Author: Matthew Schreibeis

Tomorrow I will depart for my three week residency at Copland House, the former home of the acclaimed American composer, Aaron Copland, north of New York City. While in residence, I have a number of projects to pursue. Initially, I plan to make final revisions—some small, others rather significant—to three works that are among those to be recorded next month for my first portrait CD for Albany Records. Two of these works—They Say, for guitar, and Inner Truth, for piano —are very recent, having been premiered in April and June, respectively. The other work I will revise is much older.

Noticing, for clarinet and violin, was commissioned with support of a Subito Grant from American Composers Forum and premiered ages ago…way back in 2010! It is one of a number of works of mine to have connections with Korean traditional music.  In this case, the work was inspired by a specific performance I heard in New York. I tried to apply some of the techniques I observed in the music in my own Western instrument piece.  Although the piece has been performed successfully a number of times, there have always been a few spots that I wanted to tidy up in order to bring the piece to full maturity.  Now seems like the right time.

Revision is a tricky matter that I pursue with caution. One doesn’t want to get overly involved in changing an existing work, because it can lead one down a very long—perhaps never-ending—path. Still, after a work is premiered, I have often found a measure here or a beat there that require some fine tuning. While these changes may seem small on the surface, they often help to stabilize the work on a number of levels. Let us hope these modifications help the piece to “stand the test of time.”

Besides the preparatory work for my Albany recording, the main project I will pursue at Copland House is an orchestral work with which I have had what might be called an on-again, off-again relationship for a number of years. The details of this affair will have to wait for a future post. For now, I must pack my bags (again!) and prepare for tomorrow’s travels.

The busy summer season continues unabated! Following the recent premieres of Inner Truth in Chicago and City Lights in Valencia, Spain, I am pleased to share news of the premiere of my latest work, Resonant Memories, for carillon, by University of Michigan faculty carillonist, Tiffany Ng. Tiffany will premiere the work on July 27 at Middlebury College, with subsequent performances at Norwich University and Albany City Hall. As always, full information about upcoming performances and other activities can be found here.

In imagining my first composition for carillon, I found myself returning again and again to the the ephemeral quality of the instrument’s sound.  No matter how large or powerful the initial attack–whether single note or complex chord–it instantly began to fade away.  There was an aspect of inevitable disappearance that I found intriguing and that suggested a certain musical character I wanted to explore.

The work is cast in three broad sections, opening with a declamatory statement that quickly becomes more introspective as it moves to the instrument’s high register.  The contrasting middle section, marked energico, is characterized by continuous rhythmic activity, a series of accelerando phrases, and prominent use of the instrument’s low register.  The final section returns to the opening material, but it is here–quietly–that the “memories” part of the title presents itself, as slow, fading versions of the opening mix with brief interjections of the middle material.  Despite this generally hazy, dreamlike character, the work concludes with a grand, defiant gesture, spanning the instrument’s whole range and dynamic potential.

Because of my upcoming residency at Copland House, I will not be able to attend these performances. However, I eagerly await the recording and would like to thank Tiffany for her tireless support of my music and the music of numerous living composers.  Resonant Memories is dedicated to her.

Last night the Mivos Quartet gave the premiere of my new quartet, City Lights here at the VIPA Festival in Valencia, Spain. The performance was excellent, and I am grateful to Mivos for their commitment and musicality. One of the joys of chamber music, especially the string quartet, is the way individual musical personalities come together to form a cohesive unit. Mivos took full advantage of this potential while learning and performing my work, never shying away from their personal voices while making music together. It was a pleasure to hear and to see.

In high school I had a choice of learning a minimum of two years of either Spanish or French. Believing French to be more difficult, I opted for Spanish and stuck with it for four years. Little did I know that twenty years later I would find myself in beautiful Valencia, Spain struggling to remember any of what I had learned while trying to order food and drink! ¡Ayúdame!

