Spring 2008
 

May 7 – June 1    OLD COMEDY, based on Aristophanes’ THE FROGS, adapted by David Greenspan, directed by David Herskovits, will perform in a limited run at the Classic Stage Company. More info at www.targetmargin.org or www.classicstage.org

May 8, 9 and 10    NOISE + SPEED, a third collaboration with choreographer Hilary Easton will premiere at Danspace Project, St. Mark’s Church in the Bowery at East 9th Street and 2nd Avenue. The recorded score is for string quartet, percussion, piano and melodica. More info at                 www.hilaryeaston.com

June 5   MUSIC UNLOCKED: a new ensemble debuts at the new 92Y Tribeca at 200 Hudson Street. They’ll play Vistas by Mark  O’Connor (featuring violist David “Doc” Wallace) and my Three Dance  Grooves for string quartet along with the gorgeous Brahms Clarinet Quintet (featuring Richard Mannoia). It will be music in a club setting and a very friendly atmosphere. More details to follow…

June 11 MUSIC UNLOCKED: the new ensemble’s second concert features music of Janacek and Poulenc along with my Departures, a duo for flute and piano featuring Tanya Witek.

  Fall 2007

     I hosted two concerts in Philadelphia: The Rite of Spring on October 2, and Haydn's Military Symphony on October 25 (www.philorch.org). I am continuing work on Hilary Easton's NOISE + SPEED, set for a May '08 premiere at Danspace in New York.  I'll be contributing some songs for a production of Aristophanes' THE FROGS, adapted by David Greenspan and directed by David Herskovits to premiere in NY in May '08 as well. I have also started teaching a new class at The Juilliard School: Concepts of 20th Century Music and Beyond. (www.juilliard.edu) -- that's in addition to the class for dancers that I've taught for the last ten years...Stay tuned for some new adventures this Winter...

Summer 2007

    I am working on choral pieces for a future recording, creating accompaniments for compositions written by 4th and 5th graders at a public elementary school in Manhattan, and beginning work on Hilary Easton's next creation which is entitled NOISE + SPEED. I'll also be facilitating a seminar at the American Symphony Orchestra League's National Conference in Nashville (June 20) and conducting workshops for the Complete Choral Musician at The Juilliard School (June 27-29). 

2006-2007

As Animateur for the Philadelphia Orchestra, I hosted four Access concerts, created a theatrical frame for the Shostakovich 9th Symphony for families and schools, and worked on a fascinating outreach program in Camden, NJ that resulted in a variety of collaborative performances by the community and the Orchestra. Symphony Magazine did a feature about my role in the Spring of 2007.

Hilary Easton and I created "It's All True" for dancers, one actor and 5 musicians; text by writer Dorothy Barnhouse. The premiere was at The Duke in Times Square, May 31-June 3. Thanks to everybody who came and supported the piece! More info about It's All True and our collaborations at www.hilaryeaston.com

2005-2006

You can read about my work as animateur at the Philadelphia Orchestra in the Philadelphia City Paper:  Click here. The February 23 Access Concert review is here. More info at www.philorch.org

I recently composed a duo for viola and clarinet for my friends Rachel Shapiro and Richard Mannoia. Face Me is about 4 minutes long, and it contains an interactive segment which was performed at the Soho Club on April 26, 2006.

Three Sabbaths, written for conductor David Rosenmeyer and the Columbia University Bach Society (More info at www.bachsociety.com Click here) premiered on Saturday,
April 22, 2006 at 8 pm. Thanks to everyone who came. The work is for chorus and string orchestra; it is based on three texts by Kentucky poet Wendell Berry.

Hilary Easton and I have begun work on a new piece, entitled It's All True. We presented a short fragment at the 92nd Street Y on April 7, and we are working towards a half-hour presentation for November 06.

HIGHLIGHTS from 2004-2005

May 2005: The Short-Cut by Hilary Easton premiered on Thursday, May 19, 2005. Read the NY Times review: Click here. Read the Village Voice review: Click here. Musicians included Justin Hines and Javier Diaz (percussion); Eric Huebner and myself (piano); and Jennifer Choi, Jane Chung, David Wallace, and Jeffrey Ziegler (strings). The sessions were at Sear Sound with Scott Lehrer as engineer.

I wrote a set of songs based on texts by Robert Louis Stevenson for baritone and piano -- "She rested by the broken brook" "Spring-Song" and "Romance."

I wrote a new song for the Young People's Chorus of New York City, and we workshopped it on Saturday, April 16 culminating in an evening performance at St. Monica's Church in Manhattan with combined forces of over 150 kids! It's called "Only Believe," and it's SATB and piano (with optional bass and percussion). More info at www.ypc.org

Future project (in development)
No Third Thing - an opera based on the play Penthesilea by Heinrich von Kleist, translated by Douglas Langworthy. Libretto by Douglas Langworthy and David Herskovits. Check out the score of a new aria for the heroine, Penthesilea, Queen of the Amazons, on the "Listen" page.