eastman students at the conference:
In October, guitarists Austin Wahl and Andrew Flory gave the premiere of my new guitar duo version of my Berceuse (originally for piano and also in a string orchestra version):
At the end of that month, I also presented my paper "Music from Dreams in the Composition Process: An Online Survey" virtually at the Research on Contemporary Composition Conference at the University of North Georgia. If you are curious about this topic, you can watch my presentation here:
But my biggest project this semester has been my doctoral dissertation, which has been truly a monumental effort to complete. My dissertation composition is a concertino for orchestral winds entitled Beloved Community. "Beloved Community" is Martin Luther King Jr.'s vision of the ideal society we should all strive for where all people can achieve justice, fulfill our potential as human beings, and live together in peace. I portray this concept musically in the piece by uniting different groups of instruments, each performing in a different musical style, into one harmonious texture while retaining their diverse identities. My dissertation paper, entitled Enhancing the Social Justice Outcomes of El Sistema-inspired Programs by Integrating Kingian Nonviolence, explores how El Sistema-inspired music education programs can improve their social outcomes by integrating King's philosophy of nonviolence into their curricula and organizational structures. I turned in my first complete copy of my dissertation in early December and this spring will be revising and then defending it, which are the last requirements to complete in order to receive my PhD!