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UPCOMING PERFORMANCES
2007-2008
Some exciting projects are on the horizon with details to be announced shortly. Upcoming performances include workshops of "Mary Surratt" and "The Breath of Life" should be in the offing by 2008. Also, keep your ears out for a new musical project to premiere in Houston, possibly as early as 2008. Details will be coming soon!
July 2007
A new work for violin and viola duo entitled "Midnight Mass" will premiere at the American Festival for the Arts summer music conservatory. The work was commissioned and will be performed by the Cappelletti Chao Duo from Washington DC. The performance will be at ROthko Chapel in Houston's museum district on June 27, 2007.
July 2007
A special repeat performance of "Collapsible Rhythms" with choreography by Houston Ballet artistic director Stanton Welch will be featured on the AFA World Premieres Concert at Zilkha Hall at the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts in Houston. The concert will be on July 12, 2007.
March 2007
Variations for Flute and Piano was featured on a concert of The Union of Bulgarian Composers at Philip Koutev Concert Hall in Sofia, Bulgaria, March 13 2007 featuring Mila Pavlova (flute) and Galina Apostolova (piano). Special thanks to NACUSA-TX for making this concert happen!
December 2006
A very special workshop weekend took place in Houston during December for The Breath of Life, the opera on which I am collaborating with composer Todd Frazier. Several singers from around the nation, including Katherine Barnes-Burroughs, Diana McVey and Jerry Dolter joined us in Houston for a series of workshops and a special performance. This was the first public performance of several sections of the work and we are hopeful that future workshops will be scheduled in 2007 and 2008.
November 2006
"Fanfare and Air" originally written for solo euphonium premiered in a new arrangement for solo cello. Cellist Julia Cleworth premiered this new arrangement at the "Texas Originals" concert presented by The Foundation for Modern Music in Houston, Texas. Thank you to the Foundation for their support and for asking me to serve as curator for this special concert of works by Houston and Texas composers.
May 2006
My "Songs on Sandburg" was performed by soprano Kelli Estes in a solo recital at St. Stephen's Church in Houston, Texas. Kelli was accompanied by pianist Roger Keele.
April 2006
A new piano solo "Three Piano Miniatures" premiered in Galway, Ireland in connection with the birthday of Mr. Ray O'Toole. The work was commissioned by his wife, Valerie as a special gift.
March 2006
Variations for Flute and Piano and Three Sandburg Settings will be performed in San Marcos, Texas at Texas State University, as part of the joint conference of the College Music Society Southern Chapter and the Texas chapter of the National Association of Composers USA (NACUSA-TX). "Three Sandburg Settings" will be performed by Juli Wood (soprano) and Sunnie Oh (piano) from Texas State University on Thursday March 9 at 8:00 p.m. in the TSU Recital Hall. "Variations" will be performed by Danilo Mezzadri (flute) from University of Southern Mississippi and Faith DeBow (piano) from Texas State University at the Texas Composers Concert in the TSU Recital Hall on Friday Mach 10 at 4:00 p.m.
January 20, 2006
The Last Leaf, a chamber opera in one act, was performed under the direction of Katherine Barnes-Burroughs by the Texas Tech University Graduate Opera Project. This was the first full staging of this work that has, to date, been performed in concert versions at the Moores School of Music, the American Festival for the Arts and the New York City Opera Showcasing American Composers (VOX)series. Here are some photos from the performance.
December, 2006
Residency at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. As always, just wonderful. What they provide to artists is incredibly valluable. Please try to support organizations like this as much as you can.
November, 2006
Residency at the Ragdale Foundation in Lake Forest, Illinois. A terrific time there and another wonderful organization worthy of your support.
July 15, 2005
A new ballet, Collapsible Rhythms, commissioned in honor of the tenth anniversary of the American Festival for the Arts, premiered as part of the AFA Summer Music Conservatory. Scored for percussion and electric violin, the ballet was choreographed by Houston Ballet Artistic Director Stanton Welch. The premiere was at Episcopal High School's Underwood Theatre on July 15 at 7:00 p.m. The work was also subsequently performed at the Houston Ballet Academy summer showcase on July 27 and 28 at San Jacinto Community College South.
