Parade Route

With the intensely talented writer David Wayne Reed with whom I collaborated last month on "Parade Route" at Paragraph in KC.

Working at Westend Studios all month with Under the Big Oak Tree. New album coming late summer!

Finished an eye-opening 2-month course at Artist INC in KC and made a lot of new friends. (I guess we were excited.)

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The Chapel Hill NC Music Makers Festival

I am honored to be featured as part of the Chapel Hill NC Music Makers Festival. I haven't been back to Chapel Hill in over 10 years, but I did live there for my first 17. Here's a link:

Chapel Hill NC Music Makers Festival

I wrote this short reminiscence of music in Chapel Hill for their website:

Growing up in Chapel Hill in the 80s and 90s.
Chapel Hill is well known for its combination of cosmopolitan  intellectual life and laid-back, small-town Southern charm. These qualities  certainly characterized the musical world I grew up in there during the 80’s and  90’s and created a culture of openness and curiosity in the arts. Between Suzuki  group lessons, seasonal guest teachers and conventions, youth orchestras, and summer
camps, the opportunities to play violin were considerable. Additionally,  good local musicians of all stripes were friendly and accessible, authentic  bluegrass jam sessions were held out in Orange County (if you could find them),  and most Cat’s Cradle shows were all ages. 

I am especially grateful for the 13-plus years I got to study  violin with Mary Frances Boyce. She took my ideas seriously from a very young  age and always encouraged me to focus on whatever most interested me, whether it  was composition, music history, or playing in a rock band. When I left Chapel  Hill to study at a conservatory, I met many musicians whose talent and technique  far surpassed my own but very few who had as broad musical experience or as much enthusiasm for pursuing their own creative vision—two 
traits especially cultivated by the Chapel Hill music scene.

My short opera – complete with subtitling – is now up on youtube!

It is scene from Stephen Crane's short story "The Open Boat" which recounts his own personal experience as a survivor of a shipwreck off the coast of Florida in 1897. I adapted the libretto from the story and incorporated several of his poems into the scene as well. 

The performance is from this May in Paragraph Gallery in Kansas City. It features three truly wonderful singers: Stacey Stofferahn, Jessica Salley, and Anna Louise Hoard as well as stage and art direction from Lisa Cordes and Alison Heryer. Produced by Black House, conducted by John Chittum, with audio and recording by KcEMA. 

Skip Distance

Skip Distance is a new film by local filmmakers Josh Comninellis and Mallory Edson. The film features my song, "Lullaby" performed by myself and Kristin Hamilton of Under the Big Oak Tree. It will premier at the Plaza 8 in St. Joe May 23rd and then make the festival rounds. 

Hybrid Structures

Hybrid Stuctures at La Esquina, KCMO. With Eric Honour on saxophones.

Rites of Being - Kansas City, May 2013

This photo is from the dress rehearsal of my opera scene — "A Night on the Sea" from The Open Boat.  The scene is based on the 1897 Stephen Crane story of the same name, and I created the libretto from that story as well as Crane's poetry. This was presented in two sold out shows this past weekend as part of Rites of Being, a collaboration of Kansas City musicians and artists to produce 6 new opera scenes. The amazing sopranos pictured are Stacey Stofferahn, Jessica Salley, and Anna Louise Hoard. Alison Heryer did Art Direction and Lisa Cordes did Production and Stage Direction. Hunter Long of Blackhouse Collective produced the whole thing with funding from several arts institutions. John Chittum conducted an ensemble made up of the composers and a handful of ringers. I even got to play violin in the ensemble. It was exciting to be a part of an event with so much buzz around the area and wonderful to see my opera produced. This was a project I'd been imagining for a few years now. 

Hybrid Structures tonight.

KcEMA presents Hybrid Structures tonight at La Esquina. I'll be doing electronic improv with Eric Honour on alto and bari sax. Our second time performing my Improv Modules. Got some new tricks up my sleeve for tonight! Here are the details:

https://www.facebook.com/events/226335290835362/

Breathe vid

Here is a video of my performance last month with Jane Gotch for Carrie Scanga's Breathe installation at PLUG Projects. I'm hidden in the corner playing the violin/electronics. Amazing night!

Quartet SMACKDOWN

Hey Austin folks:

I've got a couple o' free tix to this if any of ya'll want to check it out (and vote for MEEEEEEE!). Should be a blast.

(Alternate hook: Do you love the NCAA basketball tournament? Do you love contemporary chamber music? If you answered "yes" to either, then, please, read on...)

The Green Hornet Project is hosting the Tosca Quartet for an event like none I've ever hear of before. 16 composers have entered, one will "win" based on audience voting. They've formed a single-elimination bracket and will play a minute of each piece in the first round, 2 minutes in the second, and so on, until there is a single champion. Crazy! My piece, "Thunderstorm over I-80 in the plains" is a dark horse candidate...

Saturday, Nov. 3rd, 8pm at the Scottish Rite Theater,

207 W. 18th, 512/472-7247

(Let me know if you want the free tix.)

http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/273464