NACUSA Member Awards & Reviews

Adrienne Albert : Awards & Commissions

Adrienne Albert : Reviews

Animalogy: Element of surprise'Animalogy' premiers at Pratt MuseumBy Casey YordyHomer TribuneJune 21, 2006Despite the drizzle, “Animalogy” was a hot performance.Gray clouds swirled overhead as Adrienne Albert prepared for the world debut of “Animalogy.” The bloated cumulus cast an ominous shadow over the assembled masses. Shortly before the show started, rain descended, harassing the crowd of at least 80 people awaiting the performance at the Pratt Museum’s Forest Amphitheater.Homer Tribune/Sean PearsonA Japanese fishing float hangs from a tree in the forest behind the Pratt Museum as part of the 'Facing the Elements' exhibit.Albert was commissioned last year to create a musical representation ofthe southern Kenai Peninsula. “Animalogy” is the first of three worksby the composer. The piece debuted at the opening reception of thePratt Museum’s “Facing the Elements” outdoor art exhibit. “Animalogy” lasted for about 20 minutes, and started with an abandonedstage. As Albert introduced the piece, her musicians slunk off into theunderbrush. When she turned around to give the go ahead, the theaterstage stood empty.Homer Tribune/Sean PearsonRyjil Christiansen's work with colored rocks creates an interesting contrast of nature.“We will just have to see where they went,” mused Albert as she took her seat in the front. Shortly after, squeaks, squeals and whistles resonated through theforest. Call and response was initiated between bassoon, horn, flute,oboe, and clarinet. Homer Tribune/Sean PearsonSeveral artists used natural elements within the trees to create their works of art, including tree barks, metal and ceramics.As the piece shape up, musicians crept from behind adjacent foliage andconverged upon the stage. Bird-like squawks and honks were held down bya uniting and simply elegant melody. The music swelled, its avian sound slipped into the ears, bewitchingthe gray matter of the listeners with an ephemeral beauty. The rainbegan to taper off, and the show ended. Stray notes lingered on the airbefore slipping into the ether. As quickly as “Animalogy” started, itconcluded and everyone wanted more.

Mark Alburger : Awards & Commissions

Aaron Alon : Awards & Commissions

Karen Amanda Amrhein : Awards & Commissions

Beth Anderson : Awards & Commissions

Deborah Jane Anderson : Awards & Commissions

Richard M Audd : Awards & Commissions

Richard M Audd : Reviews

a new light ~ christmas Album: "Audd's debut opus is as captivating and engaging as it is brilliant... [a] full, rich and bristling sound..."

a new light ~ christmas, Album: "This is definitely Disney-esque. The most interesting places in these songs is the point of departure from the original or traditional old standard...makes you feel a different way about the same song."

Somewhere Over..., Album: "Four Stars! THE Gay Album! Each selection is crafted with the detailed ear of a true orchestrator. With surprising panache, this one man symphony has produced a splashy, classy platter of pop, Broadway and Tin Pan Alley favorites."

Music and albums: "This stuff is great!"

