June 2008 Newsletter

2008-06-07T12:55:00.000-07:00

Warm greetings from Orlando!

A full six months since my last newsletter. Not slackness, I promise! I have just been - and still am - very busy composing.

RECENT AND ONGOING PROJECTS

To date, two commissions completed this year:

'Eola Stroll' a duet commissioned by two of the finest wind performers, Gail Robertson (euphonium) and Stacy Baker (tuba), for a world premiere at an international conference this month - see Upcoming Performances below.
I have just completed 'Dare to Hope' an overture commissioned by the Northern Virginia Community College in honour of Dr. Robert Petrella, who founded the Alexandria Band more than 30 years ago. Bob will direct the world premiere in December.

And I'm hard at work on two more pieces:
'High Flight' an extended setting of the famous poem by John Gillespie Magee Jr. for choir and alto saxophone, commissioned by The Orlando Chorale in honour of choir founder John Perkins. Gregory Ruffer will direct the world premiere in March 2009.
'An Emily Dickinson Suite' (provisional title) commissioned by the celebrated Amherst Regional High School Wind Ensemble and its director Brian Messier for performance at the bicentenary of the city of Amherst MA in May 2009. This work will consist of movements inspired by Dickinson's poetry. This is my second project linked to the work of Amherst's famous daughter, the first being the SAB cycle 'To Hear An Oriole Sing' commissioned last year by the Association for Music in International Schools. And its premiere will also be in May 2009 - in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

I feel honoured to be working full-time as a composer, and so very grateful to those of you who support me through your commissions.

RECENT PERFORMANCES

I regret there is not enough room here to mention all the recent performances of my music. There is more detail on the 'Breaking News' page on my website. But here are just a few of the highlights:

December '07 the excellent premiere of my arrangement of Tom Lehrer's 'I'm Spending Hanukkah in Santa Monica' by Frank Albinder and the Washington Men's Camerata who commissioned the arrangement.
January '08 a standing ovation from the huge audience at St Lukes in Oviedo FL for the premiere of 'Rondorlando' - Rick Greenwood directing Orlando Concert Band, one of the groups that commissioned this work. And in the same concert the beautiful singing of JoAnne Stephenson in the premiere of my soprano and band arrangement of Rodgers and Hammerstein's 'You'll Never Walk Alone' also commissioned by the OCB.
February 13 in East Lansing, MI, The Michigan State University Concert Band directed by Isaiah Odajima in a particularly thoughtful and well received performance of 'Resonance'.
February 16 the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra directed by Hamish McKeich performing 'Hikurangi Sunrise' in front of a huge crowd at the 10th anniversary celebrations for Te Papa Tongarewa (The National Museum of New Zealand).
February 23 in Coquitlam, BC, Canada, the passionate and very well received world premiere of 'Renascence' by The Pacific Symphonic Wind Ensemble directed by Marc Crompton with pianist Jane Hayes.
February 24 Dunedin, New Zealand, the St Paul's Cathedral choir under David Burchell achieving an assured, expressive New Zealand premiere performance of 'And I Saw The River' from 'O Fragile Human'.
March 14 the same choir's New Zealand premiere of 'Reflection On Palm Sunday' also from 'O Fragile Human' alongside 'And I Saw The River' both to critical acclaim.
March 26 in Carnegie Hall, New York, Andrew Bassey leading the Northamptonshire Orchestral Winds in 'L'homme armé: Variations for Wind Ensemble'. "It knocked their socks off!" (Andrew Bassey)
March 29 in Toronto, ON, Canada, The University of Toronto Wind Ensemble directed by Gillian MacKay with pianist Henri-Paul Sicsic in the sensitive and convincing Ontario premiere of 'Renascence'. Both this group and earlier PSWE in Vancouver are part of the 36 band consortium that commissioned this work. It is published by Maecenas (UK).
April 25, in an Anzac Day concert at Christ Church, Wanganui, the Schola Sacra Choir, directed by Roy Tankersley singing 'Walking On My Feet' from 'To The Horizon' to an appreciative audience - repeating the performance on May 25 at the Classic Sing. This work was commissioned by Karen Grylls and the New Zealand Dorian Choir way back in 1989.
May 18 in Georgetown, KY, Tom Brawner with the Scott County High School Symphonic Winds - Kentucky's finest High School Band in - giving 'Rondorlando' a rousing Kentucky premiere. This is another of the commissioning bands for this piece. 'Rondorlando' will soon be available from Subito Music Corporation (USA).

