There’s no better time than the present to test drive my nascent website, so to christen its conception, here is my first blog post!
My, has it been a busy and exciting summer! I’ve done a lot of collaborative piano work, including performances at the National Association of Teachers for Singing National Student Auditions, where I played for some of my dearest friends and collaborators. I’ve also done a great deal of composing, including a new work for the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Gemma New called “Wytchkraft”. The piece is fiery, dark, and brooding, and the compositional style exemplifies my undying love of film scores. More details to come soon!
In the works, I also have four song cycles, one each for Catherine Sandstedt, coloratura soprano; Darrell J. Jordan, baritone; Connor Cochran, baritone; and Patrick Graham, baritone! Certainly I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to write for my own voice type in such volume! All of these singers are such consummate artists, and I couldn’t be more thrilled to call each of these frequent collaborators my friends.
In addition to these cycles, I’m working on an orchestration of my work, “Nattens Fantasi”, originally for flute and piano, written for the incredible flutist Alice K. Dade and pianist Natalia Bolshakova! The textures of the piece work wonderfully with the multitimbral qualities of an orchestra, and I can’t wait to dive back in to this work! I’m also writing a short oboe sonata for Dan Willet, and again, pianist Natalia Bolshakova. As a collaborative pianist, I have such a dear love for chamber music, and I find that you can create such delicate, precious music when you’re writing for such an intimate instrumentation. It absolutely thrills me that at the same time I can be writing for a powerhouse symphony orchestra, solo voices, and chamber musicians all at the same time! It both challenges me and feeds my soul as a composer.
Stay tuned for more details as these projects take more shape!
All the best,
H.B.H.