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composer
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BIOGRAPHY - COMPOSITIONS - WRITINGS - NEWS & EVENTS - DISCOGRAPHY - PHOTOS - CONTACT - LINKS
NEWS & EVENTS:
January, 2012
Chanterelle-Verlag
publishesA Forge, and a Scythe
Heidelberg guitar publisher
Chanterelle releases their new
publication of one of my early
guitar solos, A Forge, and a Scythe, written for and
recorded by
Danielle Cumming.
November, 2011
New York City's Orchestra of Our Time to record Valence III
Selected in their 2011 Call for Scores, Valence III for oboe, cello and percussion will be recorded by long time champion of new music organization Orchestra of our Time. I am very honoured to be among the selected composers, and can't wait for the finished master. Thanks to Joel Thome and all those at OooT.
August 26, 2011
Recording session at Salisbury University
Studio recording of Valence IV for clarinet, trumpet, percussion, piano, violin and cello made at SU's recording studio. Thanks so much to the players, dedicated, brilliant and sensitive! This track will be included on my forthcoming CD this season - stay tuned!
May 9, 2011
New Music Salisbury
Salisbury University, MD, USA
Premiere: Angle - Horizon - Resonance for piano & live electronics
The New Music Salisbury series continued following a successful inaugural concert last October, and again featured
new and recent works composed and performed by SU faculty, including yet another brilliant performance of my 1998 work
A Forge, and a Scythe for solo guitar by my wife, and dedicatee, Danielle Cumming.
April 1-2, 2011
26th CMS Great Lakes Regional Conference Composers' Concert
Lawrence University, appleton, WI, USA
Premiere: Valence III for oboe, cello & percussion
Valence III was selected for inclusion on the 2011 College Music Society Great Lakes Conference
Composer’s Concert,
and premiered by
performers from Lawrence University's Conservatory of Music.
March 2011
England's Chiasmus Ensemble features Valence II on new CD
Chiasmus Live 2010: Music for the Third Millennium was released this month in the UK. It features my chamber piece Valence II, a Chiasmus commission,
along with new works by composers from England and Wales. It's an honour; cheers, James!
March 12, 2011
Recording session at Salisbury University
Studio recording of Nor gates of steel so strong, but Time decays? for solo piano made at SU's recording studio. Garrett Davies did a fabulous job
engineering once again, and the edited master will be ready soon. This track will be released on my forthcoming CD in the 2011/12 season.
March 4 - 5, 2011
41st Mid-Atlantic Regional College Music Society Conference
UNC Greensboro, NC, USA
Poster Session: System vs. Method: idiosyncrasy in the use of the 12-tone method in Luigi Dallapiccola’s second opera, Il Prigioniero (1944-8)
Based on a paper that investigates idiosyncrasies of Dallapiccola's serial language in his opera Il Prigioniero.
January 2011
MSAC Individual Artist Award in Classical Music Composition
I was one of ten composers selected by the Maryland State Arts Council, and one of four to receive a top prize,
for Classical Music Composition. Thank you, MSAC; my recording project just got a huge push towards being completed!
January 27-29, 2011
15th Biennial FSU Festival of New Music
Florida State U, Tallahassee, FA, USA
US Premiere: Valence II for chamber ensemble
The U.S. premiere of Valence II for clarinet, violin, cello and piano, was given by the FSU New Music Ensemble in Tallahassee on January 28th.
Valence II was one of 25 works selected from 300 applicants for this year's festival.
January 15, 2011
2011 New Music Miami ISCM Festival
Florida International University, Miami, FA, USA
US Premiere: Sharp Edges for chamber ensemble
The U.S. premiere of Sharp Edges for strings and percussion was performed by NODUS ensemble, along with pieces by Orlando Garcia and Paula Matthusen.
My work was one of six works selected from 150 international entries for the 2011 New Music Miami ISCM Festival Series.
November 11 - 14, 2010
2010 SCI National Conference
University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA
Performance: Valence I for solo piano
I gave the fifth performance of my piano piece, Valence I, at this year's Society of Composers, Inc. National Conference. There were over a hundred
other performances of composers' work from across the US spread out over fifteen concerts in under 72 hours. Quite the marathon!
October 22, 2010
New Music Salisbury
Salisbury University, MD, USA
Performances: Nor gates of steel so strong, but Time decays? and Valence I both for solo piano
SU Faculty Jerry Tabor and I presented the inaugural concert of New Music Salisbury, the first all contemporary art-music event to occur
on Maryland's Eastern Shore. Many thanks to all the performers on the night, including SU faculty Danielle Cumming, Jackie Lew and Ted Nichols.