I have recordings of some of the above performances if you are interested in hearing them - and of course perusal scores of them all.

NOT RECENT BUT NOTABLE

By chance I learned of the first performance of 'L'homme armé: Variations for Wind Ensemble' as a ballet score. It happened in Ljubljana, Slovenia - the Slovene Armed Forces Band, directed by Milivoj Šurbek in 2006 during the band's 10th anniversary celebrations. I have (thanks to the expertise of Anthony Reimer of WASBE) a file of the video shrunk from its original 400MB size to a more manageable 60MB. You may download it from here. For those who have space on their hard drives to accommodate the original with its better picture and sound quality, let me know and I will send it to you. As an artist I feel honoured that my work has in turn provided inspiration to an artist in another field. I am also grateful to the Slovene Armed Forces Band, and band commander Ljubo Vošnjak for making this video available.

By chance also I learned of the Australian premiere of 'Resonance' in Adelaide in October 2007. Robert Hower directed the Elder Conservatorium Wind Orchestra - the previous year he directed the Australian premiere of 'L'homme armé: Variations for Wind Ensemble'. Both these works were commissioned by Timothy and Hilary Reynish in memory of their son William. Both are published by Maecenas (UK).

I cannot stress enough how wonderful it is to hear news of performances of my music. If you are planning programme any of my pieces, please do take the time to drop me a line.

UPCOMING PERFORMANCES

There are several more announcements in addition to the following though so far I am lacking exact dates and venues.

June 15: At 7.30 p.m. in the Esplanade Concert Hall in Singapore, Timothy Reynish (as part of an international 70th birthday tribute series honouring his extraordinary contribution to music) will direct the Philharmonic Winds and Chorale in the Singapore premiere of 'U Trau'. This work was commissioned by AMIS (the Association for Music in International Schools) and is published by EC Schirmer (USA)
June 25: Wednesday, 4.30pm, at the International Tuba and Euphonium Conference in the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati, OH, Gail Robertson and Stacy Baker give the world premiere of 'Eola Stroll'.
July 1, 2008: In Manchester, England, Timothy Reynish will direct the wonderful Royal Northern College of Music Wind Ensemble in 'Resonance'. Details to follow.
December 5: 8.00pm at the Schlesinger Center in Alexandria, VA, The Alexandria Band directed by Robert Petrella will perform the world premiere of 'Dare to Hope'.
March 14, 2009: 7:30pm at First United Methodist Church of Orlando, the world premiere of 'High Flight' by the Orlando Chorale directed by Gregory Ruffer with (artist not yet confirmed) on alto saxophone.

UP AND COMING COMPOSERS

It was with great (though unjustified) pride that I recently attended two performances of string orchestra works by my student Eric Hawk - 'A Tone Poem Miniature' - suitable for a good middle school group and 'A View In The Night' - a grade 4 to 5 work - both highly effective and enthusiastically received. Eric leaves for Colorado State University to study for his Masters Degree having been awarded a conducting assistantship. My other student Alexandra Ramos recently heard she had been accepted for the highly regarded Masters composition course at Florida State University in Tallahassee. Two talented and distinctive voices in new music composition.

Wishing you all a pleasant and mild summer/winter and thanking you sincerely for your ongoing support,

Chris

A New Format, March 2008

2008-03-27T17:13:00.000-07:00

Greetings friends,

This is my first belated foray into the blogosphere. It is taken on the inspiration of Vancouver conductor Marc Crompton. There is a lot for me to learn in this new technology so I'll be getting the feel for it with a series of small messages.

I welcome any feedback, which can apparently be made straight to me via this page. Just click the little pencil.

That's all for now. Thank you for reading!

Christopher

Christopher Marshall: Newsletters

June 2008 Newsletter

A New Format, March 2008