Starting in August 2023 (the start of this academic year), I have had the privilege of serving as Adjunct Instructor of Music Composition at Millikin University. I am teaching composition lessons, a beginning composition class, and a studio class that hosted special guest composer Dr. Kerrith Livengood yesterday. I deeply love helping people navigate creative pathways and working in this capacity at Millikin feels like a continuation of the composition teaching I began with All Score Urbana back in 2016. I continue to work to balance individual enrichment and creating strong community-based a ..read more

Earlier this month, trombonist Peter Tijerina, cellist briar darling, and I presented a concert of All Score Urbana participants’ works at Urbana’s Rose Bowl Tavern. It was an afternoon of many premieres, with works by local and regional participant composers, as well as remote participant composers. It also featured a performance by local singer/songwriter Paul Kotheimer accompanied by Peter and briar ..read more

This Friday August 25th and Saturday September 2nd, works I composed or co-composed will be presented on air from Radiophrenia Glasgow. You can listen locally in the Glasgow area on 87.9fm or at a streaming link on Radiophrenia Glasgow’s website here: https://radiophrenia.scot/listen/ On Friday August 25th, untitled (I am noel o) is a collaborative composition as shan-uh-kees, a duo with Dr. Dave O Mahony. It is a tribute to the creative practices of sculptor Leo Amino and O Mahony’s uncle Noel who first introduced him to ham radio. On September 2nd, Abandoned Ship will receive its world pre ..read more

One of the things I have been looking forward to most is now right around the corner–New Music Gathering. On Friday June 23rd, Abby Williams Chin and Brant Roberts will perform a half hour program entitled “Memorial and Memory in Experimental Music and Dance” that will feature choreography by Sara Hook and Abby with music composed by Dave O Mahony and me. Pete Martin, who I have collaborated with before, plans to do a multi-camera recording of the performance. The piece of mine included in this program “Another Chance So Suite” is one of those compositions you have hopes and dreams about when ..read more

Click this to open DuoTube in your browser window. (While people can find DuoTube on YouTube pretty easily, perhaps some people will find this easier to open it during the presentation Ron Meiksins and I are giving ..read more

It has been a wonderful and musical week. On Thursday Mike Minarcek, Abby Williams Chin, and Kayt MacMaster performed “Dick and Janes” by Sara Hook / “Another Chance So Suite” by me at Jacksonville University for College Music Society’s Southern Regional Conference. On Saturday, Desmond Clarke, Gaia Blandina, and Lucy Havelock premiered “our own parade” at York Unitarian Chapel as part of the Arc Project’s ReLaunch concert. I’m excited to hear the recording from each of these concerts. On Sunday, I attended New Music Mosaic’s Urbana concert. It was the first time I had been able to hear “C ..read more

It is still January, but a very nice schedule has begun to emerge regarding music I’ve written and talks I will give. Last week, in Estonia, a short work entitled “Uneven As You Do” was performed at Pärnu Days of Contemporary Music. In February there will be three performances of my compositions: Mike Minarcek will perform “Another Chance So Suite” at CMS Southern Conference in tandem with Sara Hook’s “Dick and Janes” choreography performed by Kayt MacMaster and Abby Williams Chin. Briar Darling will perform “Can’t Take You Anywhere” as part of New Music Mosaic in Urbana, IL, and in York, UK ..read more

Recently, I completed “Long-Cooled Love,” a piece for trumpet and electronics for Dr. Nicole Gillotti. I’m looking forward to hearing her premiere the piece in the coming year. Earlier this year I was selected to receive the first SEAMUS (Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the United States) CREATE Grant to support upcoming version of All Score Urbana. We were able to order several of Travis Thatcher’s photon tricorders to make available at our free-to-the-public events in 2023 and going forward ..read more

A few weeks ago I was a special guest speaker for Five Towns College’s Graduate Analysis Course. I am from Long Island and some of my first and most inspiring memories happened on that campus when I was growing up. I presented about my work creating my dissertation “Aaron Cassidy’s Second String Quartet: Resilient Structures, Indeterminate Localities, and Performance Practice.” The class was extremely well-prepared regarding my research about Cassidy’s beautiful music, so we were able to move to a more conversational Q & A format. I loved being in a situation with musicians including curr ..read more

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