Arrived on Thursday at the Brevard Music Festival, my retreat this summer for composing and hobnobing with other musicians. The festival includes more than 450 high school and college age musicians. It’s particularly great for composers because it has such a strong emphasis on performing your work.
These details aside, I’m already feverishly at work on a new piece for flute and alto saxophone, featuring a kaleidoscope of patterns and colors. I’m really excited for this piece because it’s both new and old for me. On the new side, it continues the lines of rhythmic invention I explored in A Field Guide to Natural History. On the old side, not only do I feel like I’m writing a response to floboe from last fall but also like I’m finally paying homage to the teacher with whom I’ve studied the longest, Neil Thornock. All these traits will become clearer when I post the audio in a few weeks. Get excited! (I know I am!)
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Ah, my old stomping ground. Head up to Sliding Rock for me, k?