I am excited to announce the world premiere of the wind version of Song of the Phoenix by Dr. Kevin Sedatole and the Michigan State University Wind Symphony. The concert is tonight at 7:30 PM at the Wharton Center in East Lansing. It also features a world premiere by Dr. Jere Hutcheson, and music by Joel Puckett and Mason Bates among others. The concert will be broadcast live tonight on www.banddirector.com 

This past Sunday, we had a wonderful three-hour recording session with the MSU Wind Symphony at Grand Ledge High School. I felt super spoiled to have a great ensemble, an amazing director, and a team of conductors pouring over my score listening for the slightest error. Very dangerous to get used to.

Hey, check out our first episode of Streamers and Punches, a podcast about all things film music. Brought to you by folks of Sound Notion TV. 

A few exciting performances to take a look at this fall:

Thursday, September 30th: Nevermore performed by Dr. Kevin Sedatole and the MSU Wind Symphony. 7:30 at Cobb Great Hall, Wharton Center, East Lansing, Michigan.

Monday, November 1st: Performance of Ghosts of Aeolian Hall by clarinetist Sara Stolt at the Music Auditorium in East Lansing. 8:00 PM at the Music Building Auditorium, East Lansing, Michigan.

I have just put together the premiere recording of Nevermore by Paul Popiel and the Indiana University Concert Band. They had a very tough program, including all of Lincolnshire Posy, but were able to do a wonderful job preparing the piece. I especially enjoyed the ensembles flexibility, allowing me to cut parts, change octaves, etc. with the help of everyone’s input. I even learned a sweet technique from the piccolo player that is going to have a permanent home in the score. Thanks again to Paul and his fine ensemble.

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What an exciting week. Within six days I had three pieces premiered at three different venues. I will be posting separate posts for each piece over the next few days/weeks as I have the recordings to upload.

First up was the MSU premiere of Song of the Phoenix by Carlos Botero and the MSU Symphony Orchestra.  Last year, this piece was chosen as the winner of the MSU Honors Competition, and as such was premiered along with concerto performances by several of MSU’s finest.  I could not be more happy with the performance, as Carlos and I worked closely before and after rehearsals to make sure we got the details just right. After adopting a few changes from our collaboration, the new score and parts should be available very soon.

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My work for flute and piano, Prelude and Passacaglia, will be performed this evening at MSU’s Music Auditorium, by flutist Bryan Guarnuccio and pianist Kawai Chan. Here are the details, as well as a link to the live webcast of the concert:

Tuesday, March 16th, 2010

Music Auditorium, 7:30 PM

Live webcast

A Little Knowledge, directed by Clark Eagling and featuring a score by Kevin Wilt will be screened at Filmapalooza 2010 along with other regional winners of the 48 Hour Film Challenge. The festival is part of the NAB Show (National Association of Broadcasters) in Las Vegas, April 10-12.

Link to Filmapalooza

Very exciting. I am hoping to make it out to the festival, which is also screening The Message, the next “48 hour film” from the good people at Paradise Valley Media.

I am very excited to announce that the Detroit Symphony Orchestra will be reading one of my pieces, Song of the Phoenix, as well as works by other MSU student composers, during their rehearsal on Saturday, January 30th, 2010. Details are soon to follow.