I wanted to alert you to some videos from last month’s concert in Baltimore. The combination of fantastic performances, an enthusiastic, open-eared audience, and a venue that has really good feng shui (Baltimore people, if you haven’t been to The Metro Gallery, you must stop in for a drink asap!) made for a wonderful, completely satisfying experience.

Here is The Way of Ideas performed by Kelli Kathman, flute; Alicia Lee, clarinet; Yuki Numata, violin; and Joshua Roman, cello.

Joshua Roman playing Bloom.

There is a reason why performed by Alicia Lee, clarinet; Yuki Numata, violin; Joshua Roman, cello; Chris Thompson, drum set & melodica.

Almost like being there. Enjoy! There are plenty more where these came from too!

Maybe compounded by this joyful event?

Oh wait! I know what else it is! I CAN GET HITCHED NOW!!! Okay, almost. Still exciting!

Whatever the reason, it’s kinda nice to revel in one’s baking urges. As 2009 draws to a close, I have been enjoying the presence of many different types of family; the family into which I was born, an astoundingly cool family of friends, and a rapidly expanding “musical family”. It is amazing to be working with people who not only believe in, and bring their own voices to music that is happening right now, but who are also “in for the long haul”. A composer really can’t ask for better than that!

Happy Holidays everyone! Grab your hot chocolate, or your hot toddy, or whatever your pleasure, and enjoy. I can’t wait to share all the exciting things coming up in 2010 with you. Stay tuned for all sorts of exciting newness at the beginning of January!

Between leading his group Ne(x)tworks, being a member of the string quartet ETHEL, playing countless other gigs and composing his own music for violin and electronics, he still somehow manages to maintain a blog. Lately he’s started doing composer interviews and this week it’s my turn!

Thanks to Neil for including me in this project, and for all his great work! We’ll be performing electric blue pantsuit together in November at The Stone, in a concert that will also feature music by Neil, Corey Dargel, Anna Clyne, Annie Gosfield and Huang Ro.

*******

To be honest I haven’t been feeling very talkative lately, so I’ve been keeping things on this side of the firewall. During July and August I took a break from composing to focus on some other projects (which I will fill you in on shortly), and to rest my mind and ears. Although it wasn’t intentional, I barely listened to music over the past two months. No earbuds, no listening while washing dishes or puttering around the house… Wind and water, birds and sounds of the city were more than enough to satisfy. Slowly, little musical ideas started to creep in, and then larger and more developed ideas came knocking… all are written down in words and/or dots, and stashed away for use in upcoming projects. Two weeks ago I awoke one morning hungry to listen to music. Since then I’ve been happily listening to all sorts of things, letting go and rolling the music around in my head. It feels like meeting new friends, and rediscovering old ones!

For instance:

Un Dia by Juana Molina. That is how loops should be dealt with!

The Dirty Projectors

A Sound Map of the Danube by Annea Lockwood

Then by Jonathan Elliott

First of all, there was an amazing concert in Seattle! This was one of the very best premieres of a new work that I have ever experienced. Sometimes I am so nervous at a premiere that i don’t really hear the piece, and then all of a sudden it’s over and I wonder how it went (!), but this time I was fully present and when it was over all I could do was smile wide as can be.

The entire concert was truly excellent – every work had it’s own special personality. The ensemble, made up of Yuki Numata on violin, Bill Kalinkos (of Alarm Will Sound) on clarinet, Joshua Roman on cello, and Jason Treuting (of So Percussion) on drum set, also played works by Lisa Bielawa, Stefan Freund, Chuck Krenner and Matt Marks.

Below is a promo video for the performance – very cute, worth the watch even after the fact:

Although the camera didn’t come on this trip, the iPhone is always nice for a quick snap during rehearsal:

Last week I also participated in Molly Sheridan’s Blogger Book Club. We read and wrote about Dave Hickey’s The Invisible Dragon: Essays on Beauty. Tackling this supercharged academic writing on visual art felt a bit like actually slaying a dragon!

Wishing everyone a Happy Independence Day!!

