composer
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15 May 2010
Premiere of Valence II for chamber ensemble
York Spring New Music Festival, University of York, England
Valence II, for clarinet, violin, cello, and piano, is the second of a projected multi-movement cycle of chamber works.
I'm very excited to be a part of this year's Spring festival in historic York, UK, for the first time; thanks, James!
2 May 2010
Premiere of New Work
Performance of String Quartet #1: Releasing Anamnesis
An Die Musik, Baltimore, MD
The Azimuth Quartet will perform my first string quartet in a concert featuring brand new works by Salisbury University faculty,
Jerry Tabor and myself,
and Baltimore-area composer Keith Kramer.
5-6 & 19-21 March 2010
Composing Operatic Time: analyses of temporal progression in twentieth-centruy opera
A research paper to be presented at the 28th Great Lakes & 40th Mid-Atlantic Regional CMS Conferences 2010
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.
October 2009
Mid-Atlantic CMS Composition Review Committee Member
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.
27 September 2009
Premiere of String Quartet #2 by The Madawaska Quartet
The Music Gallery, Toronto, ON
Many thanks to The Madawaska Quartet for a brilliant and electric 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
String Quartet #1: Releasing Anamnesis recommended for World Music Days 2010
My first string quartet was named as one of eight compositions chosen by the ISCM Canadian Section for recommendation to
World Music Days 2010, to be held in Sydney, Australia next April. A new recording of Releasing Anamnesis will be included
on the forthcoming ‘ISCM Canadian Section CD’, an annual promotional recording of the year’s selections.
24 June 2009
Premiere of Sharp Edges for chamber ensemble by Psappha
St. Magnus Cathedral, Kirkwall, Scotland
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, and contained eight new works composed for the 2009 St. Magnus Composers’ Course.
20 March 2009
Valence I for solo piano performed at 39th CMS Mid-Atlantic Regional Conference 2009
George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, USA
I performed my 2008 piano piece, Valence I, which was selected for inclusion on the College Music Society Mid-Atlantic Conference
Composer’s Concert.
1 March 2009
Premiere of Kundera’s Clocks for solo piano on SU Faculty Recital
Salisbury University , MD
I premiered my latest piano piece, Kundera’s Clocks, on an SU Faculty Recital, sharing the gig with my wife, 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
Dissertation Defense
McGill University, Montreal, 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.
13 November 2008
“Aesthetics on the Texture of Musical Time”: Composition Lecture
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.
10 October 2008
Performance of 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.
6 June 2008
“Motive, Texture, and Form”: Composition Lecture-Recital, and premiere of Valence I
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.
17 – 20 April 2008
Conductor/Harpsichordist for Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas
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.
7 March 2008
“Composing Operatic Time: a theory of temporality in 20-century opera”: Composition Lecture
McGill University, Montreal, 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
“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.
7 May 2007
Premiere of Wings and Engines for violin and orchestra by Esprit Orchestra
Walter Carsen Centre, Toronto, 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
Finalist in the 6th International Composition Competition, “Città di Udine”, Italy, with String Quartet #1: Releasing Anamnesis
4 March 2006
“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.
30 April 2005
“Synthesis through Integration: An exploration of my musical memory in Releasing Anamnesis for string quartet”
University of Western Ontario, London, Canada
A composition lecture given at the Music Graduate Symposium at McGill on my first string quartet.
10 March 2005
Performance of String Quartet #1: Releasing Anamnesis
McGill University, Montreal, Canada
30 November 2004
Premiere of String Quartet #1: Releasing Anamnesis
Canadian Contemporary Music Workshop, The Composers Quartet
The Music Gallery, Toronto, Canada
8 April 2004
Premiere of Chamber Concerto #3: Time Fields
McGill University, Montreal, Canada
My Master’s Thesis composition premiered by the McGill Contemporary Music Ensemble, Jean-Michael Lavoie conducting.