This past spring was filled with some very intense teaching at UC Davis; I realized, having finally fully turned the corner on humility, that I am really getting too old to continue to do the commute up and back to campus so frequently, so very early in morning, and so very late at night, for many more years. I simply don’t have it in me anymore to simply “bounce back” and continue to do everything like I have done for so many years. Hence, I think my time at at UC Davis will be coming to an end in the next few years. So, I am going to try and squeeze in as much work with those amazing students that I can before I wither away and depart for good!
The 2025 Composers Conference was amazing this past summer! I feel it was perhaps the most successful Conference we have had since I became Artistic Director six years ago. Our Guest Composers Melinda Wagner & Felipe Lara were wondrous, and all our Fellows and participants were completely splendid. We were fortunate enough to have Guest Conductors Matilda Hofman & TianHui Ng join us this year - it was such an honor to have them be a part of our festival! I cannot wait for the 2026 Conference and have Patricia Alessandrini and Jeffrey Mumford be our Guest Composers.
In the meantime, I am playing viola again, and that is great. Part of this includes working on a new piece for solo viola and small ensemble by Bahar Royaee, commissioned by Left Coast Chamber Ensemble, with funding from a Fromm Foundation Commission Award, all of which is a tremendous honor.
As for composing, I have put some serious work into my new collection of pieces for Jessica Tong and Ashley Bathgate. So far, there are three movements to some slightly fucked up folksongs & remixes for violin and cello, but there will be more to come by the start of 2026.
I am nearly finished with everything is lurking in places we least expect for guitar, shamisen, violin and cello, which was commissioned by shamisen master Hidejiro Honjoh. It will be premiered in Tokyo in early November 2025. The shamisen is extraordinary, and Hidejiro is as well. Writing this piece has been quite terrifying, since there is nothing quite like it in there Western instrument world, but I sort of like being terrified.
Lastly, the recording and video to seeking all that’s still unsung for string quartet (2024), which was commissioned by the Lydian Quartet, is finally done and posted. I am extremely grateful to these remarkable musicians for all that they brought to this beast of a piece.
And there are, as always, little things happening here and there along the way. As soon as one project moves towards completion, I freak out and search for the next one to become rooted in and have take hold.