September 27, 2010
Didsbury Arts Festival 2010
ChristChurch, Manchester, England
Performance: Valence II for chamber ensemble
The Chiasmus Ensemble, under the direction of James Stephenson, gives a second performance of Valence II for clarinet, violin, cello and piano, commissioned by Chiasmus.
September 2010
Composition Area Chair for the
College Music Society Mid-Atlantic Region
Currently serving as Chair of Composition for the Mid-Atlantic Chapter of the College Music Society, and preparaing for the upcoming Regional
Conference
to be held at UNC-Greensboro, NC, 4-5 March, 2011.
May 15, 2010
York Spring New Music Festival 2010
University of York, England
Performance of Valence II for chamber ensemble
The Chiasmus Ensemble, under the direction of James Stephenson, gives a second performance of Valence II for clarinet, violin, cello and piano, commissioned by Chiasmus.
May 2, 2010
Ars Nova 21: music of Baker, Kramer &Tabor
An Die Musik, Baltimore, MD, USA
Premiere: Nor gates of steel so strong, but Time decays? for solo piano
Performance: String Quartet #1: Releasing Anamnesis
The Azimuth Quartet performed my first string quartet and I premiered my newest piano piece, Nor gates of steel so strong, but Time decays?, in a concert
also featuring brand new works by Salisbury University faculty,
Jerry Tabor, and Boston composer Keith Kramer.
March 19 - 21, 2010
28th Great Lakes Regional College Music Society Conference
Ball State University,Muncie, IN, USA
Paper: Composing Operatic Time: analyses of temporal progression in twentieth-centruy opera
This paper, derived from my doctoral research, deals with various ways in which time is related to art, music and drama. I propose a
particular
conceptualization of the perception of temporal progression in opera, and apply an original analytical system to several excerpts
from the
20th-century
canon. The results show how these opera composers have structerd the temporal dimension of their work, and with this
data I suggest a temporally-based
understanding of operatic form through the particular integration between the work's temporal progressiona and its
musical and dramatic characteristics.
March 5 - 6, 2010
40th Mid-Atlantic Regional College Music Society Conference
Appalachian State University, Boone, NC, USA
Paper: Composing Operatic Time: analyses of temporal progression in twentieth-centruy opera
The first presentation of the paper given above at the Great Lakes CMS Conference, March 19-21.
October 2009
Composition Review Committee Member for the College Music Society Mid-Atlantic Region
Served as a member of the College Music Society’s Mid-Atlantic Composition Review Committee for the Composers’ Concert
to take place in March 2010 at Appalachian State University, NC.
September 27, 2009
Canadian Contemporary Music Workshop
Music Gallery, Toronto, ON, Canada
Premiere: String Quartet #2
Many thanks to The Madawaska Quartet for a brilliant performance, and to the Canadian Contemporary Music Workshop
for selecting me (for a second time; the first was for my first quartet in 2004). Cheers, guys! And finally, thanks to John Gray at the
Canadian Music Centre for yet another wonderful live recording.
July 2009
ISCM Canadian Section recommendation to
World Music Days 2010
My first string quartet was named as one of eight compositions chosen by the ISCM Canadian Section, held in Sydney, Australia, April 2010.
A new recording of Releasing Anamnesis was subsequently included
on the annual ‘ISCM Canadian Section CD’.
June 24, 2009
St. Magnus Festival 2009
St. Magnus Cathedral, Kirkwall, Scotland
Premiere: Sharp Edges for chamber ensemble
Sharp Edges for violin, viola, cello, bass and percussion, was written for, work-shopped and premiered by Psappha ensemble in
the 12th Century
St. Magnus cathedral, Kirkwall, Orkney Islands, Scotland. The concert was the final event on Peter Maxwell Davies’
2009 St. Magnus Festival,
featuring new pieces by eight composers selected from an international call to participate in the 2009 St. Magnus Composers’ Course.
March 20, 2009
39th Mid-Atlantic Regional College Music Society Conference
George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, USA
Performance: Valence I for solo piano
I performed my 2008 piano piece, Valence I, which was selected for inclusion on the College Music Society Mid-Atlantic Conference
Composer’s Concert.
March 1, 2009
Faculty Recital: Danielle Cumming & Robert Baker
Salisbury University , MD, USA
Premiere: Kundera’s Clocks for solo piano
I premiered my piano piece, Kundera’s Clocks, on an SU Faculty Recital, sharing the gig with my wife, classical guitarist Danielle Cumming.
The programme also included a Bach Trio Sonata, arranged for guitar and harpsichord, as well as solo works by Purcell, Domeniconi and
young Canadian composer Taylor Brook.
