January 2024 News
Showing off my beautiful 1st place diploma for winning the the St. Christopher Chamber Orchestra's International Composition Competition in Lithuania
I'm really excited to embark on a new large-scale commission this year. In fall 2022, I realized that all the requiem settings I am familiar with were all composed for the loss of human life. But with thousands of wildlife species going extinct and billions of farmed animals being killed each year, I thought it was time that animals deserved a requiem as well. Now after a year of trying pull together this project, I'm excited to share that I will be composing such a Requiem for Animals thanks to a commission from the Brattleboro Music Center, with support from a grant from the Eric Stokes Fund, "Earth's Best in Tune", for the Brattleboro Concert Choir and Jonathan Harvey to premiere here in my new hometown in spring 2025! This will be a 30-45-minute work for chorus and string orchestra mixing texts from the traditional Latin Requiem Mass with other, including probably some original, texts addressing animal suffering that grapple with our own role in it. I can't wait to get started on this!
In October, my Lamentation for String Orchestra won 1st prize in the St. Christopher Chamber Orchestra's Third International Composition Competition in Vilnius, Lithuania! It is so amazing to see my music connect me with people on the other side of the world that I've never met! They also gave a really beautiful performance of the piece, check it out!
This fall, I also finished up a new commission for the Lee High School Band in Lee, Massachusetts. Theron's Lullaby is written for my son (who will turn 2 in February) and, like any lullaby, it is meant to be comforting, but I decided to design it also to help expand his and other listeners comfort zones in a gentle way. The work also features a melody that came to me in a dream at some point during the first few months of his life, so this melody that itself came from sleep can lull others back into the dream world. I'll be heading to Lee next week to work with the students for a couple days and then return to conduct them myself in the performance on February 6!
In October, I was accepted into the National Association for Teachers of Singing Mentor Program for Composers. I was happy to be paired with mentor composer Lori Laitman, whose knowledge and experience I get to learn from all year. Also as part of the program, the Cincinnati Song Initiative is commissioning a new song from each mentee to be recorded for a digital concert in May. My song, which I'm working on right now, will be a setting of Brazilian poet Castro Alves' "As Duas Flores" ("The Two Flowers") for Tenor and Piano.
As part of my new position as music director of St. Michael's Episcopal Church here in Brattleboro, VT (by the way, check out this article from the local paper about my arrival), I wrote a brand new setting of the carol 'Silent Night' which I premiered myself at the services on Christmas Eve. Silent Nocturne (Sleep in Heavenly Peace) for Organ uses the melody of the carol but reharmonizes it with many unexpected twists and turns to give a peaceful yet new angle on this familiar tune.
A few months ago, I submitted two unpremiered short sacred choral works of mine, Gloria (from my Missa Brevis) and De Profundis, to a call for scores held by the Sonore Chamber Choir in Jakarta, Indonesia. And out of 71 submitted works, they picked six works to perform including both of my mine! They will perform them in 2025, likely in March.
In August, I made a scrolling score video of my Sound of Cowbell for piano. This is probably the hardest piano piece I've yet written, and I'm still amazed at what a ridiculously good recording Christopher Janwong McKiggan made of it! Have a listen!
I also recently created a new page on my website. It's a world map of all of the confirmed performances of my works, 253 and counting in 34 US states, 17 countries, and 5 continents! I've also got a form people can fill out to notify me of a performance of my music (and upload a concert program so I can submit it to ASCAP and get royalties) so I can add it to the map! Check it out!