Contents:
Healthy Holly Opens Soon!
Vanderbilt Virtuosi: CD Release & Livestreamed Concert
Colleague Spotlight: Katie Procell in a Valentine's Day Livestream
Milestones: Centaur Records Re-release
Dear Friends,
As we all wait with bated breath with to see if we will have a chance at a functioning Senate this year or if Mitch McConnell will be able to continue his ruinous rule of the legislature, we have to find victories where they happen, and I'm excited to share a few of the music-making/music-hearing opportunities that have arisen over the next few months!
Healthy Holly's Hidden Hideaway opens next week!
I am so thrilled to experience Healthy Holly's Hidden Hideaway along with the rest of you all, with the music I've written for it interpolated into the fascinating format of this phone-based dramatic adventure. Irreverent, zany, filled with love for the weird city of Baltimore that I have come to call my home, this theatrical piece is going to be a wild ride and I hope you'll come along for it! From a musical standpoint, it has given me a chance to engage styles and find solutions to challenges I never would have had a reason to explore if not for this opportunity. I look forward to experiencing this show and hope it's just the beginning of my cross-discipline collaborations!
Vanderbilt Virtuosi: CD Release & Livestreamed Concert
It's a pleasure for me to unveil for you the artwork for the next appearance of my music on an album. Vanderbilt Virtuosi is a vehicle for celebrating the wind faculty of Vanderbilt University's Blair School of Music, my undergrad alma mater; the album additionally celebrates Vanderbilt composers, with performances of music written by my former classmates Sean William Calhoun and Alyssa Weinberg, as well as by my former teachers and continuing friends professors Michael Alec Rose and Michael Slayton. It is an honor to share airtime with these other marvelous musical creators, and I look forward to the album release, which will take place on February 8, 2021.
Also happening on that same date will be the album release concert, which will be available to watch/listen through Vanderbilt's livestream at 8pm CST (9PM EST) on Monday, February 8, 2021. Use this link to add a reminder to your calendar, learn more about the program, and to reach the link to the Blair School of Music's streaming page. Congratulations to oboist Jared Hauser and Richard Todd for their amazing work on my duo (written at Vanderbilt) Mar de Lurín, after paintings by Fernando de Szyszlo.
Colleague Spotlight: Inaugural Valentine's Concert of Vocal Opera Collective Experiment
Brilliant soprano and frequent collaborator Katie Procell is co-organizer of a new creative collective that is working to virtually bring classical vocal music and opera to the world.
VOCE (Virtual Opera Collective Experiment) is committed to delivering performances during and after the COVID-19 pandemic in a safe way for both the artists and the audience to enjoy, focusing on increasing virtual music production quality in order for audience and performers. This group is presenting a winter kickoff concert on Valentine's day, Sunday February 14th at 2PM EST.
The program will feature pre-recorded videos and the talents of Katie Procell (soprano & producer), Katharine Burns (soprano), Nox Chea (mezzo-soprano), Daniel Espinal (tenor), Jamie Sanderson (baritone), Robert Feng (bass & producer), Dmitry Glivinskiy (piano), Felix Jarrar (piano), and Micah Young (piano). Musical selections will include music from Street Scene, Don Carlo, Die Zauberflöte, Ragtime, art songs, spirituals, and more! I hope you will tune in and support musicians who are trying to creatively navigate the limitations created by COVID-19 and the Trump administration's disastrous, negligent handling of it.
Milestones: Centaur Records Rerelease
Composer/violist Christopher Lowry's incredible performance of my Fantasy, for Viola & Piano is going to be re-released by Centaur Records on Friday, April 16th, 2021. More information will be forthcoming about how to order the CD or download/stream it. Chris's Milestones is a gorgeous collection of pieces of his own marvelous music for viola in addition to music by me and composer Christopher Hallum. I'm glad that there will be wider distribution of this excellent CD through Centaur records!
It seems surreal to be going back to work with our tattered democracy still hanging in the balance, an unstable criminal attempting to overthrow the government, an entire political party that only has white supremacy to offer enabling him, and pushing 400,000 Americans dead from a disease with no national vaccination plan. It may be a new year, but we have the same old problems to face, the same old fights to take on. Let's buckle down for the future, one in which we might be able to see each other once sane and science-valuing voices resume control. Stay strong (and safe and distanced)!
-Peter
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