Month: May 2018

The term has come to a close; final exams are over; honors projects performed; grades submitted. All this must mean one thing: summer 2018 has begun!

My musical season starts with a personal and professional highlight. I will be travelling to New York to receive the Charles Ives Fellowship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. What an honor this will be and a great chance to meet my fellow awardees and Academy members at this festive occasion.

Three premieres are set for this supposed “vacation” season. The action begins in June in Chicago, where pianist Daniel Pesca, Artist-in-Residence and Director of Chamber Music at the University of Chicago, will premiere Inner Truth. This work was composed for the centennial celebration of the late Korean composer, Isang Yun. July will feature the premiere of a new Hong Kong-inspired work for string quartet by the Mivos Quartet at the VIPA Festival in Valencia, Spain, followed by the premiere of a new work for carillon, Resonant Memories, by University Carillonist and Assistant Professor at the University of Michigan, Tiffany Ng. This is my first work for carillon, and I am so happy to share the music with audiences at the Middlebury College premiere, and in subsequent performances at Norwich University and Albany City Hall.

August is also packed, starting with a residency at Copland House and concluding with a weeklong recording session at Oberlin Conservatory, featuring soprano Tony Arnold, conductor Tim Weiss, and members of Zohn Collective. This project is part of my forthcoming Albany Records CD release.

I am thrilled to have the chance to work with so many outstanding musicians over the course of this coming summer and equally looking forward to all the travels and rich personal experiences these projects will entail. Let the games begin!

It was a pleasure to welcome composer Robert Beaser to HKBU. Beaser is in Hong Kong as the Distinguished Guest Composer of the Intimacy of Creativity, organized by composer Bright Sheng and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. I was so glad Bob was able to make the time to speak with our students about his approach to composing, as well as stylistic developments in the US. This was an especially interesting perspective for our students.

It’s hard to believe that I first met Bob way back in 2007 at the Bowdoin Festival while I was still a graduate student. I have enjoyed keeping in touch with him over the years and getting to know his music more, which I enjoy for the immediacy and range of its emotional impact. I vividly remember a performance of his guitar arrangement of the folk song, Shenandoah, at the June in Buffalo Festival in 2012. His music  exhibits absolute clarity without ever being simplistic, and I think this is a goal to which we can all aspire. As it happens, I will be seeing him again in just a short time at the American Academy of Arts and Letters Ceremonial where I will receive the Charles Ives Fellowship. I look forward to many future reunions!