As this year comes to a close, I'd like to share a few highlights from the past twelve months. I was fortunate to have some really exciting creative experiences this year - opportunities to collaborate with some dear friends and write some works that mean a great deal to me, as well as do some new, e...

 Courtney Orlando and SD after her performance of regarding "Reconciliation Elegy" at the June In Buffalo festival,
6 June 2018.  Photos: Su Lee.

I just got back from June in Buffalo, an annual festival and conference hosted by the Center for 21st century music at the University of Buffalo. It wa...

Of particular interest to those in the Baltimore/DC/NoVA area: the Maryland Choral Society will be premiering my new choral anthem Benediction today at their holiday concert.
On the podium will be my good friend and fellow Peabody alum, composer/conductor Douglas Buchanan.

Benediction (for SATB choir...

Tomorrow, it'll be a month since I traveled back to my old stomping grounds of Fredonia, NY to hear my incredible friends, the ANA Trio, premiere a new work I've written for them.  The trio - soprano Angela Haas, cellist Natasha Farny, and pianist Anne Kissel Harper - had asked me to write them somet...

Steely Dan: (L to R) Walter Becker, Donald Fagen
 

Woke up this morning to texts from friends sharing the news that Walter Becker, co-founder of Steely Dan, had passed away. The news is seemingly confirmed by his website. 

This hits hard. Steely Dan easily situates at the top of any list where I name f...

When my colleague Matthew Brown (the conductor of the American University symphony orchestra) and I first discussed the idea of a new work for the group, my first question was to know what else would be on the program.  As far as my neuroses are concerned, it’s best to know well-ahead of time (if pos...

Tonight and tomorrow at 8pm the American University Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of my friend and colleague Matthew Brown, will present the premiere performances of An Anthem Reassembled, alongside performances of Lauridsen, Mendelssohn and one of my favorite works, the first Symphony of...

So last year (as we now can gleefully refer to 2016) can be unhesitatingly described as all over the place (and that's kind!).
As we step over the threshold of the new year with both feet, I thought I'd write a bit about some musical highlights of my 2016:

January/February: New Music Gathering...

This is the last of a three-part series of posts where I argue standards of professional quality are necessary if composers want to be taken seriously as professionals.  Part I addresses the hypocrisy and feeble logic of dismissing the idea of such standards as “elitist”.  

At the core of this argumen...

This post follows Part I of a three-part series where I argue standards of professional quality are necessary if composers want to be taken seriously as professionals.  In so doing, I addressed the hypocrisy and feeble logic of dismissing the idea of such standards as “elitist”.  

Part II here...