Back!

It’s a blurry picture, but it was like 5am, so this is about what I saw anyway

The last few months have been filled with a wide array of premieres, performances, writing projects, and even the launch of a brand new opera company. It hasn’t left a lot of time for blogging, but I have some really fun projects ahead and am excited to talk about them again!

WHAT HAS HAPPENED

Hunter, Soma, and I after rehearsal

Since finishing up work on Night Shifts, I had an extremely fulling few weeks writing for and working with the Eau Claire Memorial High School orchestra in my hometown. Their director, Soma Pierce-Smit, asked for me and fellow composer/Eau-Claire-ian Hunter Hanson to write pieces on the theme of “home,” using student responses to questions about the topic. I ended up writing a pair of pieces, Runaway and Homeward, that explored both the anxiety and desperation to get away from a place that no longer felt like “home” and the journey to find it, as well as the peace and joy at having found a place that was truly “home.” It was such a joy to return back to my hometown and give back to the community that set me on the path for my musical journey, and I deeply appreciated the time and care Soma and her students put into preparing the pieces! You can find perusal scores for the pieces in the orchestra section of The Library.

From the recording session this June!

Resonance Ensemble also recently reprised Seek What You Want to Find for their 15th anniversary concert— comprised entirely of commissioned works—and album recording (see below for more on those projects). It was incredibly meaningful to me to have work included alongside so many composers I admire—including many local writers —and to have it performed and recorded with such care.

DUOrchestra at Artspire!

I also had the pleasure of arranging my piece, Efflorescence for the Driftless Urban Orchestra (DUO) - also based in Wisconsin! Originally written for string quartet and double reed soloist (the amazing Colton Sprenkle having commissioned a work to showcase his ability to play both oboe AND bassoon!), the newly expanded version included piano, flute, and clarinet (doubling bass clarinet) in addition to oboe and string quartet. Their conductor, Cullan Lucas, brought the piece to ARTSPIRE - an outdoor festival of music in La Crosse, Wisconsin. The deadline for this project was pretty tight, and the group did a great job putting the piece together on such little rehearsal. DUO will be performing the arrangement again in 2025, and I can’t wait to use the feedback from the players to polish off the arrangement! You can hear a dress rehearsal recording here.

Flute choir rehearsal - complete with contrabass!

I also recently enjoyed a performance from the combined flute choirs of Southwestern Oklahoma State University (SWOSU) and Central Oklahoma University at the National Flute Association conference - Running in the Eye, which SWOSU commissioned, was beautifully performed and warmly received by the conference in San Antonio.

I so wish I could have been there to hear the program in-person, but the dear composer-flutist Nicole Chamberlain (who had a few dozen pieces of her own at the conference!) was kind enough to record the performance for me so I could hear it.

Again, contrabass flute - I love it

Speaking of wonderful people and flutes and NFA, I also just recently completed work on a work for solo bass flute for flutist Beth Devlin. She shared a bit with me about her cancer journey, and her desire for a hopeful and uplifting piece; in our conversation, we talked about the insensitivity of some medical staff, and I recalled a particular moment from my late grandfather’s experience in the hospital. At one point, one of the nurses asked him “If your heart stops beating, do you want us to start it back up again?” and my grandpa simply replied, “Well, if it’s not too much trouble.” I decided in honor of both Beth and my grandpa George (himself a polka clarinetist and a bit of a composer himself), to title the piece If it’s Not Too Much Trouble. It was such fun to dive into a solo work for a low flute, especially having fun playing with breath effects and rhythms-with-attitude. I can’t wait to hear what Beth does with it!

WHAT’S OPERA, DOC?

Lisa Neher, me, and Lindsey Rae Johnson at our opera company’s inaugural concert

The other big thing that’s happened the last few months is that I helped to co-found a new opera company here in Portland, alongside mezzo-composer Lisa Neher and soprano Lindsey Rae Johnson (who, I only recently found out, is also a Luther College grad - go Norse!). The group had a totally packed launch concert in July, featuring works exclusively by living composers (and largely by living librettists as well!), and already has four more performances lined up this fall and a double-bill production in the spring. It has really been exciting to see the enthusiasm and support from our community around the new efforts to showcase theatrical and operatic music by living artists, and I can’t wait for the upcoming shows.

The shows will include a reprise of THUMP (on it’s 10-year anniversary, no less), and a new piece I wrote specifically for the group - an opera trio for soprano and two mezzos called If You Cheese! It was so much fun to write this pun-derful opera trio for the group, and I can’t wait to share more about the piece later this month!

It has been so fun getting back in touch with my stage roots, and I look forward to not only having these pieces performed but acting as stage director for part of our fall shows!

You can read more about New Wave Opera, our mission, and all our upcoming shows at the link here.

Album art for The Merian Ensemble’s new album!

ALBUM NEWS

It’s been a busy time for album recording as well! In addition to the ongoing projects from Calypsus Brass (near death) and violist Conrad Sclar (Prometeo), my work Seek What You Want to Find for string quartet and chorus was just recorded here in Portland by Resonance Ensemble for a new album of contemporary works (you can read more about the project, SAFE HARBOR here). I’m also overjoyed to share that the Merian Ensemble’s recording of Just Another Climb was released on August 2nd, with the album - The Book of Spells - already receiving positive press. It is such an honor to have my work represented alongside such fantastic pieces, performed and produced by such impeccable artists (link to album here).

WHAT’S NEXT

This month I am doing my best to wrap up work on a new piece for two piccolos + electronics. While I use to write for fixed tape more regularly as a grad student, it’s become something of a growth area for me in the last few years as I work to expand my knowledge and use of the available tools. The new piece, Perpetual Motions, already has a blog post out about the starting impetus for the piece (tortillas!), and I hope to share some excerpts from the score later this month once the piece is finished.

Coming up next I’ll be working on a short piece for flute, oboe, and piano for the wonderful Francesca Arnone inspired by Pinellas County, as well as a heavy-metal-infused bass clarinet solo for Emily Mehigh, and flute solo with piano accompaniment for student Lauralei Palmer inspired by Brian Sanderson novels. I’m also thrilled to say that later this year I’ll be doing another project for percussionist-composer-sound-artist-extrodinare Mitchell Beck and his trumpet-wielding adventure partner Dereck Ganong—this time with electronics—for an album they are dreaming up. While that pretty much takes me to the end of the year, I’m also excited about a new project for clarinet and string quartet on the horizon—though I can’t say too much about it at the moment…

From a recent trip to San Fransisco’s MOMA; art is so cool

After that, it’s hard to say—I have seriously considered taking a hiatus from commissions in 2025 to focus on a few projects I have been really wanting to write, but the future may have other plans for me!

In the meantime, I’m working on balancing my writing/clinic-ing/masterclass-ing and opera-company-working with some time to still get out and enjoy nature, attend concerts & plays, get to the movies (what a fantastic year to be a film fan - my word!), and get back into reading. And maybe some blogging.

I’ve shared this pic before but good LORD trees are so gorgeous. This is inside a burnt-out old Redwood.