This afternoon at 4:30pm, the University of Central Florida Saxophone Quartet will perform my Saxophone Quartet No. 2 at the North American Saxophone Alliance Region 6 conference in Orlando, FL. The full schedule for the conference is available here. Thanks to Dr. George Weremchuk and the UCF Saxophone Quartet for programming this work!
Bethel College Concert Choir Performs "Filled With His Voice" Tomorrow at KMEA
In 2012, Dr. William Eash and the Bethel College Concert Choir (North Newton, KS) commissioned Filled With His Voice for mixed choir, saxophone, and piano. They have since performed the piece several times and will be including the work on their program tomorrow at the Kansas Music Educators Association Conference. Best wishes to Dr. Eash and the choir for a great experience at KMEA! When: February 21, 2013 - 2:35 PM Where: Century II MJT Little Theater, Wichita, KS More details: See a full schedule of KMEA here
A/B Duo to Perform Marimba/Flute Piece on Tour
The A/B duo, a collaboration between flutist Meerenai Shim and percussionist Chris Jones, is presenting a three-performance Southern tour February 15-18. They will be including my piece, Hers Was a Beautiful Soul for marimba and flute on their programs. You can find out more about the A/B duo and their tour here.
February 15, 2013 Jacksonville, FL University of North Florida
February 17, 2013 Atlanta, GA Poem 88 with Chamber Cartel
February 18, 2013 Columbus, GA RiverCenter for the Performing Arts
Performance Saturday at the South Carolina Music Educator's Conference
The Bob Jones Symphonic Wind Band is the featured college ensemble this year at the South Carolina Music Educator's Conference and they will be including Lauda on their concert at 2pm! The Symphonic Wind Band is conducted by Dr. Dan Turner. Best wishes for a great performance at the conference!
Performance Tomorrow at the Pacific Northwest Invitational Wind Band Festival
Tomorrow, February 5th, 2013, the Mercer Island High School Wind Ensemble will perform the first movement of Lauda at the Pacific Northwest Invitational Wind Band Festival. The Festival will be held at Meany Hall, The University of Washington. Thank you to Mercer Island High School for including Lauda on their program, and best of luck to them at this festival! Find out more about the Mercer Island High School Wind Ensemble here, and the Pacific Northwest Invitational Wind Band Festival here.
"This World Alive" - Coming Soon!
The new winds & film consortium piece that I have mentioned many times before is complete! The music and film are done and everything is about to be sent out to the 27 consortium members. We are thrilled with the response and support that this project has received, and we thank all of the consortium members for helping make this work possible! You can view the full list of schools and read the new program note for the piece here. In the program note I explain the inspiration for the title that we chose - This World Alive.
In the coming months, I will be providing updates here as the performances of this new piece are scheduled. After seeing the beautiful film produced by Cuyler Bryant on my little computer screen, I can't wait to experience the complete work with live film projection and wind ensemble. Stay tuned for more!
Advent Hymn Arrangements
This past Sunday, the church choir in which Ashley and I sing took on Vivaldi's Gloria under the direction of Music Director Dr. James Douthit and Organist Dr. Bruce Frank. It was wonderful! A few weeks ago, James asked if I would arrange the hymns that would be included as part of the service along with the Vivaldi. We were very fortunate to have a chamber orchestra (strings, oboe, trumpet, organ) to accompany the Vivaldi, and without special arrangements, the instrumentalists would not have music to play during the hymns.
It was so much fun to work with these three wonderful hymns: O Come, O Come, Emmanuel, Come Thou Long-Expected Jesus, and Jesus Comes With Clouds Descending.
I had a blast, and the sound of organ, choir, strings, trumpet, oboe and congregational singing was magnificent! If you are interested in these arrangements (there are still two Sundays left in Advent!), I have included links to the scores below. Contact me if you are interested in purchasing the scores and parts. I would be happy to customize these for slightly different instrumentations, if needed. Recordings will be forthcoming.
PDF Scores
Thanksgiving
As Thanksgiving approaches, I'm happy to report that my new wind ensemble consortium piece for winds and film is nearly complete! The music is essentially done, there is just a bit of editing and orchestration left to do. I'm very excited about the piece and looking forward to getting the music and film out to consortium members in January. The past few days I have been working on a new project - arranging a few Advent hymns! I love Advent! The church choir I am singing in will be singing Vivaldi's Gloria on December 9th, with strings and organ. The Director asked if I would arrange the 3 hymns for the service for strings, organ, oboe, and trumpet (and congregational singing of course). I'm having a great time with this - and I have the opportunity to work with some wonderful hymns (and wonderful musicians!).
I have been working on Jesus Comes with Clouds Descending which is quickly becoming one of my favorite hymns. It is a soaring, powerful melody, and it doesn't hurt that the harmony is written by Ralph Vaughan Williams. I've had the tune stuck in my head for about a week, and I think I could listen to this all day. Among many, many other things, I'm thankful for this powerful and transformational music we have.
"Goodnight, Goodnight" Performance Today - Arkansas Music Educators Association
The Hot Springs Concert Band will be performing Goodnight, Goodnight this evening at 7:00pm at the Arkansas Music Educators Association Fall Professional Development Conference in Hot Springs, AR. You can see a full program of the conference here. Thank you to Dr. Craig Hamilton and the Hot Springs Concert Band for including my work in their performance!
Recent and Upcoming Performances
I feel very fortunate that works of mine are being performed throughout the country this month. Here are some bullets to summarize:
- On October 7th, the Illinois State University Symphonic Band, conducted by Dan Belongia, performed Goodnight, Goodnight.
- This past Sunday, October 14th marked the premiere performance of Filled with His Voice by the Bethel College Concert Choir, conducted by William Eash.
- Last night, October 16th, Lauda was performed by the Texas Christian University Wind Symphony, conducted by Bobby Francis.
- Tomorrow night, October 18th, Distant Moons will be performed by the University of Connecticut Wind Ensemble, conducted by Jeffrey Renshaw.
- This Sunday I will be in Hot Springs, Arkansas for a performance of Goodnight, Goodnight by the Hot Springs Concert Band, conducted by Craig Hamilton.
- On November 30th, Lauda will be performed by the Bob Jones University Symphony Wind Band conducted by Dan Turner.
Thank you to all these wonderful ensembles and conductors for performing my work!