I’m pleased to announce that the UW Symphony with conductor James Smith will perform the first two movements of my Music for Orchestra in Eleven Incarnations. The concert is 25 February 2011 at 8:00pm in Mills Hall in the Humanities Building at 455 N. Park St. in Madison, WI. This concert also features winners of the concerto competition: Ravel’s Don Quichotte a Dulcinee with John Arnold, bass-baritone; Wieniawski’s Fantaisie Brilliante on Themes from Gounod’s Faust with Qi Cao, violin; Saint-Saens’s Concerto No. 2 with Hyojung Huh, piano; Tchaikovsky’s Variations on a Rococo Theme with Taylor Skiff, violoncello.
11 Incarnations
The UW Symphony did a fabulous job reading parts of the Music for Orchestra in Eleven Incarnations. Please keep in mind that the recordings I’ve included below are cold readings. They spent only about 25 minutes total reading through some difficult music.
All things considered, the first movement just needs a little tweaking. I didn’t manage to finish the second movement in time for the deadline for these readings, but you’ll be able to listen to the first third or so of it.
Music for Orchestra in Eleven Incarnations
This is the title of my DMA final project (or dissertation composition). If you are a fan of a certain British science fiction television program, you may be able to guess what the title means.
Indeed, I decided to write a symphony in eleven movements–each movement a character sketch of Doctor Who himself.
Here is a pdf of the proposal for the symphony. This is a “first final draft,” as I’m going to meet with my committee advisers over the next few weeks to go over the proposal with them. I’ll post an updated one (if I need to make any changes).
Excerpts Page Updated
I just spent the better part of my afternoon updating the listening files for the excerpts page. There’s a few more examples you can listen to … I hope you enjoy!
Lecture Recital: 3 March 2010, Jacob Druckman’s “Dark Upon the Harp”
So, I’ve started preparing in earnest for my lecture recital. A fabulous group of performers is joining me to bring this setting of psalms to life. This is an early Druckman piece for mezzo, brass quintet, and two percussionists. I’ll be conducting, something I’m very excited to do, as I haven’t conducted at a recital venue in quite some time.
Please join me if you can at Morphy Recital Hall on the UW-Madison campus in the Humanities Building at 8:30pm on 3 March 2010. I’ll be speaking first and then we’ll be treated to a performance.
I haven’t decided if I’m going to do the traditional “read the paper” thing. I’d rather not, but I’ll see how it goes as the date looms.
Dissertation, etc.
Just writing an update that last spring I passed all of the preliminary examinations, and I am now officially a dissertator. I’ve decided to write a symphony for the DMA final project–as it is called here at UW-Madison–and will hopefully write a movement a semester, to be finished by spring 2011. I’m planning on submitting the first movement (if, indeed, it will be the first movement, but a movement in any case) this fall for the UW Symphony Orchestra composition competition. If it is selected, the movement will be performed in February.
Also, I’ve been working with Keith Lienert–a Madison steel pan player–and I’ll be writing a suite for solo steel pan.
Then, I’m hoping to finish up three more songs to add to Aubade for a Broken Neck–words by the talented Traci Brimhall–so that I’ll have a nice song cycle for Jen Lien. The whole cycle should premiere in its entirety some time next spring.
Then, lastly, I might be organizing a Pierrot ensemble project with the Wisconsin Art Song Project, but I’m not entirely sure if that will be happening or not. Early days for that, still.
Here’s to a productive start for my dissertating years!