Lots of fun news to report, much of which will wait til a later post when I have a bit more time to write.

In the meantime, two fun bits of news:

I’m nearly finished with a new choral piece commissioned by Illinois State University, titled To a Poet a Thousand Years Hence. The piece commemorates two events: the 55th Annual ISU Madrigal Dinners, and the 40th Anniversary of the founding of the ISU College of Fine Arts. As always, it’s an honor to be asked to write for ISU’s choirs, and I look forward to their performance of it on the Madrigal Dinners in early December. I’ll be attending one of the later performances with a sizable entourage of friends and family. I encourage anyone in the area to check out the Dinners, which are a great event (I was one of the Madrigal Singers during my ISU years, and had quite a bit of fun singing, eating, and wearing silly costumes – particularly the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Memorial Pillbox Hat™, which I promise to find a photo of). I’ll have the piece finished in the next day or so, as all that remains to be done is to compose music for half a line of poetry, flesh out harmonies for two other lines, and finish the engraving and proofreading.

And Saturday, October 16, the ISU Madrigal Singers will perform one of my slightly older choral works, Fair Robin I Love, which hasn’t seen the light of day since it was premiered 5 years ago (!) for the 50th Annual Madrigal Dinner. I’m glad it’s being done again – I particularly like it, and it’s a refreshing departure from the bulk of my choral works.

More happy news soon about day jobs, planned works, and more upcoming performances. A new little side project that I’ve been tinkering with. And some heavier, more personal posts coming reflecting on my recent difficulties composing, and responding to some very sad recent events.

Until then!