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NEW WEBSITE. A serious overhaul of the website is underway, and it will be ready REALLY soon. So stay tuned!
Emergence on YouTube. Excerpts from the Columbia concert can now be found on YouTube. More to come.
Three Romances completed. The pieces, for Simone Ferraresi and Kristin Lee, were completed in late March. Stay tuned for premiere information.
Fanfare reviews of the Trios. The Piano Trios received several enthusiastic reviews in Fanfare magazine, the most recent by Walter Simmons. Read the reviews
Emergence takes a break from Arium. We had a great concert and a packed house on February 29th for our live video recording. Wonderful performances were turned in by all, with Tim Fain and Alexander Berne playing especially beautifully. Emergence will take a hiatus while we prepare the video materials for release.
Emergence recording at Stadium Red. Following the concert we laid down some string tracks with veteran engineer Tom Lazarus at Ornette Coleman's old studio, a comfortable space in Harlem. Tom got an amazing sound as always. The CD could be in stores by late 2008.
Dates coming together for Sweden tour in late July. Three concerts in and around Stockholm plus recording in Malmo with Magnus Bage, Esbjorn Svensson, and Alexander Berne. Specifics TBA.
Emergence to return to Columbia University. Back by popular demand, Emergence will bring its eclectic mix of sounds to Sulzberger Parlor on April 25, 2008.
Dates for Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra Premiere announced. The three-movement work will be performed on March 20 and 22 of 2009.
Emergence at Columbia University. On February 22, 2008, the Intervarsity Christian Fellowship will present Emergence. The performance is part of a series of benefits for the Africa New Era Organization, a nonprofit dedicated to providing students in need in Ghana and other countries with basic educational materials. The eclectic program includes various ensemble and solo pieces, as well as the American Premiere of Romance #1, with Violin Virtuoso Kristin Lee.
Emergence Concert Two at Arium. On February 29, Emergence Concert Two takes place at Arium, 31 Little W 12th Street. Featured will be Tim Fain playing Light Guitar; Resonance, featuring saxophonist Alexander Berne; and the premiere of the full acoustic ensemble, featuring two percussionists, piano, bass, string quartet, and saxophone.
Emergence Reemerges at Arium. Emergence reappeared at Arium, a comfortable wine bar in New York's meat packing district, on January 22, with a concert of pieces for ensemble, solo piano, saxophones, and electronics. Flute virtuoso Magnus Bage flew in from Sweden to perform three premieres for mixed ensemble with flute: Break of the Rope, Subtraction Addiction, and the Late Eternal. Several other premieres were on the program, including Decision Five for solo piano, performed by Simone Ferraresi, and L'Etat Sauvage for electronics, piano, and saxophone, performed by Patrick with Kevin Hays and Harold Bott Jr. Also on the program were several new pieces for saxophone and ensemble written with Alexander Berne.
Romance #1 receives World Premiere in Italy. The piece, for violin and piano, was played in Ferrara by violin virtuoso Kristin Lee, an utterly fabulous young violinist, along with piano stalwart Simone Ferraresi.
Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra to premiere First Symphony. Work is currently in progress on the three-movement piece, which combines jazz, classical, and minimalist elements, for a premiere in St. Paul in February 2008.
Weill premiere a success. Simone Ferraresi played the Song Without Words #5 and the Dance at Weill last Sunday-the show went very well.
Tim Fain plays The Light Guitar. Tim has been performing my 3-movement piece for solo violin, The Light Guitar, several times in conjunction with events for the Moab Music Festival, and also on a concert series in Dayton, Ohio, where the piece was quite well received. Look for more performances of the piece in 2008.
Kristina Reiko Cooper project recorded. This week Kristina, John, and Satoshi went into the studio to record Stone and Steel (see Summer 2007 below). Sessions went very well, and we even did some video! Look for the results soon on YouTube.
Emergence to reemerge in 2008. Dates and locations coming soon...
Collaboration with cellist Kristina Reiko Cooper. I'm working on a new CD of music for Kristina, serving in the capacity of composer, arranger, and producer. The CD we're putting together will combine very old music with a very contemporary sensibility. Tentatively titled Stone and Steel, it will feature everything from 11th century chants to Dowland Songs to 21st century pieces by myself, Kenji Bunch, and Frangis Ali-Zadeh, all featuring Cello, Piano (John Novacek), and Percussion (Satoshi Takeishi). Recording is slated for December, with my compositional contribution (I'm writing the title track) becoming ever more elaborate.
Modern Music. I'm playing a similar role for a collaboration with jazz pianists Kevin Hays and Brad Mehldau. Kevin and I started playing together in 1986, and if you think that's a long time, I've known Brad since he was about fourteen, noodling dreamily through Grateful Dead songs in our high school band room. The two-piano project we're working on will feature improvised versions of some of the great music of the late 20th century classical repertoire. We've got arrangements of Strauss's seminal Metamorphosen, as well as pieces by neo-medievalists Arvo Part and Henryk Gorecki, and Americans Steve Reich, Phillip Glass, and Ornette Coleman. We will all write an original piece for the CD as well, which will be recorded in early 2008.
Songs Without Words and the Decisions series at Carnegie. Simone Ferraresi, the brilliant Italian pianist, will give a concert at Weill recital hall at Carnegie Hall on December 9th, featuring premieres of pieces from the newly completed Piano Cycle. He's currently working on the fiendishly difficult Decision 6, and I hope he will decide to include it as well.
