9.22.22 Happy Fall! Lots to announce!

Updated: Dec 4, 2022

Dear Friends,

I hope everyone has had a safe and active summer - Doug and I have been away from Baltimore for the past few months and I have neglected to keep people up to date, in part because of all of the travel. But we have to move forward (and I know how limited anyone's time might be to read even this update!). So here are there tl;dr highlights:

Performances:
- 10/10/22, 8pm CDT: Vanderbilt University Blair School of Music Steve & Judy Turner Hall., Nashville, TN
- 10/16/22, 6pm EDT: DC New Music Conference: University of Maryland College Park The Clarice Center for the Performing Arts, College Park, MD
Other Updates:
- Stories Out of Cherry Stems available and being well-received
- Website/compositions list navigation updated
- New creative works from the summer and more in the making!

STORIES OUT OF CHERRY STEMS IS (and has been) OUT! - NASHVILLE PERFORMANCE

Released in May 2022, this debut album for star soprano Katie Procell is available for digital purchase or streaming! You can click the album image or use the button below to see all the different ways you can access these brilliant performances by Katie Procell and a whole host of my friends and colleagues from recording sessions last summer. Shortly after its release the album was already gaining positive attention! From independent classical music critic Opera Ramblings: "This is clever and sophisticated music. The accompanying instruments are well matched to their texts and the moods range from very playful to really rather dark... Ms. Procell navigates the different demands with great skill."

Access the Album!

I have also been told that the October issue of Opera News will be reviewing the album! I'm looking forward to it, but even ahead of that, Katie and I (and Kyle Blake Jones) will be making an appearance to promote Katie and the album at my alma mater, Vanderbilt University!

That's right! on Monday, October 10, 2022 at 8pm CDT, Katie will perform selections from Stories Out of Cherry Stems along with other of my songs for voice and piano at Vanderbilt University's Blair School of Music in the Steve & Judy Turner Recital Hall! This is an exciting return for me to my undergrad alma mater (and the site of some of my most meaningful music learning experiences) for the first time since 2018! It is an honor to have the chance to share this music with the Vanderbilt music community and I can't wait for Katie to blow everyone away with her incredible abilities! The concert is free and open to the public!

APPEARANCE AT DC NEW MUSIC CONFERENCE 2022!

It is an honor to return once again to the DC New Music Conference for their 2022 edition - this time at University of Maryland College Park. Fresh from their performance of Desiderata for Soprano & Alto Saxophone in Nashville, Katie Procell and Kyle Blake Jones will be performing this piece again on Sunday, October 16, 2022 at 6pm EDT as part of the conference's final concert! More details coming as to the location and other important information.

THE WEBSITE IS REVISED!

It's been a long time coming, but now, if you're looking to explore my compositions, you'll find a very different experience if you hover over the "Music" dropdown of the site's navigation menu. I hope you enjoy looking through, reading, listening, viewing - there's so much content, and I've consolidated it from over 80 pages down to less than 10! I hope enjoy looking around!

SUMMER RECAP

It was a long, hot, summer, full of visits to family, some time spent in nature, and most of it spent without working air conditioning in my apartment (yikes)! Very fortunately to that last point, Doug and I spent most of the latter part in New York City, looking after my sister's adorable dog, Scout! During that time, I finished another piece for Katie (and for Chris Lowry!), another entry in my list of compositions for soprano and string instrument, this time for soprano and viola. You can read more about Temptress Helen: Greek Legend Verse Excerpts here, but suffice to say that the idiosyncratic texts presented a fresh, new, challenge, and once we can find a spare moment when Katie isn't performing something we're already recorded together (and Chris is free), I hope we can share this work with all of you! It was also just a delightful summer up in New York City, filled with art, music, amazing Chinese food and pizza (which I already desperately miss!), and I recorded the whole experience in the style of my bird-inspired Hoodleoo illustrations. It made for a charming and memorable summer! I hope you enjoy these illustrations of our wonderful time in New Bonk City!