I have travelled here for the VIPA Festival and to hear the premiere of my new string quartet, City Lights, for the Mivos Quartet. VIPA is run by composer Jorge Grossmann, faculty at Ithaca College and previously at UNLV, where—long ago—I met him while attending and later being commissioned by the Nevada Encounters of New Music Festival. In addition to Jorge, the faculty include Lei Liang from UCSD and Stefano Gervasoni from the Paris Conservatory. Mivos Quartet, of course, needs no introduction. As one of the most active string quartets in the US with a contemporary music focus, I am thrilled to hear what they make of my new work.

I arrived at the title City Lights partway through composition of the piece. In this work, I wanted to capture some of the frenzied energy of great urban centers, especially the way sights and sounds change in rapid and unpredictable succession. The work is cast in two broad sections, the first highly rhythmic—often syncopated—and the second more introspective. One might think of these musical sections as two aspects of the same idea, image, or place: the city up close with its bustling crowds and the city from a distance, its lights a sparkling blur of colors.

I have written before about how place affects my work, so it comes as no surprise to me that after two years of working in Hong Kong I am creating music with a connection to urban landscapes. I hope to explore aspects of this experience in more detail in a number of upcoming projects. For now, however, I look forward to City Lights, both in my music and in beautiful Valencia.

Just a quick note of thanks to pianist Daniel Pesca for his fantastic premiere of my new piano work, Inner Truth, last night at PianoForte Chicago. Daniel played with confidence through the work’s intricate passagework and brought a careful attention to detail and color throughout the more introspective opening passages. It was a pleasure to work with him, and I am very much looking forward to our continued collaboration this August in recording this and other chamber works as part of my first CD for Albany Records.

A composer himself, Daniel also premiered a piano etude on the program. His brief work offered a mix of playfulness and trouble-making with recollections of Messiaen, which I think offered a nice balance with the rest of the evening’s works: classics by Berg and Janacek, and local premieres of music of Augusta Read Thomas and Bernard Rands.

Next up on the nonstop summer tour of 2018 will be travel to Valencia, Spain for the VIPA Festival and a premiere by the marvelous Mivos Quartet. More from the other side of the pond!

Tonight I am in Chicago for the premiere of my new solo piano work, Inner Truth, by the wonderful pianist, Daniel Pesca, Artist-in-Residence and Director of Chamber Music at the University of Chicago.  Inner Truth came about as part of a larger commissioning project honoring the 2017 centennial birth year of the great Korean composer Isang Yun by the fantastic pianist, Eunmi Ko.

Yun is one of the more unique voices in 20th-century music, with work that seeks to join his very personal conception of the traditional music and traditional instruments of his home country with the modernist techniques he embraced when studying and working in Germany starting in the 1950s.  In learning more about Yun’s music, I came across a wonderful interview he did with Bruce Duffie in 1987 that included a particular quote that stood out for me:

“Music is the expression of an inner truth, and this inner truth is naturally a mirror of today’s events.”

I was so struck by these words—by how clear and honest they are—and so in writing my work, I wanted to reflect upon this idea of “inner truth”, something which might be rather quiet or hidden or elusive at the start, but which later emerges as a strong, bold, unwavering force–a force which was always with us from the very beginning.  My piece seeks to capture these two sides of this primal energy.

Chicago friends, please join us at PianoForte for a concert to include music of my former teacher, Augusta Read Thomas, my mentor, Bernard Rands, my friend, Daniel Pesca, plus Carter, Berg, and Janacek!

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!

I am writing while en route to Tampa, Florida, where I’m headed to the premiere of my new solo guitar work, They Say, as one of four invited composers for the University of South Florida’s New Music Festival.

More than most instruments, I have always felt the guitar is an instrument for storytelling, especially of very old tales. This concept led me to think about common vernacular expressions and the creation of a three-movement work, in which each brief movement’s title is taken from the opening words of three common expressions:

I. Actions speak

II. Absence makes

III. All good things

(I leave it to you to complete these phrase.)

As is often the case with my work, I was also interested in how musical elements can be recast with new meaning across multiple movements, a concept that seemed to fit well with the always-present-but-with-obscure-origin nature of these wisdom-laced phrases. As such, some of the elements introduced in the work’s opening are more fully-realized later on. Keeping with the storytelling dramatic character of the guitar, I also save a few small surprises—a few special requests—for the performer as things progress.

