As promised!
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Greetings from Carmel, California! Andrea is here for a conference, and, as the dates for her trip coincided with my spring holiday, I'm glad I could tag along. California's central coast is really the best of both worlds, with both the sun from the south of the state and the milder temperatures of the north. It's a nice place to wind down. We haven't yet run into Dirty Harry (Clint Eastwood used to be the mayor of the town), but I'm keeping my eyes peeled. The Deubner-Fauchet duo finished their Los Angeles residency at Occidental with a wonderful concert that included the premiere of my work for Brett, Cadenza & Aria. The work is technically demanding and emotionally taxing, but the duo performed it in a way that made it worthwhile for the audience. For this and so much more, I remain grateful to them for their commitment to the piece. Thank you Brett and Thank you Caroline! Pics of Murphy on the coast to come!  p.s. Here's a YouTube video where I talk some about the impetus of the work. This was at Brett's request, but it may be good to do more of these for future works. What do you think? The Deubner-Fauchet duo has had a wonderful two days here at Oxy, and cap off their residency tonight with a concert in Bird Studio at 7:30pm. It's been such a joy watching them work. They premiered four compositions by Oxy student-composers Thursday afternoon, providing feedback during a dynamic and engaged public workshop. I especially liked that the duo requested scores of the student works be projected as the pieces were played. This allowed for the audience to follow along, bringing them into the rehearsal process. It's always a delight when professional musicians like Brett and Caroline make their prodigious talents accessible to students, and they've done just that for the students here. Prior to their premiering the work at Cal State L.A., I had the chance yesterday to hear my commission from Brett, Cadenza & Aria for the first time. I'm so grateful that they've put in the time and effort to make such a challenging work sound effortless. And it was really nice to hear Caroline on piano; she plays the piece with a wonderful sensitivity that on the surface may seem to belie her strength and power as a pianist. Upon close listening however, one can't help but notice that such subtlety requires a strong and determined musical mind. These words, and the sentiments behind them, would be hyperbolic were it not for the many hours of time and effort musicians like Brett and Caroline put into shaping a phrase, or contextualizing that phrase within a piece; if they did not stand on stage after stage with bright and sharp lights on them and demonstrate their determination, time and again, to shape a musical experience from scratches and scraps on a page. But the fact of the matter is there were some harrowing moments that led to the good of the past two days, and I know that I'm grateful for their journey with Cadenza & Aria, and with all the works on tonight's program. Their musical journeys help affirm and shape my own.
This talk represents a fundamental paradigm shift in the way musical artists and listeners interact. Interactions between celebrities and their "lowly" listeners are being left behind with other outdated and a-functional sensibilities of the Romantic Era. Palmer moves us right into the matrix of thriving in the Digital age.
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Walter says:"Wear your mask & practice social distancing. Together, we can defeat Covid 19!"
Charlotte says:
"Literacy in Music & Arts is one of your vital links to global citizenship!"
Murphy says:"Be sure to support the arts in *your* community!" Archives
December 2020
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