Today I received notice that I won the 2006-7 Anthony B. Cius Award, given to the outstanding student composer at KU for the year. It’s a nice honor, and I’m deeply grateful. My good friend Dan Forrest won it last year, so I’m definitely in good company. Plus, I get to have my name engraved on a plaque inside Murphy Hall, which is nice.
As an added bonus, I found out that I won the award today, which is my birthday. How appropriate!
Kat surprised me with a great birthday present: a large, framed poster of J. S. Bach! (click the thumbnail for a full-size view)
Now whenever I look up from my monitor, Herr Bach will look down upon me and inspire me to keep working on my dissertation (or at least write a little counterpoint).
The end of my final semester of coursework is fast approaching, and I have much work to finish. Tonight, however, we are going to celebrate with a filling, out-of-this-world dinner at our favorite restuarant, India Palace. Yum!
If you are in the Lawrence area, I recommend coming to see the play “Keely and Du.” It’s a controversial play that explores the gray areas of… well, you’ll just have to come find out for yourself.
Nota bene: the play is not recommended for people under 16.
When: April 4 - 12 (except Easter Sunday); 7:30 PM (5:00 PM on April 7)
Where: KU, Murphy Hall, Inge Theatre
Why: Because you love good theatre. Also, my wife is directing the play, so I’m slightly biased. Oh, I wrote some original music for the beginning and the ending, for what that’s worth.
I just saw the play tonight (opening night), and there are some very powerful scenes. Recommended.
There’s a “talkback” after the play this coming Tuesday night, so if you have any questions for the director, designers (myself included), or the actors, that’s the night to attend.
Tomorrow morning I’m off to St. Louis to attend the premiere of my new composition, titled “Div.” It should be a fun trip since I’m traveling with some members of the KU Helianthus ensemble, namely Mike Kirkendoll, Mary Fukushima, and Nathanael May. I’ve worked with Mike and Mary before, since they performed a piece of mine in Carnegie Hall last year.
In other news, this is an exciting upcoming week. On April 1st, my 10-piece chamber ensemble composition, titled “Feridoun,” will be premiered on the “Stack the Dectet” concert in Atlanta with my friend Daniel Swilley conducting.
Also in early April is the run of the play “Keely and Du” at KU, for which I wrote some music for the beginning and the ending. I’ll attend the show on opening night. More on that later.
Here are the program notes that I wrote for “Div.”
Inspired by stories from Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh (Persian Book of Kings), Div is a work depicting the dual facets of these colorful beings.
A “div” (pronunciation: deev) often has negative associations, and in Persian mythology is an evil spirit akin to a demon that loves to cause harm and destruction. However, some divs may actually be helpful and benign. Unlike in Judeo-Christian tradition, a div is a physical being, often pictured with combined human and animal features. Though they have two arms and legs like humans, often they feature tufted tails like a lion, hairy, multicolored bodies, and bestial faces. Divs are frequently mentioned in the Shahnameh; one famous story involves the struggle between the Persian hero Rostam and the Akvan Div, a white demon whose name means “evil mind.”
Musically, the first half of the piece represents the malevolent side of divs, whereas the latter half represents their benign nature. Subtitled Ahura, a Farsi word representing the “right” kind of divinity and the moral opposite of evil, this latter half utilizes much of the same melodic content, though slightly transformed. Does the work end in a pure, righteous state, or do some elements of the “evil” div mischievously return? The listener may fully decide.
Div was commissioned by the KU Helianthus Contemporary ensemble.
A I mentioned in my last post, I’m working on some music for a play my wife is directing at KU called “Keely and Du.” Tonight I finished the music for the very end, when the lights go down.
It’s not the most uplifting play, if the music gives any indication of that.
Here’s the piece. The working title is “Exeunt.” It needs some mixing, but you get the idea.
Wow, I feel like I need to brush the dust off of this site. Sorry for not posting in a while. This semester is busy beyond belief for me, but thankfully it is my last semester of classes!
Composition update: I finished the commission from the KU Helianthus I Ensemble. The resulting piece is titled “Div,” and is written for flute and piano (four-hands). I call for some wacky inside-the-piano stuff for the secondo player, so it should be interesting. The first performance will be at the end of March in St. Louis. There will also be at least one performance here in Lawrence in the near future. More information coming.
My composition for 10-piece chamber ensemble titled “Feridoun” will be premiered in Atlanta on April 1st, 2007. The piece was commissioned by Daniel Swilley (who is also conducting).
In the almost-immediate future I will write music for the beginning and end of a play Katrina is directing here, titled “Keely and Du.” I also have a commission from the KU Men’s Glee Club on which I am working.
My plans for the rest of my career at KU include: taking comprehensive exams this July, orals in the early fall, recital in the later fall, and then invest myself into a dissertation. Do I know what I’m going to do for a dissertation? Yes! Am I going to write about it now? Not yet! Once everything is finalized, I will post about it.
Thanks for reading! I’ll try to do a better job about updates.
And so begins (hopefully) my last semester taking classes at KU. Don’t get me wrong, I still have lots left to do, such as theory projects, a recital, comps, orals, and a dissertation, but this should be my last semester of coursework. Considering that this is my 2nd semester exclusively in the doctoral program, that’s not bad. My previous year was an overlap from the Master’s degree.
For those of you in Lawrence, you are invited to attend the premiere of my new quartet, titled “Nommo.” Meggi Sweeney, a senior dance major at KU, has created choreography for this three-movement piece, and we’ve been rehearsing it this week. I’m pretty excited about it, so if you’re in the area, please come see it.
When: November 30th, December 1st at 7:30 PM; December 2nd at 2:30
Where: KU, Robinson Hall, Elizabeth Sherbon Dance Theatre
The music will be live on the 30th and the 1st, and played from a recording on the 2nd.
Yes, it’s been a while since I last posted. Sorry about that. As usual, the semester has a way of getting out of control, and I’ve suddenly found myself rather busy the last few weeks.
The most recent news I have is that I completed a three-movement composition titled “Nommo.” It’s a quartet: flute, clarinet, bassoon, and cello. My friend Meggi Sweeney commissioned it for her senior dance project. The premiere performances will be on November 30th and December 1st. More details to follow.
It’s in! Yesterday I received a recording from the world premiere of “Persepolis.” For now, you can access the audio files on the left. See the page on “Symphony No. 1.” I have replaced the “mockups” with the live performance.
Recently I was awarded a Helianthus Commission Award from the KU New Music Ensemble. In essence, I get to write a composition for them to be premiered on their spring 2007 concert.
Entries (RSS)