Concert in Paris

"Storytime," an appalachia-inspired work for solo cello, will be premiered in Paris this Tuesday.  It's my newest work, completed just a few weeks ago during my time here in France.  It will be performed by Andrew Clement, a student at Bringham Young University who plays with a beautiful tone.  He's really just the right cellist for the piece and it's a great feeling when that happens.

Tuesday, July 29:  8pm

Salle Cortot - 78 rue Cardinet, Paris

Free admission

Studying in Paris

Happy Bastille Day from the city of lights!  I'm here for the month of July with the European American Music Alliance, an intensive music study program in the pedagogic tradition of Nadia Boulanger.  The program is run by Dr. Philip Lasser of the Julliard School and hosted at L'Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris.  I have been enjoying the great privilege of studying composition with Michel Merlet, who teaches at the Paris Conservatory and the Ecole Normale de Musique, and was a former student of Olivier Messaien!

It's been refreshing to take a retreat from the normal routine and focus solely on music (and chocolate).  Inspiration abounds and I have some new musical ideas that may be seeds for this coming year's compositions.  Meanwhile, the program involves hardcore musicianship work, which is great exercise for the brain.

On the manuscript front, I've just finished a new work for chorus a capella, entitled "Self Portrait" and am working on an Appalachia-inspired solo cello piece, a companion for Pumpernickel & Cheddar.