Kevin Michael Baldwin : Awards & Commissions

Greg Bartholomew : Awards & Commissions

Greg Bartholomew : Reviews

String Trio for George Crumb: Greg Bartholomew (born 1957) studied at the College of William and Mary and at University of Washington. His sole direct contact with George Crumb appears to be his participation in a composition workshop. Of his String Trio for George Crumb, Mr. Bartholomew writes that it was commissioned by the Oregon Bach Festival composers’ Symposium in honor of George Crumb [FN 2] on the occasion of his 75th birthday and was premiered by the Third Angle New Music Ensemble at Beall Concert Hall, Eugene, Oregon, 3 July 2004. A revised score was premiered in Chicago on 20 April 2005. The composer explains that the first movement is constructed almost entirely from the initial and final letters of Crumb’s name, the pitches G,E,C and B (“GEorGE CrumB”). The second and third movements each extend 75 bars, marking Crumb’s 75 years. The second movement is based on the “Sarabanda” theme from Crumb’s extended work for electric string quartet Black Angels. The G E C B motif recurs in the third movement but this time it is G# E C# B, “as the piece concludes with a bit of fun.” None of this gematria would seem to be very musical, but the result is quite beautiful, better than much of Crumb’s music. “G E C” is the descending C major triad (G# E C# is the descending C# minor triad), and much of the music sounds remarkably as if it were written in the Renaissance. You will enjoy this work immensely and want to hear more by this “youthful” (50 years old!) composer.[FN 2:] 2. Besides Black Angels, famously recorded by the Kronos Quartet of San Francisco, George Crumb is known for his orchestral work Echoes of Time and the River for which he won a Pulitzer Prize in 1968; I don’t have to hear this work because the way you win a Pulitzer Prize is to sound exactly like Elliot Carter. In 2001 a recording of his Star Child won a “Grammy” award for Best Contemporary Composition. The Naxos website describes his music as “hauntingly beautiful;” my observation is that this is true of the Three Early Songs (1947) and Dream sequence (Images II) of 1976. Ancient Voices of Children (texts by Federico Garcia Lorca who is no longer around to complain) sounds to me exactly like a mouse ran up the soprano’s leg and got into her knickers. A Little Suite for Christmas sounds to me like a three-year-old doing terrible things to a piano while crawling all over it. Perhaps Mr. Bartholomew’s joke is that George Crumb would never have written a piece so tonal and relaxed as his.Read more: http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2009/Feb09/Langroise_Volante_5721.htm#ixzz1z1Wt2eBC

Mikel Bell : Awards & Commissions

Mikel Bell : Reviews

While The Lavenders Were Blooming: The Marsing High School Choir last week debuted an original composition titled While the Lavenders Were Blooming by composer Mikel Bell. Friday’s Marsing High School Christmas Concert also featured Bell’s original arrangement of O Holy Night.Before the singers performed his piece, Bell choked back tears while he presented the choir with his original score to While the Lavenders Were Blooming. Bell, 42, is a Boise State University music composition major and has worked with Marsing students for the past year. He began playing piano at age 8. According to Marsing School District music teacher Dawn Sandmeyer, Bell’s work fills a niche for her music program that has traditionally been hard to fill — arranging music for the school’s band. “It is really hard to find arrangements for a group this size,” Sandmeyer said of her high school band. Sandmeyer said that with Bell’s talent, he is able to literally “custom-make” a music piece to suit the needs and skill level of her classes. Sandmeyer said the response from students has been positive. “They thought it was awesome. They were excited to have a piece written for them,” Sandmeyer said. “It keeps them challenged.”Bell’s original piece, While the Lavenders Were Blooming, was inspired and written within a day, he said, after meeting with friends at Bar Gernika in Boise. “I went home that night and started scribbling, and it just came out,” Bell said. While composing original works may come from inspiration, and pour out freely, Bell said that composing arrangements of existing pieces is challenging yet rewarding. “I’m just really proud of it. I assumed it was easy,” Bell said. “I realized it is really tough.” “It’s hard to find music to meet the level (of the students) that sounds good,” he said. “I literally tailor-made the music to their level.” Bell said a particular challenge lies in the fact that some of his junior musicians have varying skill levels, and that he sometimes has to write different parts with that in mind. Bell is scheduled to graduate from BSU in May with a degree in music composition and a minor in Basque studies. His works also have been featured in a short film titled Proserpine, which was shown this summer at the Idaho International Film Festival.