I am deeply indebted to the brilliant and open-minded guitarist, Dieter Hennings, for his patience and support in the making of this work. Dieter and I worked together at the soundSCAPE Festival in Italy, where I taught composition in summer 2016, and where he was part of the ensemble that premiered my Sandburg Songs. He will also take part in the Albany Records recording session of my first solo CD this summer at Oberlin Conservatory. Without him, this piece could not exist.

This will be my second visit to USF. In 2015 I gave a talk on the influence of Korean traditional music on my work as part of the Composition in Asia Symposium and Festival, organized by Professor John Robison. I’m very impressed by the level and breadth of music-making taking place at USF.

Prior to my premiere at USF, I will be making a visit to the New College of Florida in Sarasota to give a guest composer lecture to music students as a guest of Professors Maribeth Clark and Kye Ryung Park. After my recent talk at the University of Illinois at Chicago, I’m excited to again share my music and have a dialogue with the next generation of musical troublemakers!

I want to thank Professors Ruth Rosenberg and Marc Mellits for hosting my recent guest composer lecture at the University of Illinois at Chicago. It was a pleasure to meet such inquisitive students at UIC and answer their questions about music, language, politics, and so many other subjects.   Farewell, Chicago, and next stop…Florida!

I am deeply honored to have been selected to receive the 2018 Charles Ives Fellowship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. This award was established by the Academy with funds from the royalties of composer Charles Ives’ work by his widow, Harmony Ives, and—according to the letter I received—is “awarded annually to two composers of exceptional gifts.” How humbling it is to have any connection to America’s first great composer—one of twentieth-century music’s most far-sighted thinkers—and to receive this recognition from some of the American composers whose work I most admire. I am excited to meet the Academy members and my fellow awardees at the Ceremonial in New York this May.

I am very pleased to share news of an upcoming recording project. This summer, following my residency at Copland House, I will record my first portrait CD for Albany Records. The album, Sandburg Songs, will be named for my large-scale song cycle, which was commissioned by the soundSCAPE Festival in Italy and premiered by soprano Tony Arnold and conductor Tim Weiss with Eastman BroadBand in summer 2016. I’m so happy Tony and Tim have agreed to continue our collaboration for this recording and will be joined by the stellar musicians of Zohn Collective. In addition to Sandburg Songs, the CD will feature other chamber music from the last nine years, including my 2009 trio, In Search of Planet X, new works for solo piano and solo guitar, and possibly more.

I’m happy to share news of my selection for a Copland House Residency Award for 2017-18.  This is a great honor, which will allow me to live and work at the former home of composer Aaron Copland, in Cortlandt, New York, in summer 2018.

Every artist colony and fellowship has its own atmosphere, customs, and charm, and I’ve had the pleasure of experiencing many of them, most recently MacDowell.  Copland House is unique in that it hosts only composers and hosts only one composer at a time.  It is difficult to express the full range of feelings a composer might feel when writing a new work at Copland’s own piano and desk—the same piano and desk where he wrote both Connotations and Inscape.  Suffice to say, it will be a privilege.

I enjoyed reading Kate Guadagnino’s recent article in the New York Times Magazine, “The Rooms Where Writers Work.”  As the title implies, it’s a look at the physical spaces where writers do their writing, what I would consider the literal “creative space.”  While it only provides profiles of writers, the article’s concerns could just as easily be applied to the creative spaces of composers.  We all have our preferences and habits, and changing them can be met with resistance, depending on personality type.  Some composers need a piano for most of their work, while others see the piano as a crutch.  Some composers need total quiet, while others find a certain level of sound distraction to be helpful.  There are those who work in the morning and those at night. Christopher Rouse once described himself as “an afternoon composer.”

