This last June, I was a Composition Fellow at the 2017 nief norf Summer Festival. Performers at the festival performed two of my recent compositions. Percussionists Jon Clancy, Stephen Downing, Alex Richard, and Ike Van De Vate gave the first performance of my in-the-round percussion quartet, Revolution Summer.
For the festival, I composed New Winds for mixed chamber ensemble. The players sounded great and were lots of fun to work with. From L to R: Qiuchen Wang (percussion), Brianna Matzke (piano), Andy Bliss (nnSF Artistic Director), Will Yager (bass), Kyle Young (guitar), NP (composer/conductor), Riley Leitch (trombone), and Kays Ishaq (percussion).
I greatly enjoyed working with composers Christopher Adler, Marc Mellits, and Nina C. Young on the New Winds score prior to its performance.
The festival featured two weeks of stellar performances including the final marathon concert that concluded with Reich’s Drumming led by Russell Hartenberger. For this concert, I performed in works by Philip Glass and Pauline Oliverios.
Kudos once again to the fantastic faculty, composers, performers, and staff that made this yearly festival possible.