A Brief note on the joys of Collaboration

Happy New Year, Gentle Reader! I hope these letters find you well. 

No music is ever experienced alone. Even with the myriad ways listeners connect to the multiverse of music online and privately enjoy it, every composition is the composite of many collaborative experiences. The musicians who compose and perform it, the engineers who record and master it, the musical software that informs the choices of electronic producers, the hardware that plays it back, and much more beyond my morning's imaginings, all work in concert to bring music to life. It's awesome to think about; the most solitary of songs is tied to worlds of imagination and knowledge. 

The best of music's interconnected nature is brought into stark relief for me in live performance. And over the last month I have had the great pleasure to connect with countertenor Darryl Taylor and my colleague, conductor Allen Robert Gross, as they prepare to premiere of my newest work, Quilting, with Allen's new Orchestra Santa Monica this Sunday. 

For those of you who won't be watching football on Saturday, this team effort is most definitely worth your attention! Stop by if you can, and do say hello! 

Orchestra Santa Monica Black History Month Concert
Sunday, February 3, 2013 @ 3:30 pm MT OLIVE LUTHERAN CHURCH 
1343 OCEAN PARK BLVD


Program:
Chevalier de Saint-Georges: Symphony in D Major
Andre Myers: Quilting (premiere)
William Grant Still: Danzas de Panama
Mozart: Symphony No. 41 in C Major, K. 551 (“Jupiter”)