2016 composing update: composing is proving no easier in the new year than it has been in past years. Facing up to a blank two-piano/two-percussion-shaped page at the moment, and each note I put down seems to bring me further away from having an actual idea.
I’m not trying to be dramatic; I’m merely trying to complain. Please let me know in the comments section if you feel I’ve succeeded.
Luckily, I’ve already written some other music for people to play this month. Sleeping Giant is coming strong out of the gate. First, a new project for our friend and favorite cellist Ashley Bathgate, and the following week, the première of a new multimedia version of Hand/Eye, our piece for Eighth Blackbird.
In between, I’m joining the violinist Yevgeny Kutik for an interesting show at the Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C., curated and hosted by Nico Muhly. We’re playing two Stravinskies, a Muhly, and a brand-new me called Words Fail.