Our bandsemble Haven performed TWO again at Ologoy Brewing Company in Tallahassee, FL.

When my friend Erin Heidrick (violin) asked me to be the lead composer and fellow band member in a new bandsemble, I was thrilled.  What is a bandsemble? It is the combination of classical and rock into a chamber-sized group of musicians - this combination is fundamentally seen in the instruments involved, but typically translates to the musical aesthetic as well. Erin and I formed our own ensemble with flute, clarinet, violin, cello, double bass, and...the rock-influenced electric guitar. TWO is our premiere piece, featured tonight on Erin's doctoral lecture recital (that's right, her dissertation is all about the bandsemble!).

​More on bandsembles: https://www.facebook.com/bandsembling/
More on Erin: ​https://erinheidrick.com/

This festival was many firsts for me...my first performance in Louisiana and my first performance inside an antique store! I'm Not Speaking English was selected for performance at New Music on the Bayou, an incredible festival featuring different performance venues all over the city of West Monroe, LA, including a concert in (literally in) the bayou. More on the festival here: ​https://www.newmusiconthebayou.com/

I had a lot of fun collaborating with trombonist Kenneth Johnson on this piece for trombone and live electronics. Premiered at FSU. Exploring the vast range and harmonic capabilities of the trombone, I'm Your Huckleberry uses electronics to expand the trombone's sound. A silent mute is used to capture the projected sound and essentially turn the trombone into a MIDI controller. While there are many possibilities with this, I decided to always leave at least some of the original trombone sound within the soundscape, as this is supposed to create a larger instrument, not a new one altogether.

I had the INCREDIBLE opportunity to work with this amazing group of musicians. I worked with them over a seven-month period to create the experimental, tone-bending, introspective monstrosity that is Somewhere, Something. 

More on yMusic: ​https://www.ymusicensemble.com/

Two of my works, Viscid and I'm Not Speaking English, were selected to be performed at the ACCelerate Creativity and Innovation Festival in Washington, D.C. Featured in the main lobby of the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, it was a performance I'll never forget!

Today was the much-awaited premiere of Viscid, for solo flute and electronics. I wrote this piece both for and with Kayla Hanvey (pictured), and it was a great learning experience for both of us. I took on the ambitious task of creating a fixed media track entirely using her recordings. I asked her to record some long tones and some short motifs, and then used those as the colors in my compositional palette. Listen below!

My first piece for fixed media, I'm Not Speaking English, was premiered at FSU. This was a completely new way of composing for me, and I'm so happy that I now have a foot in this new world.

My Theme and Variations won me a place in the UNT/FSU Composer's Exchange, where six composers were selected from each university to swap places, each institution hosting the other's for a couple of days and showcasing their music in a concert. Kourtney Newton gave a stunning performance in the Merrill Ellis Intermedia Theater at the University of North Texas.

​Listen here:

Pictured: during our panel discussion