Collaboration with Alexander Berne. The reclusive virtuoso, my favorite saxophonist and one of the greatest musicians never to be recorded, is promising to come out of hiding this December for a performance at Arium (www.ariumnyc.com), a lovely new wine bar/art gallery downtown. Our collaboration is entitled Resonance and features Alexander's unique sound with string quartet. Also in the works is a possible CD featuring guitarist Ben Monder.
Emergence debut pushed back. Makor's new space is now scheduled to open in January 2008 and I am making some personnel changes with the group. However a return to performance is certainly going to happen before long, check the site for details.
Performance with the Ying Quartet in Kalamazoo. Last year I wrote a piece for the Ying Quartet as part of their LifeMusic series. They've been playing it all year, and now Satoshi Takeishi and I are going to play an enlarged "remix" of the piece as guest artists at their appearance in the Fontana Chamber Music Society, in Kalamazoo, Michigan. We'll do several community workshops, culminating in a concert on Friday April 20. As always I am honored to be working with this eminent and highly creative quartet. For more info please visit www.fontanachamberarts.org
Emergence Rides Again. The CD will be finished by the summer and should be out by September 2007, in time for the rebirth of the concert series. Our new season coincides with the grand reopening of Makor at its new downtown location, on Canal and Hudson. Advance word is that it's even nicer than the old Makor, we're really thrilled to have an opportunity to work there. There will be some new faces, interesting special guests, and I'm working on a brand new visual component. And as always there will be plenty of new music for each show. Details to come, stay tuned...
Tim Fain Premieres Solo Violin Piece. Tim Fain, a frequent guest at Emergence concerts, premiered The Light Guitar, a large-scale solo violin piece, this February at the Icosahedron gallery, as part of the VIM Tribeca Concert Series. Tim chose a diverse program of American pieces of all genres, including pieces by William Bolcom, Mark O'Connor, Nico Muhly, Kevin Puts, and Randy Woolf, as well as a special appearance by the singer/songwriter Jenna Nichols. Tim played amazingly as always and the diversity of the music made for a unique concert experience. You can expect to hear much more in the coming years from this interesting artist.
The Piano Cycle. I'm putting the finishing touches on the Piano Cycle, a multi-movement work for solo piano. I started the cycle several years ago with a set of six pieces that were recorded by Adam Neiman. At that time I had started a series of formally complex pieces entitled Decision and a complimentary group of shorter, more melodic Songs Without Words. Adam recorded one Song Without Words and four Decisions; now the number of each has grown to six. Interspered through these pieces will be a series of Variations on some of the themes from each of the Decision pieces, and the entire set will be framed by a Prelude and a Postlude.
The essence of the cycle is modularity—it gives an aesthetically satisfying experience when played as a whole, but any one of the Decisions or Songs Without Words can also be played separately, or any number can be given in a subset. Plans are underway for a premiere of some of the pieces in late 2007.
The Chila. I'm also writing a Duo for Saxophone and Piano. Actually the piece is for my new instrument, dubbed the Chila. Essentially a very unusual soprano saxophone with the bell curved outward and plated with gold, the Chila has a gorgeous, very un-saxophone-like sound, very rich and mellow with flutelike qualities.
I'm writing the piece for myself with the pianist Simone Ferraresi, a remarkable virtuoso from Italy. Simone gave a stunning house concert at Hamish Norton's in the winter and has taken an interest in my music, I'm really priveleged to be working with him.
Other Projects. Projects are also in development with many of my perennial cohorts—among them the pianist Kevin Hays, who has been exploring some hidden vocal talents. Look for a CD featuring his vocal stylings soon...
Emergence in the Studio. As many of you know, my ensemble played a series of twelve concerts last year. During the course of the series I was writing an opera, with a new part of the opera being written for each concert.
During this process I learned more about writing for voice than I could have in any other way. I worked with many wonderful singers and had some amazing experiences.
Ultimately I came to a crossroads with Lucia. The music was flowing, but I felt the need to rethink some of the dramatic elements of the opera, and to reconsider the kind of vocal writing that would most effectively express what I wanted to say artistically. I decided to take some time off from Lucia and focus instead on recording the instrumental music that I had written over the course of the series.
For the legions of you who are on the edge of your seat as to Lucia's fate, rest assured—I will bring the opera to completion at the right moment.
Meanwhile, the recording became increasingly elaborate. I brought Seth Abramson on board to produce, and Tony Reif of Songlines agreed to Executive Produce. I had worked with Seth on my 1996 CD Twelve Sacred Dances and he's been close to my music ever since. The idea evolved and grew, and ultimately we decided on recording 10 pieces. We recorded in stages, to achieve the best result possible.
The ensemble is the regular one featured in the series, with some new additions—Miranda Cuckson, a stalwart new music violinist, and Julie Bruskin, a wonderful cellist and former student of mine at Columbia. They were joined by Emergence vets Yoon Kwon and Beth Guterman, both of whom played outrageously on the recording, Beth on her solo showcase The Call, and Yoon on Take Wing, The Shadow of Your Smile, and The Chase.
As always our rhythm section of Satoshi and Stomu Takeishi played brilliantly, as did Steve Gosling on piano, and Harold Bott Jr. kicked in some mean beats indeed.
There was quite a bit of pre-production involved, and we worked at two studios, Systems 2 in Brooklyn and Kaleidoscope in New Jersey. We did some post-production work at Duotone Studios, a production house where I used to work. I thank Peter Nashel for his generosity in making the studio available to me and my crew.
So far the results have been quite promising. While we don't yet know where the CD will ultimately find a home, we are happy with what we have so far. More updates will appear here as they come. Meanwhile we hope to start doing more shows in the new year, so stay tuned!