Student Composition Recital: Appreciating Music: Student composers showcase new works at Boise State. BY GRETCHEN JUDE - Local composers Mikel Bell, Luke Strother and Annette Mackey presented recent works to a nearly full house in the student-side Morrison Center Recital Hall (better known as C-200) on December 8. J. Wallis Bratt, associate professor of music at Boise State, hosted the year's final student recital performed by talented local musicians. Compositions by Bell showed the widest stylistic range. From "Camp Vaudeville March" for tubas and euphoniums, to the jazz-influenced "Piano Sonata No. 1," to the choral "While the Lavenders Were Blooming," Bell's work was consistently and pleasantly surprising. The Marsing High Band and Choir performed two of Bell's ensemble pieces under the direction of Dawn Sandmeyer. I found Bell's arrangement of "O Holy Night" as played by these fledgling musicians to be a perfect expression of the oft-cited (and too-often cliched) spirit of the season. The highlight of the program, "Ezkonberrien Dantza (Dance of the Newlyweds)," was rendered by one of Boise State's excellent string quartets, led by violinist Anna-Marie Hladik and including violist Henry Olivera, both members of the quartet awarded first prize in the Boise Chamber Music Society String Quartet Competition in May. "Ezkonberrien Dantza" successfully blends folk references with 20th-century tonality. Bell, an ethnomusicologist interested in Basque music, combines the complex meters and harmonies of modernism with the simple appeal of traditional folk melodies. In this and other pieces, his notation calls on performers to imitate improvised jazz riffs through major and minor modes before bringing listeners back to the original theme. Strother's "Eulogy in E," also written for string quartet, originally accompanied Suzanne Haag and a small ensemble of dancers from Ballet Idaho. This piece, along with "'Til Death Do We Part" (performed by the University Symphonic Orchestra under the direction of Craig Purdy), were presented as recorded tracks. While Strother's tight, Shostakovich-like harmonies and percolating meter were well-mixed by John Fransen, I look forward to hearing actual live performances of Strother's work. Selections from Mackey's musical, Saul, rounded out the program. "Alone," for flute and guitar, evoked a daisy-filled meadow with its delicate 1970s folk-song feel. In contrast, the barbershop quartet-style "Stone Him" juxtaposed an upbeat tempo and pleasant harmonies with comedically gory lyrics. As a cap to the evening, pianist and Master's candidate James Berry smoothly executed Bell's rhythmically challenging sonata with a playful edge. Bratt promised more compositions by these and other student composers to be performed next semester. That leaves five months for local music lovers to find a map of the "other side" of the venerable Morrison Center.

While The Lavenders Were Blooming: This year the Marsing High School Choir will have the honor of performing an original choral work. Mikel Bell, who composed an extraordinary piece for the band last year, has written “While the Lavenders Were Blooming” for the choir this year. The High School Choir will debut this piece at the Christmas concert and then perform it again a week later at the BSU composer’s recital. This piece has been selected for publication through Lighthouse Music Publications and will bear the inscription “for the Marsing High School Choir”. Mr. Bell has also written an arrangement of “O Holy Night” for the High School Band. This will be performed both at the Christmas concert and the BSU composer’s recital as well. The band is anticipating another original work for this spring. Last year’s performance of “The Abbreviated Saga of Dr. McTazzard, Julian Vempner and His Toad Named Velvet, and the Tongue-Tied Philanthropist” was an incredible success and a wonderful experience for our band students.

Al Benner, DMA : Awards & Commissions

Marshall Bialosky : Awards & Commissions

Robert J. Bradshaw : Awards & Commissions

Garrett Byrnes : Awards & Commissions

Mr Andrew Seager Cole : Awards & Commissions

Mr Andrew Seager Cole : Reviews

Maya Beckons; I Shall Embrace Her: On March 4 the Hopkins Symphony Orchestra played a three-piece set for a small, though appreciative, audience. Starting the program was a world premiere commission from Andrew Cole, a Peabody graduate with masters degrees in music composition and computer music, entitled Maya Beckons: I Shall Embrace Her. Hopkins' own Matt Sterling assisted Cole with the electronic realization. The piece, introduced by conductor Jeff Gaylin as being beautiful and soaring, was only superficially so; at times it loomed huge and monstrous; at others it waned sparse and wandering. It went beyond the typical bounds of an acoustic orchestra via the live manipulation of microphone feeds with computer software, then amplified through loudspeakers. In so doing, the piece ran a dark gamut of dissonance and density. Shades of composers like Holst, Mahler, Glass and Goldenthal sprang to mind -- all this after several microphone gaffes before the program began. Thankfully the volume of the speakers did not overpower the orchestra, nor was ear-cracking feedback an issue. Subtlety was key. Only in moments of tranquility was any speaker output distinctly audible. The electronics flavored the entire piece, although at times intangibly. Maya had a hypnotic quality that held the listener's attention fast; less dissonant than Schoenberg yet more so than today's typical movie music, the piece struck a balance between popular and serious art music. Indeed, as the piece ended, there was a moment of confusion among the audience, which was whether to clap or hold its breath. In all, a most excellent work from a young composer.

