It’s that time of the year. Everything in my life seems to hit the fan at the same time. In the next three weeks I’m playing Mahler 3 with the Pittsburgh Symphony, I’m taking an audition, and I’m driving to Boulder, CO in time for my first service with the Colorado Music Festival Orchestra. In the mean time, I’m serving as Program Coordinator for two competitive high school marching bands, writing the percussion score for another (like drum corps for high school), and planning next season for New Music Raleigh. There’s a lot to do, but I love it. These are the times that I seem to be most productive.
A couple of things on my radar:
In preparation for its National Conference in Atlanta, June 15-19th, the League of American Orchestras has started a website called Orchestra R/Evolution in order to spark discussion prior to the event. I’ve been watching this site for a couple of weeks, but it doesn’t seem to be doing much to advance the discussion. Hopefully it will be a bit more productive after the Convention in continuing the dialogue.
Here’s a great article about Robert Spano and his commitment to new music with the Atlanta Symphony. This would be a better starting point for discussions about the future of orchestras!
Here is a great blog post from composer David Smooke about the idea of Music Locavorism. More on this idea and my thoughts for New Music Raleigh in the future.
Anyway, that’s it for now. More from along the trail in the next few weeks. If you’re one of my old friends from the ‘burgh, come check out the Mahler! According to the reviews from their recent European tour, the PSO is sounding great.