Ralph Lewis: Composer

Starting in August 2023 (the start of this academic year), I have had the privilege of serving as Adjunct Instructor of Music Composition at Millikin University. I am teaching composition lessons, a beginning composition class, and a studio class that hosted special guest composer Dr. Kerrith Livengood yesterday.

I deeply love helping people navigate creative pathways and working in this capacity at Millikin feels like a continuation of the composition teaching I began with All Score Urbana back in 2016. I continue to work to balance individual enrichment and creating strong community-based and collaborative ties in these learning situations and am very proud of the effort and creativity I am seeing from my students.

Earlier this month, trombonist Peter Tijerina, cellist briar darling, and I presented a concert of All Score Urbana participants’ works at Urbana’s Rose Bowl Tavern. It was an afternoon of many premieres, with works by local and regional participant composers, as well as remote participant composers. It also featured a performance by local singer/songwriter Paul Kotheimer accompanied by Peter and briar.

This Friday August 25th and Saturday September 2nd, works I composed or co-composed will be presented on air from Radiophrenia Glasgow. You can listen locally in the Glasgow area on 87.9fm or at a streaming link on Radiophrenia Glasgow’s website here: https://radiophrenia.scot/listen/

On Friday August 25th, untitled (I am noel o) is a collaborative composition as shan-uh-kees, a duo with Dr. Dave O Mahony. It is a tribute to the creative practices of sculptor Leo Amino and O Mahony’s uncle Noel who first introduced him to ham radio.

On September 2nd, Abandoned Ship will receive its world premiere. It is a 14 minute fixed media work I designed as an installation, created with the support of cellist Helen Newby.

One of the things I have been looking forward to most is now right around the corner–New Music Gathering. On Friday June 23rd, Abby Williams Chin and Brant Roberts will perform a half hour program entitled “Memorial and Memory in Experimental Music and Dance” that will feature choreography by Sara Hook and Abby with music composed by Dave O Mahony and me. Pete Martin, who I have collaborated with before, plans to do a multi-camera recording of the performance.

The piece of mine included in this program “Another Chance So Suite” is one of those compositions you have hopes and dreams about when creating it. It centers around my interests in historical and current approaches to experimental music (and related creativity). During my research for my dissertation, I learned about how Merce Cunningham’s first aleatoric dance work was premiered where I was attending school, in a building I would walk by most days. I envisioned it as a travel piece that my colleague percussionist Dr. Mike Minarcek could take on the road–which he eventually did, performing it at College Music Society Great Lakes and Southern Conferences with Kayt MacMaster and Abby Williams Chin.

I had also hoped when writing the piece that I could join together with a choreographer to not simply tribute Cunningham only but to build something special that looked back but also looked ahead. It very much feels like this happened when Sara Hook and I began collaborating together. Throughout the rehearsals, previews, and performances in the last year and a half, it’s meant so much to be work with so many inspiring artists with different creative skills.

One fantastic little part of being a composer is finding out after the fact that someone has gone ahead and programmed your work. Such is the case with Christopher Newport University’s Electronic Music Ensemble performing “MoxTube” back in the Fall. I deeply appreciate them programming this work and embracing the “ensemble performs from the audience” approach you can take when presenting the work in a concert space.

Click this to open DuoTube in your browser window.

(While people can find DuoTube on YouTube pretty easily, perhaps some people will find this easier to open it during the presentation Ron Meiksins and I are giving).

For the first time in years, I have been traveling to present at conferences and festivals. I’m very thankful to be able to present about All Score Urbana at College Music Great Lakes Conference and at Penn State New-Music Festival and Symposium. In about a week I will be headed to New York City to perform “DuoTube” and present about it with flutist/YouTuber Robin Meiksins at SEAMUS National Conference.

It has been a wonderful and musical week.

On Thursday Mike Minarcek, Abby Williams Chin, and Kayt MacMaster performed “Dick and Janes” by Sara Hook / “Another Chance So Suite” by me at Jacksonville University for College Music Society’s Southern Regional Conference.

On Saturday, Desmond Clarke, Gaia Blandina, and Lucy Havelock premiered “our own parade” at York Unitarian Chapel as part of the Arc Project’s ReLaunch concert.

I’m excited to hear the recording from each of these concerts.

On Sunday, I attended New Music Mosaic’s Urbana concert. It was the first time I had been able to hear “Can’t Take You Anywhere” in person since 2020. Briar Darling performed it outstandingly.

As of yesterday, I have also begun duties as the first Member-at-Large for Outreach for Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the United States, after winning an election earlier this month.

It is still January, but a very nice schedule has begun to emerge regarding music I’ve written and talks I will give.

Last week, in Estonia, a short work entitled “Uneven As You Do” was performed at Pärnu Days of Contemporary Music.

In February there will be three performances of my compositions: Mike Minarcek will perform “Another Chance So Suite” at CMS Southern Conference in tandem with Sara Hook’s “Dick and Janes” choreography performed by Kayt MacMaster and Abby Williams Chin. Briar Darling will perform “Can’t Take You Anywhere” as part of New Music Mosaic in Urbana, IL, and in York, UK, Desmond Clark, Lucy Havelock, and Gaia Blandina will be premiering a new work “our own parade” as part of the Arc Project’s Relaunch Concert.

In March, I will be traveling to two conferences, CMS Great Lakes and Penn State New Music Festival and Symposium, to present about All Score Urbana. In addition, I will get to see Mike Minarcek and Kayt MacMaster perform “Another Chance So Suite”/”Dick and Janes.”

In April (still working on the details) I will be performing “DuoTube” as part of SEAMUS’s national conference. Later that month, my collaboration with Chris Raymond and P.R. Martin, “Shadow’s Long Reach” will be included in the global telematic event Earth Day Art Model.

Recently, I completed “Long-Cooled Love,” a piece for trumpet and electronics for Dr. Nicole Gillotti. I’m looking forward to hearing her premiere the piece in the coming year.

Earlier this year I was selected to receive the first SEAMUS (Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the United States) CREATE Grant to support upcoming version of All Score Urbana. We were able to order several of Travis Thatcher’s photon tricorders to make available at our free-to-the-public events in 2023 and going forward.