For my friends in the Charlotte region… I will present a recital of my music on January 29, 2019 at 7:30 p.m. in the Barnes Recital Hall on the campus of Winthrop University, Rock Hill, SC. The recital is free and open to the public. The concert will include three of my compositions; Silence in Forty-Two, Alhambra Tiles, and Building Walls. The recital will feature colleagues from the Department of Music at Winthrop University including Matthew Darsey – viola, Jeff McEvoy – baritone, Tomoko Deguchi – piano, L.H. Dickert – electric bass, Adam Snow – drum set, Tracy Patterson – alto saxophone, Jill O’Neill – flute/piccolo, and Christopher Griffin – French Horn. This recital is sponsored by the Department of Music at Winthrop University.
Silence in Forty-Two is scored for viola, baritone, piano, electric bass, and drum set. It is a setting of an adaptation of a short story by the same name written (and adapted) by Winthrop creative writing faculty Dustin M. Hoffman. The story follows an apartment complex maintenance man as he enters the apartment of a hearing impaired woman to repair a leaky shower head. He is clearly infatuated with the woman and upon entry finds that she is not home. While making the repairs and hearing the sounds leaking into the apartment from outside, he realizes that they live in two very different worlds and a relationship is unlikely. Dustin is a gifted writer and I am grateful for the opportunity to work with him.
Alhambra Tiles for flute (doubling piccolo), French horn, and piano was inspired by a visit to Alhambra Palace in Granada, Spain. The palace was constructed during the Moorish presence in Spain. I was struck by the beauty of the repeated patterns in the bas reliefs, tiles, and mosaics. I composed an introduction and coda and short segments based on the bas reliefs, tiles, and mosaics. The ordering of the internal segments is left to the musicians performing the work, but the piece always begins with the introduction and ends with the coda. The ordering of the internal segments is meant to reflect the multiple paths that a visitor can take through this remarkable place. You can hear a recording of a live performance of Alhambra Tiles featuring the Out of Bounds Ensemble on my Audio page.
Building Walls, for alto saxophone, baritone, piano, electric bass, and drum set, is a setting of another adaptation of a flash fiction story by Dustin M. Hoffman. The story follows a sheetrock crew as they face a long day building walls on a construction site. Dustin’s writing captures the pace and energy of work, and inner musings and motivation of the workers. My interpretation of Building Walls is that it is a metaphor for the false intimacy often found on work sites.
I hope many of you can attend my recital. The musicians are excellent and the performances promise to be first rate. Contact me if you have questions or need more information.