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NEWS
· My new radio show, "The Composer Next Door", which features living composers and contemporary works on KCSC-FM (90.1 FM) in Oklahoma has been going extremely well in its first three months on the air. The program has been recognized by Alex Ross of the New Yorker and by the new music site Sequenza21. It was also recently the recipient of a grant by the Kirkpatrick Foundation. · CBDNA President William Wakefield and I are working on a new wind ensemble work with the University of Oklahoma Wind Symphony to be premiered in the fall of 2007. · I'lll be writing a couple of new works for my dance/music ensemble, American Repertory Ensemble and their concert series in July. One work will be a piano quintet entitled "Austin" and the other will be a solo clarinet work for my good friend from UT, Alice Wang. This second work is made possible by a commission by Pete and Frances Schenkkan. · Another friend from my doctoral days in Austin, Megan Metheny, is commissioning me to write a solo harp work based on the moon for her special concert series where she plays "moon" works (Claire de Lune, etc.) outside underneath a full moon. She's already given concerts like that in France and now she's putting things together for a June concert in Austin, TX. · I've already begun plans for a two-movement work for the University of Texas Trombone Choir under the direction of Nathaniel Brickens (I told Nathaniel years ago I'd write something for him . . . it's about time I finished it!) The muses are pointing me toward writing two related works based on the canonical hours Lauds and Vespers. · My collaboration with poet Brian Turner might turn up some future works - he and I have already spoken about a song cycle using works from his award-winning book of poetry Here, Bullet and we're going to begin talks about the possibility of an opera collaboration. · Speaking of operas, I'm already working on a chamber opera using the short play Gracie and Rose by Austin playwright Anastasia Coon - should be the first time the matter-of-fact slaughtering of a hog was ever set to music! · Julie Speed was really happy with my string quartet interpretations of her paintings in speedvisions and I'll be taking up her offer to use another work as inspiration. It's about time I get working on another orchestral piece and The Dogmatists will do nicely for a creative spark. RECENT PERFORMANCES & PROJECTS · On April 11, 2007, the University of North Texas performed one of my oldest works, DreamCircus, on their Spring Concert after hearing the UNT Symphonic Band play it as part of a recording session featuring finalists from the Frank Ticheli Young Band Composition Contest. · On April 6th, 2007, MamaJama Productions (a chamber group based in Austin and Santa Barbara) gave two stirring performances of my string sextet Cuba during which Austin icon Glover Gil narrated 10 poems written by recent Beatrice Hawley award winner Brian Turner on two concerts being held at the Scottish Rite Theatre in Austin, Texas. The concerts were a special event with several premieres and the proceeds going to Direct Relief International and their medical clinics in Uganda. · Mark Fisher, assistant principal trombonist with the Chicago Lyric Opera and principal trombonist with the Santa Fe Opera recently performed two Deemer premieres at the Eastern Trombone Workshop in Washington D.C. On Thursday, March 22nd, Mark performed my new trombone concerto, Monuments, with the U.S. Army Orchestra (Pershing's Own) to a crowd of over 400 trombone enthusiasts who seemed to really like the work. On Saturday, March 24th Mark performed the piano version (which was written first) of Monuments to a packed room followed by questions and comments from the audience (most of whom had heard the concerto premiere as well) and then ended by playing the world premiere of Phil Snedecor's Sonata for Trombone and Piano which also sounded great. The whole ETW experience was amazing - I got to know many world-class trombonists (Blair Bollinger, Ko-ichiro Yamamoto, Paul Welcomer, Ben van Dijk and Jorgen van Rijen) as well as composers Phil Snedecor, Jay Krush and wind band composer extraordinaire Johan de Meij. I even ran into a couple of old NIU buddies from way back - Ken McGee and Mark Wood! I already have orders pending for the piano version and this whole business will kick-start my new publishing company, Domesticated Music Press, into full gear. · I finally got to see Choreographer Nikki Bybee's setting for my music on her ballet, Pulse & Breath, on March 30th. It looked great and I was so happy to see her finally get it performed - we'd been collaborating on the project for over a year and a half. The recording of the score by Jay Wilkinson, E.J. Lada, Stefan Ice, Chris Riggs, David Helms and Lee Parham with the fantastic recording chops of Larry Hammett was a lot of fun to hear again months after we recorded it. · American Repertory Ensemble performed two of my works in their January concert series in Austin; the Tosca String Quartet gave a great rendition of speedvisions (my quartet based on the artwork of Julie Speed) and yet another combination of my La Maja Dolorosa - this time with violin (Leigh Mahoney), viola (Ames Asbell) and piano (Ben Allred). One of these days I'll figure out what version I like best... · FSU doctoral flute student Ellen Johnson commissioned a short solo for alto flute - a revision of my violin solo ...And I To My Friends - and performed it at FSU on November 7th, with a second performance on C flute happening the following evening by my OU friend Jason Mills in Norman, Oklahoma.
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