I have often found myself composing in coffee shops or other public spaces.  (Case in point: about two-thirds of my dissertation orchestral work was composed on the second floor of a Philadelphia Starbucks.)  Counterintuitive as it might seem, I find myself more focused when working in public, including places where I must “tune out” some background sound.  Perhaps my working intentions are clearer when confronted with a level distraction.  At the same time, I must use the piano during certain stages of the compositional process, and for this I am adamant about needing a grand piano (Baby grands work; what I need is a certain resonance.) and have found great benefits in the quiet isolation and beautiful views often found at artist colonies.  I would specifically cite the whole atmosphere—piano combined with the acoustics of the room combined with open windows looking out on to the Mediterranean, with its birds and waves and sunsets—at Camargo Foundation in France as being directly responsible for some of the warm, lyrical sound world of my Sandburg Songs.  I cannot speak for other composers, but it is clear to me that environment affects my work.  (As I walk the busy streets of Hong Kong, I have nearly planned out the form of an upcoming Hong Kong-inspired string quartet I will write this year!)

One of the ongoing challenges of creative work is to understand how one does it best, and part of that is when and where to work.  Of course, there are no rules, no correct or incorrect; only successful or unsuccessful, or more or less ideal.  Like almost everything about the creative process, it is a combination of observation and action that allows us to complete our task.

I enjoyed reading this almost-year-old but always timely article by Aaron Gervais on newmusicbox about the joys and struggles of the composer’s ageing process.  We’re not talking about the post-retirement ageing process and 4pm dinners at Denny’s that come with it, but rather the dreaded move from a composer’s twenties to a composer’s  thirties and then to….Well, we were never told in school what happens after that!

Without a doubt, the field is obsessed with youth and with young and “emerging” composers.  I have been at once pleased, amused, and bewildered to see ever-increasing national contests for composers in high school and even younger.

In response to Gervais’s article, I would also stress the importance of connections.  I continue to be grateful for the excellent performances I receive by musicians I also count as friends.  And as a composer now on the tenure track, I can vouch for the unceasing need to prove one’s worth with up-to-date accolades.  (We know you got a Pulitzer last year, but what have you done lately?)

Yet despite the challenges, I can say that I feel more certain about my own music making today than at any point in the past.  I have found a certain steely resolve that could only have come from experience: from ample doses of both the positive and the negative, or what George Rochberg’s widow, Gene Rochberg, told me was “taking your lumps.”

Many years ago, I was asked by a teacher: “When did you decide to become a composer?”  In being too honest and specific and showing my own doubts when replying, it was clear from the teacher’s reaction that I had given the “wrong” answer.  But the truth is that composing is not something I’d decided to do, or at least not at a specific age or on a specific date.  It was something I had done for as long as I could remember.  And so if there was a decision or if there is a decision, for me, it is the decision to continue from one day to the next and from one year to the next, and the quiet realization that I am doing the right thing, the only thing I can do. That is a realization that could only have come with the passing of time and with a certain amount of time away from a degree program and away from Those Who Would Grade Us.  Like they say, with age comes…can’t remember…too old!

So here’s to composers in our 30s, in our mid-30s, and beyond!  To the privilege of having fewer contests open to us, fewer application fees, and one less midnight trip to the post office!

To the right to write the right notes.  Our notes.  (Take note!)  No matter what!

 

I’m taking a moment from Hong Kong’s summer heat and Typhoon Merbok to report on a few things since the last post.  First, I had a lovely time presenting my music at Taipei National University of the Arts.  This was my first time in Taiwan, and although it was brief, I got a sense of some of the charms of the place about which I’ve long heard.  It was a pleasure to speak to the composition students and tour the beautiful campus.  Thank you to my friend and TNUA faculty composer Ming-Hsiu Yen for organizing my visit.

Second, and closer to home, one of the highlights of the end of the semester at HKBU was the performance by the Contemporary Music Workshop (CMW), which I organized and coached this year.  In the fall, a group of twelve students presented an all-Reich program, including Clapping Music, Piano Phase, and Violin Phase.  For the spring semester, a group of five pianists focused on Bartok.  The concert consisted of selections from and inspired by Bartok’s 7 Pieces from Mikrokosmos, for 2 pianos, 4 hands.  Some of the movements were Bartok’s original; others were improvisations based on musical elements from Bartok; and others still were—shall we say—reinterpretations of Bartok’s music.  For example, one of the movements created a magical echoing texture by slowing down Bartok’s composed folk melody and presenting it in several octaves and varied rhythms by all five players.  It was a pleasure for me to work with my students in bringing this creative program to fruition!

