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In January I played a concert of tango music at Linn-Benton Community College in Albany, Oregon, with dancers Liz Foster and Charles Augustine.
In late January I uploaded another single track to iTunes. Check out Claro de Luna (the "Moonlight Sonata" Tango). If you like it, please tell your friends! Pianists, the sheet music is available on my Lulu page.
On March 7th the Mill Ave. Chamber Players in Phoenix, Arizona, presented Aesop's Fables, my woodwind quintet with narration, in a children's concert. They held a competition a couple of hours before the concert to select a narrator for the performance!
In late March I completed a commission to write an Alma Mater for Linn-Benton Community College, which was premiered at a concert in June.
I played a house concert on May 3rd in Florence, Oregon. Kathy Parsons, the concert host, is a professional CD reviewer and interviewer. She publishes the website MainlyPiano.com, and its monthly newsletter Pianotes. She interviewed me extensively about my composing, my piano work, and so much more, in advance of the concert. Please check it out!
In June I went on a mini-tour, playing a solo piano concert in Springdale, Arkansas, then a house concert in Houston, Texas.
Exciting things are afoot! Stay tuned!
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In January I was commissioned by soprano Gretchen Farrar to write Double Beauty, a lullaby for soprano and piano, for inclusion on her forthcoming CD.
On July 1, 2008, the Oregon Bach Festival orchestra, under the baton of Maestro Philip Brunelle, performed the world premiere of Man of Oregon in the Silva Concert Hall at the Hult Center in Eugene, Oregon. This 23-minute "symphonic biography" for full orchestra was the centerpiece in a gala tribute concert celebrating Bill Bowerman (1911-1999), famed track and field coach from the University of Oregon and the U.S. Olympics, co-founder of NIKE, inventor of the waffle-soled running shoe and all-weather track, and author the best-selling book Jogging, which sparked the entire jogging movement in the United States in the 1970s. Man of Oregon is a reorchestration of my chamber orchestra work Bowerman, Man of Oregon.
In October I completed a studio recording of my flute quartet Barbara.
In November I uploaded to iTunes my short piece for four prepared guitars called Tin Roof. It's fun, check it out!
Throughout the year I performed my original solo piano pieces on three collaborative concerts with other pianists (see my at the piano page for more information). Since November my October Wind CD has been getting significant airplay in the U.S. and abroad.
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In 2007 I completed four concert work commissions, all of which had premiere performances; also I wrote two hours of videodocumentary score, wrapping up my work on the miniseries A History of the University of Oregon.
On March 31st, the Canadian women's choir She Sings!, conducted by Martha Hill Duncan, premiered a fun a cappella SSAA piece called Walk With Me, for which I wrote the words and music. And on May 11th, they also performed my moving SSA/piano work Let Him Return in New York City, in concert with the New York Treble Singers. She Sings! (formerly known as Aurora) had premiered that piece in 2005 in their home town of Kingston, Ontario.
My new choral work in English and Estonian for three choirs, four winds, and percussion, entitled Journeys to Freedom: Rännakud Vabadusse, premiered in Maryland on April 22nd, with two performances that day, and another performance on May 13th, conducted by Dr. Margaret Boudreaux. This nine-minute choral work incorporates folksongs from the U.S. and Estonia celebrating human freedom and dignity.
On May 12th, 13th, and 14th, the Central Oregon Symphony (COS) in Bend, Oregon, under the baton of Maestro Michael Gesme, presented a 7-minute excerpt from Bowerman, Man of Oregon, a 23-minute symphonic biography for chamber orchestra honoring the life of Bill Bowerman (1911-1999), famed track and field coach from the University of Oregon and the U.S. Olympics; co-founder of NIKE; inventor of the waffle-soled running shoe and all-weather track; author of the best-selling book Jogging, which sparked the entire jogging movement in the United States in the 1970s.
Flutists from the Central Oregon Symphony premiered my 4-minute flute quartet entitled Barbara on two chamber music concerts on October 6th, part of the COS's Music In Public Places series at the High Desert Gallery in Redmond, Oregon.
And finally, on October 27th, 28th, and 29th, the COS, again under the baton of Maestro Michael Gesme, presented the full-length premiere of Bowerman, Man of Oregon.
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I traveled much of 2006, visiting friends and family, writing commissioned works, and playing house concerts to promote my piano CD, October Wind. After returning home I began work on several large commissions which you can read about in my News from 2007 section (above).
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On April 30, 2005, Aurora (later renamed She Sings!), a women's chorus in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, conducted by Martha Hill Duncan, premiered my SSA/piano choral work Let Him Return. This piece had won Top Honors in the women's chorus category of the "Waging Peace Through Singing" international choral composition competition in 2002.
On October 8, 2005, the Arrieu Wind Quintet performed my five-movement work with narration, Aesop's Fables, in Roseburg, Oregon, with Andrew Brock as narrator.
On October 30, 2005, my 11-minute SATB choral work Reciprocity premiered at the Society for Ethical Culture in New York City, as a part of the First Festival of Universal Sacred Music, sponsored by the Foundation for Universal Sacred Music. Susanne Peck conducted the festival choir, Sangita.
In November 2005 I released my first full-length audio CD, October Wind, thirteen original works for solo piano plus one art song for tenor voice and piano. The style is beautiful, melodic, flowing. Indie Acoustic selected track 10, Periwinkle Blue, on my CD as one of their "Songs of Note 2005," calling it "one of the best songs of 2005."
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