The Musicianship faculty at Duquesne University will put on a free 1-hour concert of our own music at the Mary Pappert School of Music on Monday, 4/15 at 3:00PM. The concert feature’s Dr. Joe Sheehan’s band, a performance of my very difficult piano piece, Unravel, by jazz piano student Alec Chapman, and a performance of a work by Dr. Zvonimir Nagy. Many thanks to Joe for planning the event!

The Mimesis Ensemble will play my “Awake,” along with works by some friends of mine including Judd Greenstein and David T. Little. I’m excited to hear this performance at the Kaufman Center in New York. Tickets can be purchased at:

http://www.kaufmanmusiccenter.org/mch/event/mimesis-ensemble-in-cosmopolis

Merkin Hall, May 4, 8:30PM.

Thanks to Mathew Rosenblum and Edward Kocher, I’m pleased to announce that NOW Ensemble will come back to Pittsburgh (first time since 2008) for a mini-residency, culminating in a concert of student works and a separate performance at the Warhol Museum, featuring a premiere by my wife Emily Pinkerton and me. We have been working on “Rounder Songs” together– a song cycle that includes settings of old Appalachian tunes and quasi-traditional melodies. Our plan is to create the suggestion of a narrative structure throughout the cycle, evoking the ancient and yet modern theme of a mysterious character drifting into town.

Student Concert: March 21, 8 PM, Pappert Center, Duquesne School of Music.

Warhol Concert: March 23, 8 PM, Andy Warhol Museum. More info is here.

The extraordinary Pittsburgh percussionist Lisa Pegher has commissioned me to write a piece for her, for her February 16 Music on the Edge performance at the Warhol Museum. I’m very excited to write a piece for her– for some mysterious reason, up to this point in my career I’ve never composed anything for solo percussion. This is really strange since I happen to be preoccupied with rhythm! But I couldn’t think of a better way to unveil my first piece in this genre, because Lisa is incredible.

More info here.

This is a Duquesne University electroacoustic music group, directed by Lynn Purse and me. Our concert will feature two works by PSO Composer of the Year Mason Bates; an encore performance of Joe Sheehan’s percussion piece, performed by guest percussionist Lisa Pegher; a performance by guest musician Ben Opie; a pre-concert improvisation by Zvonimir Nagy; and a new piece that I wrote for this student group called “Gamma Rock.” The piece combines gamelan and rock textures: it’s fast, it’s loud, it’s art music.

If you’re wondering why we called it the Fourth River Music Collective (and if you’re entertained by outlandish theories) then read more here.

The concert is Dec. 6 at 8PM in the Pappert Center (formerly room 322) in the music building.

On Sunday, Oct. 14 at 7:30 PM, in Bellefield Hall, IonSound Project will perform a new piece commissioned from me, which includes the robots and sounds of Jeremy Boyle. I’m excited that I am finally able to repay this group that has performed my music so often over the past few years, by composing a piece just for them. I am equally excited about the collaboration that this project has entailed. Working with Jeremy on the sounds and the logistics of the robot has been very rewarding. If you have always yearned to hear music that combines the ancient tradition of Javanese gamelan with contemporary composition and robot technology, then this is the concert for you!

More info is here.

NOW Ensemble will perform All Together NOW along with other pieces from our rep at Judd’s alma mater on Oct. 9.  Follow the link for details.

NOW Ensemble at Williams College