Dinos Constantinides : Awards & Commissions

Sylvia Constantinidis, M.M. : Awards & Commissions

Timothy Patrick Cooper : Awards & Commissions

John M. Crabtree : Awards & Commissions

Ken Davies : Awards & Commissions

Ken Davies : Reviews

Antiphonal Music for Two Trumpets: This three-movement suite for two trumpets was conceived in a modern style reminiscent of the writing of Anthony Plog. Characteristics lending to this depiction include interesting counterpoint, whimsical motives in a pointillistic style, and quick exchanges of rapid notes in alternating parts. As the title suggests, the three duets should be performed antiphonally, with players at least fifteen feet apart on a concert stage.... These duets are ideal for undergrtaduate students. There are some interesting rhythmic challenges, and a good command of double tonguing is required. Om addition, the pointillistic motives require good ear training; however, since endurance is not much of a consideration and the range is quite reqsonable (the parts rarely ascend above the staff and there is only one c'"), advanced high school players will likely find the duets accessible. University professors will find these short works to be useful additions to their library of duets for sight-reading in lessons. Undoubtedly, the works are suited for concert performance as well, possible either commencing or concluding a recital.(see ITG Journal/June 2005 for complete review)

Quietudes: Sacred Music for Organ: This cycle of four soft, slow pieces for solo organ, each about four minutes in duration, comes to us from ken Davies, a composer whose credits include the commissioned work, "God, The Artist of Creation" (SATB and organ) for the 1998 AGO National Convention. Each piece is prefaced by a scriptural quotation, and while each is slightly more difficult than the one before, the technical demands are moderate. The harmonic language recalls Hindemith with its shifting modes, and the Impressionists with the emphasis on quartal sonorities. Mr. Davies often employs the practice of building up chords from a low tone and adding higher ones, and then releasing tones while sustaining others, which sounds to good effect on the organ. While the harmonies are rife with added notes and seventh chords, the language is never harshly dissonant. The work shows a strong sense of melodic contour, pacing, and contrast despite the lack of quick motion or of dynamics above mezzo-piano. Registrations are given, but the composer makes it clear that these are suggestions and not demands. The composition is playable on any organ of two manuals or more with typical resources in terms of 8' flues. My personal favorite is the second of the four, with its far-ranging, expressive, rhapsodic, and sparsely accompanied quartally based melody in the outer sections of an arch form. In general, a worth addition to the recital repertoire, as well as for practical use as church music.

Amplitudes: This recent composition by Ken Davies is a welcome addition to the brass quartet literature. The work develops a number of ideas to create moving "sound blocks and contours," as well as timbral variety. These ideas include glissando gestures, note repetition, dynamic manipulation, and a number of tricky but playable muted sections. Mutes required include straight, cup and plunger. A marvelous effect is the contrasting timbres created during the independently muted sections. The color of one trumpet and trombone with straight mute while the other trumpet and trombone use cup mute is particularly effective. During the note repetition sections, superior ensemble work is required to match parts both dynamically and rhythmically. In one instance, the note repetition involves measured tremolos, and on a second instance, coordination of the plunger mute between the two trumpets and tenor trombone is required. Each quartet member must have excellent independent rhythm and time to perform the work successfully. In many instances, each part has awkward rhythmic figures that abruptly resolve on a unison rhythmic figure. Although challenging, the effect is excellent. The trumpet and tenor trombone parts do not have taxing ranges; the bass trombone does extend to f-sharp. The parts are easy to read, and the helpful cues will save time in rehearsal. This seven-minute work is well crafted and will keep the attention of the listener and the players. The rehearsal time required is a good investment.

