January 2025 News
Rehearing the Algonquin Regional High School Wind Ensemble in Theron's Lullaby
By far, my biggest composing project of 2024 was my Requiem for Animals for Chorus and String Orchestra, which I have now completed and delivered. Commissioned by the Brattleboro Music Center along with support from the Eric Stokes Fund, "Earth's Best in Tune", and the Culture and Animals Foundation, the Brattleboro Concert Choir will begin rehearsing it later this month and premiere it on May 17 and 18 at Potash Hill (the old Marlboro College campus) in Marlboro, VT. This 50-minute work is the longest work I've ever composed and perhaps the most meaningful and emotional one as well, and I'm very excited to hear it brought to life here in my hometown. Tickets for the concerts will be available for purchase through the BMC's website in the coming months.
In November, I was honored to be asked by the world-famous violin virtuoso Midori if I would be willing to make some short arrangements for her to perform with some outstanding young musicians as part of her International Community Engagement Program (a program of her non-profit organization Music Sharing.) They then performed my string quartet arrangements of Rimsky-Korsakov's Dance of the Tumblers and Beethoven's Minuet in G in more than a dozen schools, orphanages, hospitals, and other social institutions around Nepal on their December tour. They will also be performing them again when they tour Japan in June. If you want to learn more about this program, here is a short video about the ICEP tour of India in 2017.
In October, I had a wonderful time visiting my old high school, Algonquin Regional in Massachusetts, where I conducted the wind ensemble in a performance of Theron's Lullaby. This was very special for me as I played clarinet (and piano when needed) in this very band some 20 years ago! My high school band director, Dennis Wrenn, who passed away a few years after I graduated from a heart attack while on tour in Greece with the school's jazz band (which I also played piano in) would have been especially proud of me. The band did a wonderful job and I'm happy to share a video of the performance for you all:
On July 4th (quite fittingly), Ukrainian clarinetist Pavlo Boiko performed both my Sonata for Clarinet and Piano and my Duo for Clarinet and Cello on a recital of all American music in Kiev. Even in a country at war and under siege, creating and listening to music is still important, and I'm honored that they included mine on this concert. Here's a video from the concert with Boiko joined by cellist Daryna Feshchak on the 2nd movement of my "Duo":
Back in 2022, my choral version of My Love It Should Be Silent was selected to be performed by the Polish vocal ensemble Vocore as one of just 6 works out of almost 500 they received in their call for scores. They had planned to perform it in the 2022-23 season, but unfortunately that did not happen as the group disbanded. However, some of their members formed a new group called AdVocem which finally performed my work in Nieborowie, Poland this past October and are hoping to perform it more times in the future!
Last year, I made an adventurous reharmonization of the Christmas carol "Silent Night" for organ I called Silent Nocturne (Sleep in Heavenly Peace). I was fortunate in December to receive a beautiful recording of the work by the amazing organist and composer Carson Cooman: