I was so thrilled to participate in the inaugural Tidriks Distance Learning session today, a Percussion Practicum for Composers with percussionist Chris Froh put together by the Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music. I wrote a short percussion sketch for Chris, who enlightened us on a whole range of topics related to it, from beater choice to notation, timbre, and setup issues. I especially enjoyed hearing fellow composer Eliana Echeverry’s sketch, which featured some complex rhythmic subdivisions over a constant pulse. A huge thank you to Gabriela for putting together this new initiative, to Chris for sharing his knowledge, and to all the other composers for weighing in. I can’t wait to hear Chris and Haruka Fujii play the other composer participants’ sketches over the course of the weekend.

I am overjoyed to be joining the composition faculty at the New England Conservatory of Music. Today was convocation and the first day of online classes. It was a pleasure meeting my students virtually; it promises to be an exciting new chapter for me here in Boston.

I had a fantastic experience in Buffalo at the American Composers Orchestra EarShot New Music Readings with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra. They gave a thrilling performance of my piece Door to the River. A big thank you to all the players and staff of the BPO, ACO, Maestro Thachuk, and of course our composer mentors Chen Yi, Robert Beaser, and Jared Impichchaachaaha’ Tate. I especially enjoyed the other pieces by SiHyun Uhm, Sakari Vanderveer, and Vincent Calianno, which were great!

I’m thrilled to be presenting on my piece Red Wind today to the composers in the School of Music at the University of Florida, Gainesville. It’s a pleasure to share my work with them, and to see my good friend Scott Lee in his new role as Assistant Professor of Composition here at UF.

I’m happy to be spending the first four weeks of 2020 back at the Hermitage Artist Retreat doing a residency. It’s quite a shock to go from full-blown winter in Boston to what feels like summer here in Florida. I’m excited to get to work on a bunch of projects for the coming year, including a commission from the Tanglewood Music Center, a piece for flute, harp, and viola commissioned by harpist Chloe Tula, and sound design for a new play at Duke, Angel Mounds by Valerie Muensterman, on which I’ll be collaborating with my friend Matt Campbell.

I’m still elated from the fantastic premiere of my dissertation piece Red Wind, which took place on July 21st in Ozawa Hall at the Tanglewood Music Center. Thank you so much to the players who made it come to life in a riveting performance: Olivia Cosio, Ben Quarles, Federico Montes, David Kidd, Greg LaRosa, Gabe Polinksy, and Killian Farrell who conducted. And a huge thank you to Nathaniel Mackey, whose poetry inspired and breathed life into this project. The performance was of the last two movements of the piece, and I’m hoping that down the road the entire work will be produced.

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Now I’m looking forward to the remaining composition projects here at Tanglewood, including my score to accompany a silent film, Buster Keaton’s Our Hospitality, as part of the Festival of Contemporary Music on August 10th. On August 17th, at the end of the festival, we’ll get to hear three pieces we each wrote over the course of a day for three days straight, brought to life by the incredible Fromm Players.

Thrilled to be in Salt Lake City for the Utah Arts Festival and the premiere of Gramarye, which was commissioned for this year’s event. It’s been a pleasure working with Sinfonia Salt Lake and and conductor Rob Baldwin on this new work. We had a productive recording session today at the University of Utah, and tomorrow is the premiere at the Salt Lake City Library Auditorium.

I’ve enjoyed a productive and stimulating residency at the Hermitage Artist Retreat in Florida these past few weeks. It’s been a delight to get to know the work of my fellow residents and to swim in the ocean every day. I’m already looking forward to returning for another residency here in early 2020.

I’m looking forward to the premiere tonight of Bad Roads, my second play at Duke in 2019 as sound designer. It’s been a pleasure working with director Jody McAuliffe and a fantastic crew on making this production come to life. Bad Roads is a new play by documentary playwright Natal’ya Vorozhbit, the leading Ukrainian playwright of her generation. As Jody notes “This is a powerful play that explores what it’s like to be a woman in wartime, specifically in Ukraine, and the collateral damage suffered by women in war.” It’s certainly been a challenge confronting this material, but I particularly enjoyed dusting off my synthesizers for the incidental music. The show runs from April 4-14 and plays in the Sheafer Lab Theater in the Bryan Center on west campus.

I have been invited to the Tanglewood Music Center this summer as a Composition Fellow. I’m eagerly looking forward to the premiere of select movements of Red Wind, as well as to working with the prestigious faculty and guest composers. More information to follow as the festival draws near.