After thirteen years in the City of Brotherly Love, I have relocated to Baltimore, where I am teaching at the University of Maryland Baltimore County.  I am especially excited to be connected with UMBC because of its new music focus, which includes the faculty ensemble, Ruckus, and an annual contemporary music concert series, Livewire.  Beyond the UMBC campus, Baltimore is… Read more →

While in Ottawa I was happy to attend a performance by the JACK Quartet as part of the Ottawa Chamberfest.  The JACK Quartet is close to my heart, first because its members were my Eastman undergraduate colleagues, and second because I am writing them a new quartet called Witness.  I started the quartet while in residence at the Camargo Foundation… Read more →

I have received a video from my Sandburg Songs premiere at the SoundSCAPE Festival in Italy.  Watching this video gives a different perspective on the performance and allows the viewer (listener) to see (hear) the fantastic musicians of Eastman BroadBand as they count, breath, and bring the music to life.  There are three more songs to come in this cycle, and watching this performance inspires me… Read more →

I’m very happy to share the recordings from the premiere performance of my two Sandburg Songs.  These are two of what I expect will be a larger song cycle on texts from Carl Sandburg’s Chicago Poems.  The premiere took place on July 7 at the SoundSCAPE Festival in Maccagno, Italy.  Tony Arnold, soprano, was joined by musicians from Eastman BroadBand… Read more →

Last night I enjoyed one of the best performances of my music to date here at the SoundSCAPE Festival in Maccagno, Italy.  Tony Arnold sang my Sandburg Songs with Eastman BroadBand, conducted by Tim Weiss, in a performance that offered everything a composer could want in a performance.  The BroadBand under Tim’s direction plays with a kind of telekinetic sense… Read more →

On my way to the SoundSCAPE Festival in Italy, where I’m excited to hear the premiere of my new Sandburg Songs for Tony Arnold and Eastman BroadBand, I’ve made a detour to Berlin, a city that has a special place in my heart as the destination of my first flight (at age 21) and my home for three summers in… Read more →

I am happy to report the completion of two new Sandburg Songs for soprano and ensemble.  These songs were commissioned by the SoundSCAPE Festival in Maccagno, Italy and are dedicated to Tony Arnold, who will give the premiere this July with Eastman BroadBand and conductor Tim Weiss.  It is an honor to write for such compelling and fearless artists, and… Read more →

Under the category of “Only in Pittsburgh” I’ve received word that Frederic Rzewski will be playing his epic The People United Will Never Be Defeated! at Wholey’s, the famous fish market in the Strip.  The performance will take place at 2pm this Saturday, April 18, in the upstairs dining room.  The performance is free.  What this means is that you… Read more →

As a conclusion to their time at Camargo, film maker Jorge Leon, actress Isabelle Dumont, and violinist and composer George van Dam spoke about their current film project on Wednesday evening.  George, who performs with the Brussels-based contemporary music ensemble, Ictus, is a champion of new music, and he offered an exciting performance of Berio to start the evening. The… Read more →

I really enjoyed listening to this interview with renowned choreographer Bill T. Jones on his book STORY/TIME: The Life of an Idea. Rarely have I heard so many brilliant statements in such a short time frame. Here’s just one: “Art making is participation in the world of ideas.” For a look at some of his compelling art, take a look… Read more →

This Wednesday at 5pm I’ll be presenting a talk on my music at the Camargo Foundation. Unlike the artist colonies I’ve had the privilege of attending (Yaddo, VCCA, Kimmel Harding Nelson), Camargo Fellows come from both the arts and the humanities. Despite–or perhaps because of–our seemingly disparate research and creative pursuits, the presentations by my fellow fellows have been among… Read more →

I think most of us are aware of our hometown heroes, and as a kid growing up in Pittsburgh Lorin Maazel’s presence was huge.  Starting in fifth grade I attended a free Saturday music school for public school students called “Centers for the Musically Talented” that took me every week to Peabody High School in East Liberty, from which Maazel… Read more →

I had a great time last night listening (and dancing) to the soulful sounds of Dwight Wilson & The Classic City Soul Band at The Melting Point in Athens, GA. This was the first concert in their Motown Downtown series, and it didn’t disappoint. Great music, rich voices with a lifetime of experience, and a relaxed and diverse crowd. Who… Read more →

While visiting Pittsburgh I was delighted to learn that the Pittsburgh Festival of New Music was taking place during my stay. I had the chance to hear Frederic Rzewski play his recently premiered Dreams, Part I (2012-2013) and his 1977 work, Four Pieces, plus an encore memorial piece for Milton Babbitt. This was my second time hearing Rzewski perform his… Read more →

On the good news front: I am honored to have received a fellowship to the Camargo Foundation in Cassis, France! I’ve had the pleasure of attending a number of artist colonies (Yaddo, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Kimmel Harding Nelson Center) in the last couple years and have always been impressed with the people I’ve met and the level… Read more →

It is with both “emotion and meaning” that I spread the good news of the Leonard B. Meyer papers at Penn. This fascinating collection, housed at Penn’s Special Collections Center, is now complete and ready for all manner of researchers and thinkers. Between 2008 and 2010 I read, identified, and organized a vast trove (about a dozen boxes of correspondence,… Read more →

I’ve had a great time exploring Athens, OH and taking in some of the 2014 Athens International Film and Video Festival. In Bloom, the 2013 film by Nana Ekvtimishvili and Simon Groß, was a highlight. The film takes place in Tbilisi in 1992 and explores two young women coming of age amid unsettled political change. This was a film that… Read more →

The performers of NOBROW.collective, led by Aaron Butler, gave a thrilling premiere performance of my percussion quartet, Kinetic Attractions, last night as part of the Athens International Film and Video Festival. They played with energy and clearly enjoyed making the most of the work’s playful and more aggressive sections. The work began without pause following a screening of Melissa Haviland… Read more →

For the second weekend in a row I’ve had the great fortune of hearing my solo violin work, immaus, performed at a regional conference of the College Music Society. Last week it was Lina Bahn in Denver, and this week I heard Kia-Hui Tan in Fargo at the Great Lakes Regional Chapter Conference of the College Music Society. I first… Read more →

Today I had the pleasure of hearing Lina Bahn perform my solo violin work, immaus, as part of the Rocky Mountain Regional Conference of the College Music Society in Denver. Lina is a member of the faculty at the University of Colorado at Boulder and Executive Director of the VERGE ensemble in Washington, D.C. I first met her when she… Read more →