My latest composition for chamber ensemble and video was premiered on Thursday, June 20 as part of the 2013 Charlotte New Music Festival held in Charlotte, NC USA. 9 Dreams of Flying was written for the Charlotte New Music Festival and was premiered by flutist Erinn Frechette (Charlotte Symphony), violinist Jason Newkom, cellist Katya Janpoladyan (both Freya String Quartet members), and pianist Daniel Spiegel. The performance was excellent and the piece was well received. The concert took place at St. Peters Episcopal Church in uptown Charlotte to a standing room only audience. (Once again I find myself at a concert of new music that is well attended.) The performances for the entire concert were all first rate.
The video component for 9 Dreams of Flying was created under the artistic direction of Michael Compton, who was in attendance at the premiere. Michael is a visual artist currently heading up a design firm in Columbus, OH. 9 Dreams was a collaboration between Michael and myself. We were in close contact during the composition phase of 9 Dreams and some of the images Michael shared with me had a profound impact on the direction of the music. While the initial concept for the piece was centered around sensations experienced when dreaming of flying, some of the imagery Michael found while researching neural networks had a direct impact on the end product, both music and visuals. While 9 Dreams remains centered on flying dreams, both the music and visuals owe much to the stunning visual representations of neural networks Michael shared with me.
This has been a wonderful experience in so many ways (meaningful collaboration, great performance, cool festival, new friends, etc.). I very much enjoyed working with Michael and getting to know him better. We are already in the planning phase of a second collaboration. The performers did a wonderful job on the piece and the Charlotte New Music Festival has proven to be an inspiring experience for me.