Working Hard and Hardly Working

I am back at Illinois State University for the first semester of my sophomore year, and things are busier than ever! I am having a great time even with an incredibly large workload, which includes rehearsals for the Big Red Marching Machine, the ISU Wind Symphony, and the ISU Symphony Orchestra, as well as classes for music theory, aural skills, group piano, conducting, music education, and a number of other subjects. Despite this, I am still finding time here and there for my efforts in composition, as well as time to spend with friends and playing video games and generally relaxing.

I have a few bits of exciting news to share. The first is that the new full orchestra version of my fanfare Young Voices has been chosen as the winner for the “under 23” category of the Chicago Philharmonic’s Fanfare Composition Competition. The piece will be premiered in under a month at their 30th Anniversary Season Opening concert in Evanston, Illinois. I will be there for the concert, which will also include Tchaikovsky 6, Anna Clyne’s Masquerade, and a Trombone Concertino by Ferdinand David. I am so excited for the opportunity to share my music with the wonderful musicians of the Chicago Philharmonic!

Another bit of exciting news is that I was featured in a podcast over the summer! Andrew Clendenen, the multi-talented creator of The World of Texas Music, was in attendance for one of the world premiere performances of my brass fanfare version of Young Voices by the Dallas Winds in Dallas, Texas. We connected after the performance and he invited me to be on an episode of the podcast! I had a wonderful time speaking with him about bassoon playing, my compositions, my creative process, and a number of other things. It was a pleasure to talk with him, and as I am much less wise than many composers, I hope that I said some things worth listening to! Follow this link to hear the podcast on iTunes or Spotify: http://wtxm.org/episodes.html

The last exciting thing I can share for now is that I am making more and more progress on my trombone concerto, The Beginning of Spring, every day. The work is cast in three movements, titled as follows: I. O Great Mystery, II. Columbia Calls, and III. In Our Own Hands. The work will take on the emotions I’ve felt as a young American in a strange time and will meditate on the inspirational words of young voices (recognize those words? that’s not a coincidence!) around the world. The title of the piece itself comes from a quote from David Hogg, an activist and a survivor of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, at the March for Our Lives several days after the shooting: “Today is the beginning of spring, and tomorrow is the beginning of democracy.”

There are plans in the works for this piece that I am very excited to announce, but not quite yet! In the mean time, be on the lookout as I am hoping to share at least a movement with everyone before the full piece is ready to go.

That is all for now! Stay tuned for more info soon, and as always, enjoy the music! - H