Catching Up & Appreciation

For all of you who have subscribed, and those perhaps just discovering CINEMUSICAL here, I wanted to apologize for the lack of content the past two months. It has been a quite busy time with a full teaching load and concert schedule that has kept me busy! It was an honor to be able to perform Verdi's Requiem to kick off November. Being first bassoon on this will be one of the highlights of my performing life I suspect--though hopefully there are more such experiences still in me!

I was also in the midst of putting together the holiday EP, Wondering in Silence, which is available on the Downloadable Music tab here. This was a special little project that includes some different experiments with blending bassoon with other sounds and instruments. As we worked on getting the Bach piece, "Sheep May Safely Graze" ready, I got a request for some reflective holiday music that a group needed so we went back in to the studio and did takes on "Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence" and "I Wonder As I Wander". Those were mostly piano, but we also then tried a couple other approaches as well. The former with a variety of chimes, voices, and bassoon. As a "bonus", we did a track that incorporated a sheep choir! As intended, most find this quite hilarious and it will be a fun listen for children at any point. It can be downloaded by itself. The album hopefully will be up streaming before the end of the week (we had some cover display issues which delayed release). That album will also include "There's A Light" which is also on the Off 2 Broadway album, but comes from one of the 2 holiday musicals I've written. It continues to be one of the most popular tracks from any of the album releases. (Now if someone would just take the plunge to mount the show!)

There are a couple of composing projects in the works now including an orchestral premiere this Spring TBA. Hopefully, things will calm down a bit for me to focus on these projects in 2023.

Lots of music came in for review of course. Classical releases appear to be slowly phasing into streaming only which is unfortunate but the way things are moving. Film music also manages to be almost solely download-only and that makes it a bit of a slog sometimes to wade through all those on a computer audio system. So, I will see how much longer I will continue to do some of those. Composers and performers (many of you subscribing here) continue to send work and I will of course honor listening and using this forum to share that as much as I can because hearing new music is still vital to reflecting even on one's own work. But, I do want to focus more on creating things as well so finding that balance is the goal for 2023.

As we come to the end of another year around the sun, I want to thank all of the performers, composers, publicists, and readers who have continued to stop by and read my thoughts on their work. It is appreciated and honestly quite humbling to hear from you all at various stages of life and career. Blessings to all of you and much thanks.