Two weeks ago they outdid themselves with their benefit Future Party, and in my opinion have raised the bar for everyone as far as concert season announcements go. Behold!

See what I’m saying?? How can I possibly ever deal with a paper press release again?!

When I was little I used to freak out my younger brother by telling him that I really came from another planet. Turns out I wasn’t kidding!

Last Monday Joshua Roman premiered Bloom at The Flea Theater in NYC to a big, wonderfully responsive audience. I couldn’t be happier about the performance! Even though it did indeed happen in a standard concert setting, Joshua’s stage presence and playing style blurs the line between audience and performer, creating a surprisingly intimate experience. Here is a post-concert photo, in foggy iPhone style:

First of all, Thank You to those of you who have been commenting! Much appreciated. Now that there are more than 3 actual regular (*gasp*) readers, I do feel some responsibility to post more regularly, even just wee tidbits like this.

Has anyone else noticed the Twitter explosion of late?? So many new organizations and people. I am conflicted about Twitter; so much so that I have joined and left, then decided to give it another shot and joined up again. My issues with it are many – personally speaking, I’m not sure I really feel comfortable sharing that much/often, nor am I sure I can keep the tweets sufficiently witty and creative to make it interesting for anyone else. Taking a broader view, imho no depth or subtlety can be effectively conveyed using 140 characters. Reports of future news and serious information being communicated in tweets is plain scary. There are definitely people and organizations who make it work, and I appreciate their presence, but most of it seems, er, self-indulgent. Do we really need to know that you are cooking an omelet? Really??

Anyway. Color me skeptical.

*****

A sentence that I am glad to write: There have been more interesting new music events happening between DC and Baltimore than I have had time to attend.

Another sentence that makes me happy: With the recent addition of musical friends like Brian and Molly and Steve and David to the DC-B’more area, I realize that I no longer feel lonely for regular new music bonding like I used to!

*****

Something else to amuse you until the return from Composer Lockdown:

If you have even the slightest interest in baked goods, you must must must check out this blog right this minute.

1. *CRACK!*
2. SSSSSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHcracklecrackleSSSSSHHHHHHHcracklessssssssssss
3. *BOOOOMmmmmm!*
4. Repeat every 20-ish seconds

That is the sound of trees falling. Weighted down by a thick coat of ice, thanks to the “wintry mix” that had been falling several hours, entire trees were snapping like matchsticks. I’ve never heard anything like it – a strange nighttime battleground. Things became a bit nerve-wracking when a giant falling limb grazed the side of the house where I was sleeping, and for the rest of the night I stayed awake, listening.

In the morning I went outside to see what looked like the set of a strange, post-apocalyptic video game.

I was particularly dismayed at this sight:

Yes, that is – or um, was – my car. Ouch!

After girding ourselves with coffee and pancakes in Colony Hall, which thankfully has generator power, the only sensible thing to do was to go exploring.

Everything was coated with ice.

Including downed power lines, yikes!

It was all very surreal.

And surprising!

The next day the temperature dropped even more, down to single digits, but the sun came out, and oh, it felt like being inside a chandelier.

Long story short, there was a bit of winter camping, a lot of time spent on the phone with my insurance company, and extensive fire-stoking. The staff was completely incredible during my whole time at MacDowell, and over this difficult week they were heroic – many had sustained damage at their own homes and were without power, but they still showed up and always kept their cool, and their senses of humor!

Unfortunately electricity hadn’t reached my wonderful studio before I left, and packing up my gear in freezing temps (even a roaring fire wouldn’t totally warm up the large space) was definitely glum. However, I did receive an fantastic gift during that week – as small pockets of electricity began to come on around the estate, Resident Director David Macy invited me to spend a day working in the music room at Hillcrest, the huge, lovely house that is now used for important visitors. Built by Marian MacDowell as a special place for Edward MacDowell to work, the music room is one of the most beautiful rooms I have ever seen – my photos don’t do it justice – and I was completely honored to be able to simply look around, let alone settle in a bit and do some composing!

Basically? This was an astounding experience. Another reminder that Mother Nature can seriously kick our butts at any time!