Milton's Trombones: This lyric, contemporary piece honors longtime ITA member and retired University of New Orleans band director, Milton Bush. "Milton's Trombones" was premiered July 13, 2003, by the New Orleans Trombone Choir in a concert conducted by Bush with composer Ken Davies playing tenor trombone in the ensemble. The composition opens in the key of C with a statement from the bass trombone answered by the three tenor parts. A shift in key creates mystery; then the middle two trombones begin a rising and falling obligato as background for a soaring melody beginning in first trombone and filtering down to bass. The piece concludes by returning to its opening statement and ending with a gentle, sonorous cascade. "Milton's Trombones" never rises above mezzo-forte in volume and the obligato figure further challenges performers to play softly and stay out of the way of the melody as it passes from part to part. Davies' tight harmonies demand that performers play in tune and his legato marking call for a smooth, flowing style. Audiences will enjoy "Milton's Trombones'" intriguing tonalities and thoughtful mood, particularly if programmed between louder, more boisterous compositions.

Aurelio De La Vega : Awards & Commissions

Nancy Bloomer Deussen : Awards & Commissions

L Peter Deutsch : Awards & Commissions

Joseph E. Evans, M.A. Ed : Awards & Commissions

Joel Feigin : Awards & Commissions

Brian Fennelly : Awards & Commissions

Carlo Vincetti Frizzo : Awards & Commissions

Kenneth David Froelich : Awards & Commissions

Nicholas Gish : Awards & Commissions

Yalil Guerra : Awards & Commissions

Charles Haarhues, Ph.D. : Awards & Commissions

Juliana Hall : Awards & Commissions

Juliana Hall : Reviews

Syllables of Velvet, Sentences of Plush: [Jayne] West's recital Sunday afternoon in the French Library with pianist Karen Sauer featured settings by seven composers of some of America's finest poets, and the results were exceptional...Juliana Hall caught much of Emily Dickinson's humor and gentle lyricism in seven songs drawn from her letters, Syllables of Velvet, Sentences of Plush. A bright, extended tonality and a moving, spare lyricism allowed the texts to breathe. Her first setting of To Susan Gilbert was the most genuinely moving music of the afternoon.

Night Dances: By encore time, she [Dawn Upshaw] had...given a breathtaking display of virtuosity in Night Dances, a brilliant cycle of songs to texts by women poets...Juliana Hall used every trick in the book—melodic and half-spoken, tonal and nontonal. She did this to enliven the words by Emily Dickinson, Sylvia Plath, Emily Brontë, Edna St. Vincent Millay and Elizabeth Bishop, to deepen the impact of the texts dealing with night and sleep, to explore the implicit emotions in sounds that ranged from a whisper to a scream, with the piano supplying illustrations and comment and engaging in vivid dialogue...

Brian W Holmes : Awards & Commissions

Jeffrey Hoover : Awards & Commissions

Richard Hugunine : Awards & Commissions

Karel Husa : Awards & Commissions

Ryan Jesperson : Awards & Commissions

Lynn R. Job, DMA : Awards & Commissions

Aaron Johnson : Awards & Commissions

Ying-Chen Kao : Awards & Commissions

Ying-Chen Kao : Reviews

Toccata (for Viola and Piano): Festival Miami presented a fascinating concert Oct,8. called "Emerging Young Composers." The concert took place in front of a fuill house at the Clarke Recital Hall at the University of Miami and featured works written and performed by UM students. Ten works by seven composers were showcased.Benterghansa as pianist in the work by Ying-Chen Kao (b.1981) called "Toccata" for viola and piano. Shao-Chien was violist. Both Chien and Banterghansa's playing was passionate, expressive, and dynamically balanced throughout their performance. The first part of the toccata crackled with emotional fire, and the seconed part contained some bold double-stopping for the viola that let into a delicate pizzicato passage that ended the second part. The third part began with Banterghansa plucking the strings inside her piano. This was an accomplished performance of a challenging and rich work.

