News & Upcoming Events
Upcoming concerts
I look forward to playing a series of solo piano recitals in Maine this spring... Fort Kent and Presque Isle in late April, and Lubec in June (Summerkeys faculty concert series). The program is titled American Landscapes, and includes works by Samuel Barber, Charles Ives, George Gershwin, Philip Glass, Scott Brickman, Roberto Pace and myself.
First performances
On March 2 the ensemble Eight Strings & a Whistle will premiere my latest chamber work “... and nothing remains the same.” The NYC-based trio will perform at La Grua Center in Stonington, Connecticut. In July they will perform it on the Machias Bay Chamber Concert series in Maine. What wonderful players they are, and how rewarding to work with them in finishing the work! Trio members are Suzanne Gilchrest (flute), Ina Litera (viola) and Matthew Goeke (‘cello).
Suzanne plans to perform my Preludes for solo flute in July in Lubec, Maine as part of the Summerkeys faculty concert series.
Samsara Breakdown
Just completed a digital demo performance of my new one-movement work for orchestra. The effort was quite time-consuming and full of learning opportunities. One could even call it an exercise in obsessive-compulsive behavior. I tried something new: First, I completed a four
stave piano reduction score then input that into Finale (notation software). I used the full orchestra template, but inserted an additional 4 staves for the piano reduction. Honestly, I had not thought much about the orchestration, except for opening violin melody, the brass fragments and a few wind licks. After completing the piano reduction staves I then used copy and paste to fill out the instrumental parts. This worked well for me, I think... it made me focus on the details
of the orchestration.
Then I saved the Finale file as a MIDI file and imported it into Digital Performer (my sequencer software), then went to work on editing and fine tuning each instrumental part (e.g. tempo changes, expression, dynamics, phrasing). I used Garritan Personal Orchestra software for the orchestral sounds and had great fun choosing the GPO instruments.
Actually, listening so intensely to the piece helped me to make decisions on a number of orchestration issues (percussion, flute doublings, some string registers), and I often worked back and forth between the score and DP. I rather enjoyed the process, as it called upon my experience as a performer. This was my first attempt at such a big production project, and I learned a great deal from members of the Garritan online forum. Here is the link to the performance on SoundCloud:
God is Love
In November 2012, my small choir at St. Aidan’s Episcopal Church in Machias, Maine performed my just-completed choral work. My working thesis that a piece isn’t finished until at least the first performance. There is something to the idea of reality-based composing. The piece is based on a wonderful poem by Steve Colhoun, a fellow member at St. Aidan’s. Upon seeing his words I knew instantly that I must set to music. Thanks to all involved!
