WAC Newsletter, February 1998: Members' News

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		WAC Newsletter, February 1998
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Members' News

Elizabeth Alexander

In March, 1997, the Cayuga Vocal Ensemble under the direction of G. Roberts Kolb premiered Elizabeth Alexander's choral work, Spring Revels; and students at a Syracuse elementary school gave a rollicking premiere performance to Things That Go Bump in the Night, for chorus, band and orchestra, which they wrote with Alexander. In July, tenor Arthur Krieck performed Trouble in a Minnesota Town at the Adirondack Festival of American Music, and in December the Gregg Smith Singers performed For So the Children Come on their concert series in New York City. Upcoming performances include Trouble in a Minnesota Town in Kensington, CA, by Sounds New; Everyday Sorrows, Everyday Joys by elementary school students in Syracuse; and premieres of three new choral works written for Ithaca area choirs.

Al Benner

Al Benner is editing numerous works for Conners Publications of A. P. Heinrich taken from The Sylviad. There was a recent performance of one of those edited versions--The Debarkation March (piano)--on December 25, 1997 at the Rochester Christian Reformed Church, Penfield, NY, by Carson P. Cooman.

Performances of Benner's music this year included on January 11, Faith (string quartet) by Tanya Heider and Bill Miner, violins; Robert Heider, viola; and Thom Viomar, cello at the Rochester Christian Reformed Church, Penfield, NY; and on February 27--Through a Baby's Eyes and In My Father's Arms by Thomas King (tenor) and Vicki King (piano) at the CMS Southern Chapter's Conference at the State University of West Georgia, Carrollton, GA; and the Five Variations for Piano by Stephen Brown at Columbus State University Music School's Convocation, Columbus, GA.

David Drexler

David Drexler's short prelude for carillon, Black Water, was performed by Lyle Anderson on the University of Wisconsin Memorial Carillon, December 3, 1997. The piece will be included in the Albany Carillon Book, to be published in 1998. Devil's Lake, for clarinet, violin, cello, and piano, was premiered by Music on the St. Croix, a concert series based in Stillwater, MN, on February 21, 1998; and Forgotten at Dawn, Snowflakes, and Finding Time were broadcast on The Latest Score, a new music show on WOMR-FM in Provincetown, MA, last October 21th.

Frank Hoffmeister

Tenor Frank Hoffmeister (UW Oshkosh) has recently released a CD featuring vocal chamber music by composers who have ties to Wisconsin. The CD, August Was Foggy, has 21 pieces and includes Three Harp Songs by prize-winning composer John Harbison (Token Creek); Shakespeare Sonnets by Michael Cunningham (UW Eau Claire); Early Mornings by Lester Trimble (Milwaukee-born composer); and Elegy by Bruce Wise (UW Oshkosh). Also heard on the CD as performers are David Cowley and James Grine (UW Oshkosh). The CD is available in Oshkosh at the Exclusive Company (416 North Main Street) and UW Oshkosh campus bookstore (725 Algoma Blvd); or through Cunningham or Hoffmeister directly.

Dan Maske

Dan Maske was recently selected as the winner of the UW-Madison Concerto Concert Composition Contest. His work Myth and Legend will be performed by the UW Symphony Orchestra on March 5 at 7:30 pm.

Maske's music will be featured on two upcoming CD's--Caged (brass quintet) will be included on a CD entitled CAGED recorded by the Skyline Brass, due to be released in February; and Far Corner (soprano sax and piano) will be recorded by John Bleuel and Linda Li-Bleuel for a CD to be released by Arizona University Recordings due to be released in the summer of 1998, to be distributed in the U.S. and Europe.

Yehuda Yannay

Yehuda Yannay was commissioned by contrabass soloist Michael Cameron to write Tango of Death, which was premiered in March, 1997. The European premiere was performed by Corrado Canonici in August at "Musica 2000 Festival" in Ancona, Italy. Another performance of the work, by Salvatore Macchia, took place in Amherst, MA, in October.

In March, 1997, Yannay was guest composer at the New York University Composers Forum, where a number of his collaborative works were performed, including I can't fathom it. . . written for projections by Marie Mellott and Madeleine Sharpiro, solo cello; the music film Jidyll, created jointly with Richard Blau (film); and In Madness There Is Order, created jointly with Jerome Fortier. In April, Yannay was guest artist at Western Carolina University, where his song cycle Eros Reminisced, was performed. The program also included I can't fathom it. . . .

International performances for 1997 included Three Jazz Moods for saxophone and trumpet solo with chamber orchestra, in Timisoara, Romania, in March; and a concert-version of I can't fathom it. . . in Winnipeg, Canada, in May. Other significant performances include Five Pieces for Three Players as part of the NewEar concert series in Kansas City, MO, in March; and a concert-version of I can't fathom it. . . by cellist Paul Gmeinder in Milwaukee in July.

WAC Newsletter, February 1998
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