13 Jul 2016
A serious question (not hypothetical): Name a professional enterprise outside the creative arts where the idea of developing a solid, versatile technique is met with open disdain from some of its practitioners? A profession where the desire to cultivate a progressive set of skills enhanced through g...
6 Jul 2016
The avenues of social media where new music reside have been afire the past 24 hours with the sudden notice of a speech given by the composer Kevin Volans (I say "sudden" because it's dated mid-June of this year). Volans speaks to issues that, to me, are at the heart of the creative endeavor: notions...
18 Jun 2016
Summer means I've found time to give this site a much-needed update. So, here-we-go:
• The most notable update is this BLOG!
On this new page of the site, I'll be posting information regarding new works, performances, as well as the occasional essay and (beg pardon) rant. I've struggled with the...
16 May 2016
A mentor once told me that the only thing that separates the waning childhood of high school seniorism and the latent adulthood of college freshmanism was “one single, crazy summer”. For me personally, the soundtrack to that crazy summer, and the following year away from home, was the Beach Boys’ Pet...
4 Feb 2016
6 Jan 2016
(above: Boulez: "Improvisation III sur Mallarmé" (original unpublished version, 1959) - opening.
Courtesy Phyllis Bryn-Julson Collection, Peabody Archives)
I awoke this morning and, as always, reached for my phone to read news headlines and check emails. Among both were transmissions of sad but not a...
22 Nov 2013
The following is a sort-of "preview" of a lecture I gaveon the School of Music Research Colloquium series at SUNY Fredonia on 4 December 2013.
My first definitive exposure to Britten’s music was in Middle School, when my mother, who directed a community choir, put together a performance of the SATB ve...
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