Daniel Powers

Archive for September, 2007

I haven’t received any official release announcement yet, but I checked out the NuMusic.org website yesterday and learned that Masterworks of the New Era, Vol 11 has finally been released.

Important news for me, since my orchestra work The Starry Messenger is scheduled to be included on Volume 12 of the series. I called them to find out what the timetable for that release would be, and was informed it would be out in four to six weeks.

So, sometime in November, it seems, I’ll finally get to hear this piece that was recorded in June of last year! And was originally supposed to have been out by January! Aargh…

Stay tuned.

This morning I received an Opportunity Update from the American Music Center which included a link to Counterstream Radio, an internet radio station featuring new American music.

I’m honestly kind of surprised and a little embarrassed that I hadn’t known about this wonderful feature until today. I’ve been a member of the AMC for years (close to a couple of decades, in fact), but I’ve been remiss in taking advantage of the services it offers. I think Counterstream Radio has been around for a while but I’ve just never gotten around to noticing it. Now that I have, I think I’ll be spending a lot of time listening to it.

Programming seems to be highly eclectic, just the way I like it. I just heard a pleasant, melodic piece for flute and guitar (Acrobats, by David Leisner), which I really enjoyed. It was followed by more experimental electronic piece, Carl Stone’s Mom’s, a collage of various rock and roll riffs hard-spliced together, reminding me of turning the tuning dial on a radio real fast. Fun stuff!

One thing I don’t care for is that they don’t seem to list upcoming repertoire anywhere. You’ll see the current piece listed, followed by several of the most recent pieces played. And there’s a link to buy the CD if you want, which is nice. But it would be nice to look ahead to see if there’s anything coming up that you want to make time to hear.

On the other hand, it’s kind of nice to be surprised.

Check it out, new music lovers!

While I’m certainly no techophobe, I do seem to lag behind the cutting edge of such things. I was the last person I know to get a cell phone. I still don’t have an iPod (though I don’t think I’ll be able to resist much longer on that). I have no plans to upgrade to Vista any time soon; I still like my six-year old computer just fine, thanks.

So no one should be surprised that I’m only just now getting around to this newfangled blogging thing.

Please bear with me as I figure this out. I’m not sure how this is going to develop, except that I mainly want to use it to inform about my various projects and professional activities. So, first of all…here’s a list of the aforementioned various projects.

1. Good King Wenceslas. An arrangement for three voices and orchestra, commissioned by the Carmel Symphony Orchestra. My top priority at the moment since it’s already overdue. Status: Vocal score is done and has been e-mailed to the singers and the conductor. Orchestration is in progress, maybe 30% at this point.

2. Concerto Piccolo. A short concertante work for piccolo and orchestra. I know the title is dumb, but I don’t care. Commissioned by the Terre Haute Symphony Orchestra, for their piccoloist, Kate Prouty. Scheduled premiere: March 1, 2008. Status: Not as far along as I’d like, but progressing steadily. On the back burner till I finish the Good King Wenceslas arrangement, then will become top priority.

3. Rejoice and Be Merry: A Christmas Songbook. Last year, with my wife Martha Krasincan as pianist and our singer friend Sarah Stone, we recorded a CD eleven of my Christmas carol arrangements and four original Christmas songs. This year I’ve been working on getting together all of these pieces in book form. Status: Actually pretty much done at this point, except for a few minor corrections that have to be made here and there. Also, a cover needs to be designed. I had hoped to release it this year, but I think it’s probably already too late for that.

4. The Concerto Project. I’ll have more to say about this later. Here’s the short version: My second piano concerto was premiered in the spring of 2005. The performance was supposed to have been recorded, but was not. The excuse given was “equipment failure” but I have my doubts. Anyway, I’ve had the idea to attempt to capture Martha’s performance in a MIDI version, and realize the orchestral parts using sampled virtual instruments. Priority on this is unfortunately low, since I’m not likely to make any money from it, and paying gigs have to take precedence. Haven’t worked on it for a few weeks, but I’m hoping to get back to it as soon as I clear my desk off a bit.

Those are the projects currently in progress. There are also a few lined up, waiting for me to have time to begin them.

5. Carol of the Birds. I’ve agreed to contribute a piece to the annual Garritan Community Christmas project. This will be the fourth time I’ve participated. This year I want to do a version of the beautiful Catalan song El Cant dels Ocells. Not sure yet how it’s going to go, but I’m pretty sure it will be scored for 10 solo strings, and feature the Garritan Gofriller Cello prominently.

6. O Come O Come Emmanuel, for baritone and organ. My friend Damien Geter called me a few days ago and asked if I’d have time to do this. I said yes, even though I probably don’t.

7. Piece for euphonium, bass trombone, and piano. Commissioned by AJ Miller and Brian Loomis. The premiere will be in early April next year, so I’ll have to start soon.

And that’s all for now. I won’t even talk about several projects I have in mind that are just ideas at this point. When I begin them, or when there’s a reasonable chance that I’ll be beginning them soon, I’ll talk about them then.

Thanks for reading. I’ll have updates soon.