April 24, 2005
My work, Variations for Flute and Piano was featured as part of a concert by the Foundation for Modern Music. The performers included Sydney Carlson a (flute) and Rodolfo Morales (piano). Thanks to FFM for such wonderful support for this event.
March 29, 2005
My new opera, Mary Surratt, had a workshop at Ovations! in Rice Village. Featuring singers Liz Wade, Tara Faircloth, Lynelle Rowley, Hal Spencer and Sam Brown, this was the first public performance of five scenes from this evening length work. This workshop performance was funded in part by a grant from the Cultural Arts Council of Houston and Harris County through the generosity of their Individual Artist Grant program. Special thanks also to the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts and the Ucross Foundation for providing time and space to develop the work.
On the same program, excerpts from the new opera, "The Breath of Life" in collaboration with composer Jefferson Todd Frazier, were also featured. This work is being presented by the Society for the Performing Arts. Many thanks to the Robert and Janice McNair Foundation and the Powell Foundation for their generous underwriting funds.
November 21 , 2005
My work, Variations for Flute and Piano was featured at a private performance for the board of the Cultural Arts Council of Houston and Harris County. Sydney Carlson and Julie Loeb repeated their performance from this past summer. Thanks to CACHH for providing this wonderful opportunity to hear chamber music in a real chamber setting!
October 15-31, 2004
Received a residency from the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, primarily to work on Mary Surratt. Stay tuned for news on a public performance of materials from Mary as part of my fellowship from the Cultural Arts Council of Houston/Harris County. Probably sometime in December.
July 10, 2004
My work, Variations for Flute and Piano, was performed by Sydney Carlson and Julie Loeb Sacks as part of the American Festival for the Arts faculty program. The performance was at Ovations in Houston. Great job guys!
July 2 , 2004
Received a generous grant from the Cultural Arts Council of Houston/Harris County to support the composition of the new opera, Mary Surratt. I'm very excited about this grant because it will give me some very important time to work on the opera and focus on completing some significant material on that front. This is an Individual Artist Grant Fellowship from the Cultural Arts Council and it requires that I do a public presentation of some work during the grant period. So... look for something big to come up at the end of the year (or early next).
June 13 , 2004
My organ work Whistle Stop! was performed by Crista Miller at Clear Lake United Methodist Church.
April 30, 2004
A new choral work, titled "Celebration" will premiered by the Rhode Island College Choruses (Providence, RI). The work was commissioned by the college in celebration of their 150th anniversary.
This was a very exciting project indeed. Teresa Coffman of RIC conducted. Original text was generously provided by Lawrence J. Sasso, a Rhode Island poet and writer (it's great!). Other texts have been assembled from various historical sources. I think the overall effect works really well. This is a large scale work, about 12-15 minutes in length, scored for soprano soloist, chamber choir, full chorus and small instrumental ensemble. The performance will take place on April 30 at the Rhode Island College John Nazarian Center for the Performing Arts.
UPDATE: One movement of this piece, The Light, toured England and Scotland in May 2004!
April 1-4, 2004
My children's opera Sibanda! was performed by the Abilene Collegiate Opera under the direction of Dr. Jaynne Middleton. My great appreciation to Jaynne, Peter Isaacson, conductor Jason Lim and the wonderful cast and crew for such a wonderful production! We had a terrific time in Abilene. I was very honored to have many people attend a brief Meet-the-Composer session at Hardin Simmons University. Hell, I even made the local "things to do in Abilene" column. You can imagine how surprised I was when I found it in the lobby of my hotel! Thanks Jaynne!!! Publicity information and pictures to come soon!
February/March 2004
I was awarded a wonderful residency at the Ucross Foundation in Buffalo, Wyoming. This was among the most beautiful places I have ever been. Thanks to Sharon, Ruthie, Betty and all the wonderful staff for such a productive, peaceful and beautiful experience. Met several amazing artists and writers (get in touch guys!). A truly wonderful way to work. I went up to Little Big Horn one day and had an inspiring visit. Here's a couple of pictures from my log cabin (yes I worked in a log cabin) to make you drool!
