Friend and collaborator Lara St. John gave me an outrageously thoughtful present during the holidays -- a new recording of my solo piece for her, ZEPHYR. Previously, the only recording was her premiere performance at the Woodstock, NY Maverick festival in their historic outdoor barn ... when she was accompanied by a serious summer squall. I love me some nature, but I'm happier now to have this studio recording!
Valentine's Day is the release date of Polkastra's newest oeuvre "I Do": The Wedding Album. The record includes my arrangements of Bridle Chorus (Wagner), Shotgun Wedding March (Mendelssohn) Flumpet Voluntary (Clarke) Canon in D, Mostly (Pachelbel), and in collaboration with Martin Kennedy, J.S. Bachelor Party (a medley and quodlibet of Wachet Auf & Jesu Joy). Get ready to propose ... or renew your vows!
LINK
101 favorites which passed through my ears and brain in 2012. Click, download, and import into your favorite music listening conveyance.
LINK (101 mp3s, 505MB).
Previously: Scrap Happy 2012, Scrap Happy 2011, Scrap Happy 2010, Scrap Happy 2009, Scrap Happy 2008
After the ceremony, I entered the banquet hall and took my place by the cake. The rest of the wedding party arrived to shivarees, but my attention was fixed on the plasticky vastness of the tiered confection on my left. Could it be real? Or was it yet another decoration, like the shoddy ersatz rings sewn to the pillow of which I was the bearer? How stupid I felt, holding the cushion aloft while the true rings had already found their fingers. Earlier, I had almost refused to participate in the ceremony, having discovered the true nature of this charade and the pointlessness of my role. No, this cake could not be real. Reaching out to test this hypothesis, I was shocked to find a large quantity of icing decorating my finger. And as I hid the evidence in my mouth, my family at table fifteen doubled over with delight at the silent-film comedy of a tuxedoed five-year old.
Later on, I kicked and screamed as someone shuttled me out of harm’s way of some breakdancing. All in all, a pretty good day.
My article for NewMusicBox summing up The Intimacy Of Creativity 2012. LINK
Be Music, Night
for SATB choir a cappella
commissioned by C4
published by Hayo
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Students of Concordia Conservatory's Chamber Music Program premiered ECHO SONG, commissioned for them for their performance on 12 May 2012 at Concordia College's Sommer Center. Having an inclusive chamber music program open to all instruments and abilities inevitably results a few unusual ensembles, and finding repertoire is a amusing challenge! Sometimes an arrangement of an existing piece does the trick, and in fact some short baroque pieces lend themselves quite cheerfully to flexible instrumentation. But by utilizing the composers at the Conservatory, we can combine students of roughly similar ability in sometimes oddball instrumentations. ECHO SONG, for example, is for three guitarists and piano four-hands!
I just spent two rewarding weeks on the campus of Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, taking part in Bright Sheng's program there, called The Intimacy of Creativity. I will be writing a short piece about the experience for NewMusicBox, but in the meantime here is a hemorrhage of photos from the workshops and from touring around Hong Kong. LINK.
In which I cut an edge with C Major, discussing my piece ONLY THE PIANO WILL GIVE US OUR PEACE, which will be performed by the Great Noise Ensemble on Victoria Bond's Cutting Edge Concerts at Symphony Space on April 16.
in three Bay Area concerts March 11-18.
SATB chorus, violin, cimbalom and contrabass | 4 mins
setting of "So" by Abraham Reisen, translated by Leonard Wolf
Here is a nice preview interview with director Magen Solomon for San Francisco Choral Artists' concerts on 11-18 March.
at Soundscapes, December 12, 2011. Orchestrated and conducted by MVB
... in concerts in December in San Francisco, Oakland, Palo Alto and San Anselmo. The piece is a setting for mixed chorus a cappella of the poem setting of "Carol" by Thomas Merton
And they blew me away from their first notes. This is a recording of the dress rehearsal; there's there's a baby in the hall making cute baby noises toward the end, but I sort of like it.
more about WHITE, THOSE THAT STAYED STILL
