Conductor's Notebook
Writings, including academic papers and music criticism, as well as videos, audio, notes, and other content.
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Audio
There is nothing quite like leading a group of musicians who devote their precious free time to performing in an orchestra.…opportunity to conduct a small taste of the music of Florence Price. We performed the Andante from Price’s three-movement suite, Ethiopia’s Shadow in America.
How do you start a new music ensemble from scratch? I don't pretend to have all the answers but I enjoyed contributing my "piece of the map" to the conversation.
NEW ALBUM: Symphony Number One has recorded every concert from its founding, releasing the best new music by stunning voices, many of whom are being heard widely for the very first time. Our fourth release, Approaching, features works in three sizes–small, medium, and large–from three of today’s hottest new composers, all lovingly prepared and performed by Symphony Number One in Baltimore.
ALBUM: …Now, for the first time, we are releasing a full-length album exclusively featuring emerging composers. More represents the best of Symphony Number One: three stimulating new works for chamber orchestra by a slate of three of the next generation's most promising voices, all lovingly prepared and performed in Baltimore.
ALBUM:
In May of 2015 I lead Symphony Number One in our debut concert in Baltimore. Here's an audio essay I posted ahead of our launch:
We think we can better serve the composers we feature by focusing on just one emerging composer at a time rather than lumping all of them together onto one concert. Even trained musicians can get overwhelmed by a multitude of new compositional voices presented on one concert; how can we expect our audience to do any better? When this happens, your memories start to get flattened and you tend to only remember features like special effects, strange instruments, or other novelties, rather than to deeper musical layers.
Listen to a recording of Timothy Kramer’s Three Pairs Suite for Pierrot ensemble + percussion. The title of the piece is an allusion to Elliot Carter’s Triple Duo, though comparison with Carter ends there. Performed on November 6, 2011 at Wilshire Baptist Church in Dallas Texas as part of the Dallas Festival of Modern Music.
