This Fall, I am teaching two classes in the Eastman School of Music's Arts Leadership Program:
- Creativity and Your Music Career
- Career Skills for the 21st Century
The Career Skills class is new to me and I'm excited to be teaching the class both at Eastman and online, as part of the Eastman Career and Leadership Certificate: Online.
I'm thrilled to share that Magnolia Star will be performed by the Alabama Winds at this year's Midwest Clinic in Chicago on December 20th at 12:00pm. The ensemble is directed by Randall Coleman. It's an honor to have my work included at the conference, and I look forward to working with the Alabama Winds and seeing many friends and colleagues there!
I was honored to have the U.S. Coast Guard Band perform Vermont State Fair (my newest work for band) in March of this year!
Listen to their fantastic concert recording here. View a PDF of the score here.
A couple of weeks ago I had the honor of serving as Composer-in-Residence for the UMass Honor Band Festival. Matthew Westgate, the Director of Wind Studies at UMass invited me to participate in this wonderful day.
I spent two days at UMass; the first was focused on working with UMass students. I worked with the Wind Ensemble in a rehearsal of my Magnolia Star and Goodnight, Goodnight.
This past fall, I wrote a new arrangement of The Star Spangled Banner, which was premiered in October by the University of Central Florida Wind Ensemble, conducted by Chung Park. Listen (and see the score) here. The arrangement includes a few exciting harmonies and I hope you enjoy it!
This past weekend I had the pleasure of visiting a rehearsal of the NYSSMA New York All-State Wind Ensemble, conducted by Jared Chase. The opener for their program was my Magnolia Star, and these young musicians sounded incredible! We spent about 45 minutes together, worked on some musical details, and I tried my best to answer all their great questions about music careers, improvisation, what inspired my work, and more. It was super fun, and the concert at Eastman Theater was equally thrilling. These fantastic young musicians had the great honor of playing on Eastman Theater stage and looking out to a packed, beautiful hall. It was a great honor for me as well, and I'm grateful!
