Now the term is in full swing, I'm busy preparing for classes, grading papers, lecturing, meeting with students ... Yes, it seems endless. I've also got a couple of playing gigs coming up, another premiere on Mar 2, 2014 - that's less than a month away, and rehearsals begin tomorrow. At least, I don't have to conduct this one. I can just sit back and bask. That doesn't mean I'm free of that sort of activity. I'm conducting Per Nørgård's Remembering Child with the Syracuse University's Contemporary Music Ensemble on March 27.
Now, the big news in the aftermath of the successful premiere of Paradiso (review here), I've been awarded a commission for the 2015-16 season. I can't say who it is from yet, since it hasn't been officially announced. Anyway, I don't have any parameters (size of ensemble or duration), so I don't know what I will write at this point in time. I imagine it will be a chamber piece, say up to 10 players, and up to around 20 minutes in length. That's what past commissions from this organization have been like. Ideally, I would like to write a mini-concerto for marimba and/or percussion. I've been thinking of writing something for Evelyn Glennie for a while, but I doubt this organization can afford her. The percussionist (Mike Compitello) on Paradiso was quite exiting; he's nearby and within means, financially, so he might be a possibility. I could (at the same time) write a version for Ev (perc & piano). (Did you hear that Philip?)
Anyway, I'll let you know more once it is public, and I know what I have to write.
In the meantime, this piano concerto. I WILL finish it. There isn't much left to do, but it is a matter of finding the time. Perhaps during Spring Break. Some of my eartraining courses finish around then, and that will leave just theory, comp. seminar, and CME.
I'm going out to play in Dwight Oltman's retirement weekend reading sessions, and I was hoping to dedicate and present it to him then, but I fear it won't be finished, unless I can find some time for it in March and April. Much of it was originally the wind ensemble piece that I was writing for him, several years ago, but never finished. I could finish typesetting the 3rd Symphony, but it doesn't have the same connection.
OK, back to work.