Finally, it was a privilege for me to serve as an adjudicator of the New Generation 2017 competition, sponsored by Hong Kong Composers Guild.  What an inspiration it was to hear the new works of eight talented Hong Kong composers, including two students from HKBU.  I am glad to be living and working in a place so dedicated to music and nurturing the next generation of creative individuals.  Congratulations to all the participating composers!

Very happy to be spending some time in Taipei.  This is my first time in the city and first time in Taiwan as well.  It is a place that has been calling me for many years by way of friends and stories of bubble tea and night markets.

But, alas, I am here to work!  Tomorrow I will be presenting my music to students at Taipei National University of the Arts.  I’m grateful for this opportunity and look forward to introducing some of my recent (and not-so-recent) work.  As I have done on a few other occasions, part of my talk will be devoted to a discussion of the influence of Korean traditional music on my compositions.

(Still the night market beckons….)

I have just received a video of the performance portion of my February 3 lecture at HKBU.  I very much enjoyed sharing some of my music and ways of thinking about music with my colleagues and students.  Special thanks again to violinist Gary Ngan and pianist Kawai Chan for their wonderful playing.  Here is their performance of my 2003 work, Rise, inspired by the immersive and space-bending installation art of James Turrell.

 

 

New music lovers in the Philadelphia area should mark their calendars for an upcoming performance by soprano Jamie Jordan and pianist Steven Beck at the University of Pennsylvania on February 22.  Jamie and Steve are among the best in the business, and I’m so glad they’ll be presenting a selection of my Sandburg Songs at Penn.  This will be the premiere of selections from the voice and piano arrangement of the songs I completed during my recent residency at MacDowell Colony.  (The ensemble version was premiered in Italy last summer.)

The rest of the program includes a veritable buffet of Penn composers: current faculty Jay Reise, James Primosch, and Anna Weesner; and Professors Emeriti George Crumb and Richard Wernick.  I have no doubt this will be a fantastic evening of music making!

I enjoyed introducing my music to students and colleagues during my lecture recital at Hong Kong Baptist University on Friday.  Part of our weekly colloquium series, the lecture recital featured performances of two older works of mine.  immaus, for solo violin, was performed with passion and sensitivity by violinist Gary Ngan.  It’s been great to hear so many unique interpretations of this work over the years since its premiere in 2004.  The recital portion of the afternoon also featured Rise, for violin and piano, performed by Gary and pianist Kawai Chan.  Once again, the performance was lyrical and dramatic.

Rise is perhaps the oldest of my works that I still allow to be performed, and I am pleased to find it standing up well with age.  I wrote the work for my undergraduate violin recital at Eastman in 2003, and it is interesting for me to hear how some compositional ideas from way back when have developed through the intervening years.  The work was inspired by the installation art of the extraordinary American visual artist, James Turrell.

The official title of my talk—Inspiration and Creativity in Composition—was bold and wide-ranging.  But so is the work that composers undertake!  I used the lecture portion of the colloquium to try and shed some light on the big questions composers face and which I’ve often asked myself: What inspires a composer?  Where do musical ideas come from?  What is the connection between the extra-musical and the musical in composition?  It was great to have such an attentive audience for my mental musical musings!

I’m honored to have been awarded a residency at MacDowell Colony.  MacDowell is the oldest artist colony in the US and carries a storied history of artists (Bernstein and Copland are among its many famous composer fellows.) having created while in residence there.  Like other fellowships I’ve received–including Yaddo and Camargo–MacDowell affords artists a priceless gift: a contemplative, distraction-free place to create.  I’m very excited about making some new notes there this winter.

I’m delighted to share the news that I have accepted a tenure-track position of Assistant Professor in the Department of Music at Hong Kong Baptist University.  In this role I will teach composition and related courses to a group of talented young composers and musicians.