November 2008
Ph.D. Dissertation Defense
McGill University , Montreal, QC, Canada
I successfully defended my Ph.D. dissertation entitled: Time, and The Three Last Minutes in the Life of X: a theory of temporality
in twentieth-century opera, which marked the final obligation of my graduate studies.
November 13, 2008
Composition Guest Lecture: "Aesthetics on the Texture of Musical Time"
Salisbury University , MD, USA
Thank you to Professors Jim Hatley and Linda Cockey of SU, who invited me to speak to their class about some of my recent works
and compositional approaches. The course, jointly offered by Hatley and Cockey, focussed on aesthetics in art from each of their respective
academic fields of philosophy and music.
October 10, 2008
Music Faculty Concert
Performance: Valence I for solo piano
Salisbury University, MD, USA
I gave a second performance
of my solo piano work Valence I on the annual SU Music Faculty Concert.
June 6, 2008
Composition Lecture-Recital: “Motive, Texture, and Form”
Premiere: Valence I for solo piano
Salisbury University, MD, USA
A Lecture-Recital in which I performed my first piano piece, Two Bagatelles (1998), and premiered my newest piece, Valence I (2008).
The lecture traced and discussed developments in my compositional aesthetics and techniques over the ten year span between the two works,
and fulfilled the final component of my doctoral composition performance requirement.
April 17 – 20, 2008
Opera Production: Henry Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas
Conductor & Harpsichordist
Salisbury
University , MD, USA
I conducted SU’s Opera Workshop production of Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas from the harpsichord, in a joint production by the SU Music
Department and the Department of Theatre and Dance.
March 7, 2008
McGill Music Graduate Colloqiuim Series
Lecture: “Composing Operatic Time: a theory of temporality in 20-century opera”
McGill University,
Montreal, QC, Canada
A lecture given on my doctoral research for the Music Graduate Colloquium series at McGill. The lecture references several existing theories
on the human relationship to time, and proposes an original conceptualisation of the temporal experience by the spectator of opera, as well as
an analytical system with which it can be measured.
December 2007
Article published in Circuit Musique Contemporain
Article: “The Spaces and Places of Opera”
(Circuit Musique Contemporain, Vol. 17, no. 3 (December 2007): Musique in situ)
My first published article appears in the Montreal based journal Circuit Musique Contemporain. The piece emerged from my ongoing
dissertation research into spatio-temporality in opera, and offers categorical distinctions of the spatial dimension and its potential meaning
in the operatic genre.
May 7, 2007
Canadian Music Centre Professional Readings Series / Esprit Orchestra New Wave Festival
Premiere: Wings and Engines for violin and orchestra
Walter
Carsen Centre, Toronto, ON, Canada
Selected by the Ontario region of the Canadian Music Centre Professional Readings Series, my violin concerto was premiered by the
Esprit Orchestra with Alex Pauk conducting, and Marie Bérard as soloist.
June 2006
6th International Composition Competition, “Città di Udine”
I was a Finalist in the 6th International Composition Competition, “Città di Udine”, Italy, with String Quartet #1: Releasing Anamnesis
March 4, 2006
McGill Music Graduate Symposium
Paper: “Synthesis through Integration: An exploration of my musical memory in Releasing Anamnesis for string quartet”
McGill
University, Montreal, Canada
A second reading of a composition lecture given at the Music Graduate Symposium at McGill on my first string quartet.
April 30, 2005
UWO Music Graduate Symposium
Paper: “Synthesis through Integration: An exploration of my musical memory in Releasing Anamnesis for string quartet”
University
of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada
A composition lecture given at the Music Graduate Symposium at McGill on my first string quartet.
March 19, 2005
Advanced Digital Composition Concert
Pollock Hall, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
Premiere: Vanishing Points for two violins & live electronics
Thanks to violinists Erica Miller & Neda Yamach for a fantastic premiere of my piece Vanishing Points on a concert of new student electronic works
using Max/MSP, written for Sean Ferguson's Advanced Digital Composition course.
March 10, 2005
March 10, 2005
McGill Chamber Ensembles Concerts
Performance: String Quartet #1: Releasing Anamnesis
McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
A second performance of my first string quartet by an undergraduate student string quartet.
November 30, 2004
Canadian Contemporary Music Workshop
The Music Gallery, Toronto, ON, Canada
Premiere: String Quartet #1: Releasing Anamnesis
April 8, 2004
McGill Contemporary Music Ensemble
Pollock Hall, McGill University, Montreal, Canada
Premiere: Chamber Concerto #3: Time Fields
My
Master’s Thesis composition premiered by the McGill Contemporary Music Ensemble, Jean-Michael Lavoie conducting.