Daniel Kessner : Awards & Commissions

Michael A. Kimbell : Awards & Commissions

Jonathan N. Kupper : Awards & Commissions

Angel Lam : Awards & Commissions

Dr Alisher Dzhuraevich Latif-Zade : Reviews

Circles of time -octet for chamber ensemble: Composition was comissioned by Silk Road project inc.Performed in Tanglewood (2000)

Sylvia Lee Mann : Awards & Commissions

Mr. Robinson McClellan : Awards & Commissions

Robert McClure : Reviews

Wind Chimes Beneath a Summer Rain: This marimba solo focuses on the tranquil sound possibilities of the marimba. The work was inspired by the imagery of listening to windchimes in a gentle summer breeze. It opens with a simple chorale that rises to the top of the instrument then gradually falls to the lower register. A brief rubato section introduces the rhythmic section of the work, which begins in nearly as calm a mood as the chorale. McClure gradually builds the harmonic and rhythmic tension with a series of off-beat sixteenth-notes, repeated quadruple-stop chords, and finally a six against-four note grouping pattern. A climactic rising triplet figure leads to a cathartic chorale. The piece ends with single notes that are to be struckin the style of wind chimes slowly dying away in the wind. McClure’s new work will give moderately skilled marimbists an opportunity to demonstrate both technical and expressive qualities of their playing.

Richard Nanes : Awards & Commissions

Joseph Nocella : Awards & Commissions

Robert Paterson : Awards & Commissions

Daniel Pinkston : Awards & Commissions

Liduino Pitombeira : Awards & Commissions

Dr. Deon Nielsen Price : Awards & Commissions

William Price : Awards & Commissions

Ms. Lisa Renee Ragsdale : Awards & Commissions

Dr. Daniel Robbins : Awards & Commissions

Alex Shapiro : Awards & Commissions

Alex Shapiro : Reviews

Current Events: "The new work was Alex Shapiro's Current Events, which was receiving its second performance hereabouts and deserves circulation. Her title, by the way, refers to her hobby, which has something to do with "communing with the sea life at tide pools." It's music exceptionally well made if fairly low on surprises; I found it most attractive, especially in a long, beautifully unfolding slow movement. In her pre-performance talk she kept invoking the ghost of Brahms, but I think she sold herself short on that count; her string scoring had little of the thickness with which the good Doktor was often given to burying his best thoughts. I wonder if he ever caught the romance of a tide pool."

Andrew Sigler : Awards & Commissions

Greg A Steinke, Ph.D : Awards & Commissions

Dr. Erich Stem : Awards & Commissions

Aleksander Sternfeld-Dunn : Awards & Commissions

Margaret Collins Stoop : Awards & Commissions

Paul M. Stouffer : Awards & Commissions

Mr. Andrew Poole Todd : Awards & Commissions

Kevin Ure, M.M. : Awards & Commissions

David van Gilluwe : Awards & Commissions

Brian Emerson Vlasak : Awards & Commissions

Dr. Benjamin Williams : Awards & Commissions

Thomas Hobson Williams : Awards & Commissions

John Winsor : Awards & Commissions

John Winsor : Reviews

Decade Divertimento: Winsor's superb Decade Divertimento was a fine tribute to the [Hardwick Chamber Ensemble's] decade of music making.

Final Portraits: The piece was warm and lively. It was played with elan, force, vigor, and a playful spirit. The work allowed each of the four passionate performers to shine, ending it with a flourish.

The Norwegian Lady: The performance was uniformly good with strong contributions by the composer himself [John Winsor] on clarinet, Jeanette Winsor on piano, Mary Tanner on cello, and especially effective (and beautiful) singing from Anita Lowry.

Rain Worthington : Reviews

Tracing a Dream: . A thrilling and shocking piece of more than eight minutes, where different strings and wind instruments interpret music fragments, overwhelming in some and mysterious in others, keeping the listener alert at all times.