This has been a very busy writing time here in Normal, Illinois. Several commissions have kept me occupied with lots of joyful music creation, and I am so incredibly grateful to those who have asked me to write music for their ensembles! I was so happy to finally conduct the premiere of Incandescent Sky (after several rescheduled dates due to the pandemic) with the First Coast Wind Symphony in October of 2021 in Jacksonville, Florida. Now that it has received its premiere performance it is now available for others to perform the piece. A recording, score and a video of the premiere performance can be seen here.
Other pieces awaiting their premiere performances include:
River of Grass - commissioned by the South Florida Pride Wind Ensemble, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida to commemorate the 10th Anniversary of the Youth Pride Band of South Florida.
From Glen to Glen - commissioned Rob Izzett and a consortium of band directors throughout Oregon in memory of his son, Ian Izzett.
Sixty-Six - commissioned by Peter J. Poletti for the Saint Louis Wind Symphony, St. Louis, Missouri, Thomas Poshak, Music Director, Gary Brandes Associate Conductor, and inspired by Route 66.
A Centennial Celebration - commissioned by the Viroqua High School Band, Viroqua, Wisconsin, Brad Thew, Director. Written to commemorate the 100th Anniversary of the school's band program.
Freefall - commissioned by the Southwest Community Concert Band, Orland Park, Illinois
Ray Forlenza, Conductor, for the 40th Anniversary of the Southwest Community Concert Band.
As soon as these have been performed I will post them to the website and make them available.
One of my goals in creating this website was to have a place where all of my music could live with a score and recording available. I came very close to achieving that goal in September of 2021 when everything I had ever written (or at least wanted to ADMIT I had written!) was posted - except for one piece. The problem was that I was unable to find that piece - the score and parts were missing from my files, and since it had not been published and was written prior to my introduction to computer notation thirty years ago, I knew my only hope was to search high and low until I found it. I finally gave up the search and decided it was lost, which was of course when I stumbled upon the original score while looking for something totally unrelated! I put it into Sibelius notation and created a NotePerformer recording, so I am pleased to say that the Golden Panther March lives again! You can have a look/listen here.
