3/4/10
Nathan Mandel plays On the Floodis of Babiloyne 3pm at the Dancz Center in Athens, GA.3/2/10
Zuzanna Szewczyk plays Scrapheap, along with premieres by John Liberatore and Hannah Lash, at The Stone in NYC at 10pm. Tickets $10, $5 for students.10/31/09
New Music organization Ossia will premiere Abel's Blood, for eight voices, at an evening service (6:30pm) in Interfaith Chapel in Rochester, NY. Organist Randall Harlow will be playing the Lou Harrison Concerto for Organ and Percussion Orchestra during the same service.9/18/09
New Music Ensemble Juventas will perform Murmurs from Limbo on a program of works entitled "Murmurs from Limbo: A Musical Exploration Into the Human Mind", Friday, September 18 at 8:00pm at The Boston Conservatory's Seully Hall and Saturday, September 19 at 8:00pm at First Church in Boston.9/4/09
Pianist Zuzanna A. Szewczyk will play my Scrapheap as part of a solo recital, 7pm in the Eastman School of Music's Kibourn Hall.8/5/09
My orchestral work The Henry Ford Old Time Orchestra Plays Real American Tunes will premiere on the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music's "In the Works" Concert in Santa Cruz, CA. This concert will also include a new work by Baljinder Sekhon. Here is a review: "Future Generation of Musicians Shine in California".4/19/09
Pianist Zuzanna A. Szewczyk will play my Scrapheap, on a recital of works that will also include compositions by Matthew Barber, Scott Worthington, and others at 3pm at Christ Church in Rochester, NY .4/11/08
Ford Work, for 10 Brass Instruments, will premier on a concert at the Eastman School of Music's Kilbourn Hall in Rochester, NY, U.S.A. This concert takes place at 7pm, and is free. Click here for directions3/20/08
Pianist Zuzanna A. Szewczyk will premier Scrapheap for piano, at 12:30pm in the Eastman School of Music's Kilbourn Hall in Rochester, NY, U.S.A. This concert is free. Click here for directions3/7/08
The Eastman Computer Music Center will present a concert of works at 8pm. This concert is free, and will be held at Bethel Christian Church (directions) . On the Floodis of Babiloyne is on the program, performed by Andrew Liebermann, as well as works by Luis Pena, Reginald Bain, Drew Allen, Hendel Almetus, John Liberatore, and Andrew Colella. Scott Perkins will be performing.2/14/08
Saxophonist Andrew Liebermann will perform On the Floodis of Babiloyne at 12:30pm at the Eastman School of Music's Kilbourn Hall in Rochester, NY, U.S.A. This concert is free. Click here for directionsSpring 08
The Cornerstone University Chorale, directed by Randall Burghart, will perform my "Amazing Grace" arrangement on a concert this spring. I will add more details when I know about them.02/18/07
Amazing Grace arrangement premiers 10:30am at Woodbrook Baptist ChurchThe WBC Sanctuary choir will premier this arrangement in the context of a Transfiguration Sunday worship service. The setting attempts to grapple with the checkered history of this song, to see if it has redeeming value, so to speak. The piece is brief and somewhat intense, featuring, among other things, some extended techniques in the choir, and a villainous "Men's Quartet" that represents some of the poorer qualities of the hymn; a musical representation of horrid stuff like these paintings.
Some interesting news about this; The Baltimore Sun reports that churches are singing Amazing Grace 2/18/07 to mark the end of the United Kingdom's slave trade in 1807, which is strange, since An Act for the Abolition of the Slave Trade was passed on March 25th, 1807. In fact, the U.K. "Amazing Grace Sunday" is on March 25th, and the American one is early to coincide with the release of an "Amazing Grace" film. One would think that you could arrange the premier of the film for the week after March 25th; the facade of "commemorating the abolition of slavery in the U.K." is a little too thin this way. Moving on, the Sun article states that the Act for the Abolition of the Slave Trade moved John Newton to write Amazing Grace, which would have been difficult for him, since he was then blind, nearly deaf, and would die in December of that year. Besides, he had already written it in 1772, so he saved himself the trouble (incidentally, we use the melody NEW BRITAIN, which appeared in 1831 in America. It was obviously not the melody Newton used). Certainly there was no fact-checking here, but what is more disturbing is that, as always, it seems that people use the blank check of affirmation that this song provides for virtually anything.
01/25/07
Recipent of a Maryland State Arts Council "Individual Artist" Award in CompositionThis award was given on the basis of anonymously submitted works, evaluated by a jury, with the intention of giving some money to struggling artists on the basis of merit, to help the cultural life in Maryland be vibrant.