Although the year has started with the loss of my dear mother on February 1st (please see previous blog post), musically speaking, 2018 is shaping up to be a busy year for performances and premieres. There will be a couple of second performances of works and at least four world premieres and two New York premieres, with the first already coming in February. My art song set The Bird Lady was premiered by soprano Lauren Ishida, pianist Chris Sahar and violist Artie Gibble on a concert of the New York Composers Circle on February 27 at Advent Luthern Church in New York City. The work is a setting of two poems by lyricists Linda Marcus and Julie I. Meyers. 

Performances in March will include the second performance of my saxophone quartet Dappled light ‘mid mountains gleams at the World of Music Concert Series at Middlesex Community College in Bedford, MA. Performing will be Sean Mix, Bennett Parsons, Morgan Smallwood and Andy Wilds. The premiere performance came on December 8, 2017 at the Lilypad in Boston with the same quartet performing. Also in March is the release of my long-awaited solos CD project SOMETHING MORE, which features seven jazz quintets and one octet. The released is set for this coming Friday, March 9. You may purchase a hard copy at Amazon.com and Ansonia.com, or downloads at Amazon.com and iTunes at the initial release price of $17.99. 

In April, my string trio Carmina solis et lunae will get its second performance, a New York premiere on April 16 at a concert of the National Association of Composers/USA hosted by Max Lifchitz at Christ and St. Stephen’s Church in Manhattan. Performing will be Anna Elashvili-violin, Jessica Meyer-viola and Caleb van der Swaagh-cello. The trio was written for and premiered at the 2017 Wyoming Festival in Grand Teton National Park on August 10, 2017 by Holly Mulcahy-violin, Anna Kruger-viola and Rick Barber-bass.

Coming up in May will be the premiere of Jubilate Deo, a Latin choral setting of Psalm 100 written in 2013 and recorded by the Composer Choir and released on UNDISCOVERED CHORAL GEMS on Phoenix Classics. The performance will take place on May 12 in New York City on a concert of the New York Composers Circle with the choral ensemble C4 performing. Also in May will be the premiere performance of my art song The House With Nobidy In It, commissioned by the Philadelphia-based ensemble illumine. Details of the performance will be announced at a later date. Stay tuned!

And in June I will be attending the inaugural season of the Mostly Modern Music Festival at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, NY hosted by composer/conductor Robert Patterson. I am currently writing a piece for the festival that will be premiered by the American Modern Chamber Ensemble, and I will also receive a reading of an orchestral work by the American Modern Orchestra during the festival. More news on this soon.

The second half of the year will likely be consumed with a video game score that I am writing with a local friend and software developer. We are expecting to go into funding sometime mid-year, combined with perhaps a rollout at a game convention around the same time. Not talking about this one much, so don’t ask - hush-hush!! All in due time, my friends!

All for now . . .