Author: admin

post camping

I’m just back from a month of camping on my land in VT, and I’m in the midst of trying to catch up with lots of email and paperwork and all that, but luckily I came across this really excellent piece by Monolake (Rob Henke), called layering buddha, which is keeping me calm and happy even as I try to figure out how to pay the bills!

“I will not be sad in this world” reprised

The piece I wrote for Marya Martin’s Flutebook for the 21st Century will be played again by Marya at the Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival on Sunday August 5th at 6:30 pm. She played it very beautifully at the premiere this spring, so it will be great to hear her do it again.

Here’s the link for more information about the concert, and here’s a link to Sahan Arzruni’s review of the piece.

here’s a link to a demo where I am singing the flute part:

[audio:http://evbvd.com/notsad/sad%20demo.mp3]

playing and talking about Sang at the Merc

On Tuesday 26 June at 6:30 pm, I’m going to play a recording of Sang, my big choral piece that premiered in LA earlier in June, and talk about the texts, from the 10th century epic Shahnameh, or Book of Kings, by Ferdowsi, and additional Biblical texts in Hebrew and Greek. We will also have an informal conversation about intercultural collaboration, and the intersections of Persian and Western traditions of music-making. The Mercantile Library is at 17 E. 47th Street, and admission is free. Here’s some more information.

Cave: for spoken voice, mixed ensemble and playback

Cave was commissioned by the St. Louis ensemble Synchronia for a program investigating the theme of America in Y2K. The text is by Eileen Myles. It is the third piece in the last year I have been asked to write on this subject*, and I’m noticing that I know less about the meaning of the millennium, or the future in general, the more I’m asked to write pieces about it. I have, however, had several excellent conversations about souls with Ansel Elgort, who is six, while I’ve been writing this piece, so I dedicate it to him with love and thanks for his friendship.

* see the continuous life for another
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Cave is part of my ongoing project A Book of Days. Please visit July 3rd to hear a recording.

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The piece was originally made for flute, clarinet, violin, cello, keyboard (or piano and vibes), spoken voice, and electronics. There is also an optional video by Clifton Taylor.

Here is a score of the piece, and here’s a set of parts. I’m open to you adapting it for your ensemble; let me know what you have in mind. If you wish to use the original DX7 patch, download this zip file of the patch in various formats that may be useful for re-creating the patch.

I will send you the pre-recorded track when you order the piece by clicking the paypal button below.

Sang premiere in LA

I’ve been working for the last year on a piece for the incredible Los Angeles Master chorale with guest virtuoso Persian musicians Manoocheehr Sadeghi on santur and Pejman Hadadi on percussion. The new piece, Sang, will premiere at Disney Hall in Los Angeles on 3 and 7 June 2007, the second concert also being the inauguration of the celebrations of the 30th anniversary Chorus America conference. Learn more about it here, and join me in LA if you’re anywhere in the neighborhood!

I am writing to you from a far-off country

Koch has released Maya Beiser’s recording of I am writing to you from a far-off country with text by Henri Michaux, vocals by Alexandra Montano, and Maya playing multiple overdubbed cello parts and reciting the text. I am very proud of this record, and hope you have a chance to hear it soon. here’s the link to purchase it on Amazon.