The last few days have been a whirlwind but a positive one. It was an absolute pleasure to present my work at Eastman. What talented and inquisitive young people these students were. I was also able to spend time with my former teachers, David Liptak and Ricardo Zohn-Muldoon, as well as Carlos Sanchez-Gutierrez, whom I last met in Hong Kong.
Yesterday my Upstate tour continued with a masterclass and lecture for the graduate students in composition at SUNY Buffalo. I was very impressed with the work I saw from all six students. They represented a variety of styles and all seemed to understand that composition is an individual act with no clear right or wrong way of operating. Both their work and the quality of the discussion confirmed what I already knew from my experience of twice attending June in Buffalo, which is that this is one of the excellent programs for graduate study, thanks in large part to composer David Felder.