I visited Hong Kong as a presenter at the Annual Conference of the Asian Studies Association of Hong Kong in 2013 (where I spoke about this), and was blown away by the visceral energy of the city and its people.  I am excited about the many potential collaborations with Hong Kong’s diverse music culture, including my colleagues at HKBU and musicians throughout the marvelous city, as well as colleagues throughout Asia!

The 2016 soundSCAPE Festival has come to a close, and my ears are buzzing with the sounds of two weeks of intense music making and teaching.  Of course the highlight for me was last night’s premiere of my complete Sandburg Songs, a five-movement song cycle for soprano and seven instruments with texts from Carl Sandburg’s Chicago Poems.  Selections from the cycle were performed last summer at soundSCAPE and earlier this spring at Oberlin, but this was the first time all five movements came together.  Under the direction of the unflappable Tim Weiss, soundSCAPE faculty instrumentalists were joined by five sopranos, a unique experience, which added a certain drama to the performance as each vocalist rose from her chair to take her place behind the music stand and perform.  One by one, sopranos Tara Khozein, Jocelyn Fekel Zelasko, Hillary LaBonte, and Felecia Chen sang movements one through four, each bringing her own ideas and interpretations to the score and leading seamlessly to the fifth-movement finale, Passers-by, which was sung by their teacher, Tony Arnold.  It was a pleasure to work with each of these talented vocalists, Tim, and the soundSCAPE faculty instrumentalists in bringing this grand vision—over a year in the making—to life.

Another highlight of this year’s festival for me was the chance to work one-on-one with eighteen composition students from many of the world’s top music programs.  In our lessons I was impressed with the breadth of interests and the seriousness of purpose that these young composers brought to their work.

There were several dozen works performed in rapid succession over the course of the festival, so it would be difficult to single out one performance…but I can  mention four:  Varese’s Octandre, conducted by my old friend, Daniel Pesca; Ligeti’s Violin Concerto, complete with ocarinas and whistling in the cadenza, with the incredible violinist Mark Fewer; and works of two of my soundSCAPE faculty colleagues, Ricardo Zohn-Muldoon’s scenic cantata, Comala, and Carlos Sanchez-Gutierrez’s Diaries, which also featured pianist Daniel Pesca.

Thanks to everyone who made this year’s festival the best ever and for all the memories—musical and otherwise!

It was wonderful to hear soprano Sage DeAgro-Ruopp and the Oberlin Contemporary Music Ensemble perform a selection of four of my Sandburg Songs at Oberlin Conservatory on May 4.  Under the direction of Tim Weiss, these young musicians gave a confident account that emphasized the music’s coloristic and rhythmic shifts.  Sage handled the vocal part with ease.  Her precise pitch and tender, refined timbral palette were a pleasure to hear.  The entire group gave me renewed confidence in the future of contemporary music performance.  

The concert also included new works by Christopher Dietz and Christopher Stark.  There is much to say about both their works, but what stood out to me most in Dietz’s work was its rich harmonic landscape and Chris’s ability to maneuver complex contrapuntal textures across the ensemble.  In this respect, the piece occasionally recalled the music of Roger Sessions.

Stark’s work for trombone and ensemble, with the outstanding Lee Allen as soloist, displayed a clear mastery of orchestral colors and led the listener on an adventurous journey that covered many textures, moods, and landscapes.  What I most liked was the coy humor that seemed to emerge in the work, and with which the work ended.  This music clearly fell within the scope of the late Steven Stucky’s compositional orbit , but all of us who studied with Steve are the better for his influence.

Hearing my work at Oberlin made me even more excited to hear soprano Tony Arnold and Eastman BroadBand perform the complete 5-song cycle this July at the soundSCAPE Festival, where I will teach private composition lessons to festival students.  With Tim Weiss also leading that performance, I know the music is in good hands.

For those who cannot make it to the performance of my Sandburg Songs tonight at Oberlin Conservatory, I’m happy to report that there will be a live webcast streaming here at 8pm EST.  The concert also includes works by Christopher Dietz, Christopher Stark, and Thea Musgrave.