Month: December 2016

This year taught me about how necessary and fun it is to work with other people. From planning performances of I Was On the Side of the Highway with Annie Lyle Mason to starting All Score Urbana with Standard Rep Bassoon Quartet and Molly O’Roark getting my back, all of these interactions reminded me that creativity thrives with the intelligence, sensitivity, and compassion of others. (Check out some of this year’s pieces and performances above).

I had the opportunity to do music around the US, as well as Scotland, this year with a number of really encouraging people. I want to acknowledge them:

• So many supportive University of Illinois friends and collaborators, including Annie Lyle Mason, Dakota Wayne, Tori Lupinek, Elliot Cobb, David Cyzak, Will Pearson, Kyle Shaw, Elisa Moles, M.O. Abbott, Molly O’Roark, Christopher Raymond, Garrett Jones, Skylar Lipman, Claire Taylor, Kerrith Livengood, Martha H. Stiehl, Kevin Zhao, Peter Tijerina, Ion-Alexandru Malairmare, Johnny Smith, Anjali Sivaainkaran, the University of Illinois Music Composition faculty, and so many more!
• New and old friends from around the country I worked with this year including Alfred Shaw, Thomas Carroll, Jack Alexander Madden, Cheryl Lewis, Liz Lewis, the Rogue Trio (Mary Price, Justin D. Rollefson, and Kathleen Schram), Zoltan Csikos, Jacob Barton, Connor Thummel, Robin Meiksins, Emily Mehigh, Eric Heidbreder, Parker Nelson, Mika Allison, Melissa Snoza, Eric Snoza, Alex Hoelzen, Jennifer Woodrum Hogg, Teil R. Buck, Dan Visconti, Stacy Garrop, Luis Brennan, Ben Chew, Elizandro Garcia-Montoya, Monisola Gbadebo, Charlene Kluegel, Michael Lieberman, Katherine Petersen, Driftwood Quintet (Alexis Mitchell, Melissa Malork, Fangyi Niu, Dominque Holley, and Ben Paley), Jenny Hargrave, Ben Kernes, and Mr. Danny Cohen.
• My All Score Urbana partners The Standard Rep Bassoon Quartet and Molly O’Roark

I also want to thank organizations and ensembles that made a big difference for me this year:

• The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the Illinois Modern Ensemble (for so many, many things)
• WGXC 90.7-FM and The Cutty Strange (for inspiring Drive to the Edge and Penelope’s Endless Book of Magic, and helping me better understand where I was at artistically–tune into them often!)
• ENSEMBLE MISE-EN (who went above and beyond when they read and performed critical band-aid this April) 
• Fifth House Ensemble and its Fresh Inc Festival (for the hilarious times and fomenting experiences that have led to a number of partnerships and concerts, including Fearless Reception, an upcoming collaboration with the Rogue Trio) 
• Radiophrenia Glasgow 2016 (for including Drive to the Edge in its exciting international collection of transmission art)
• The Museum of Arts and Design (for access to the Bertoia sonambient sculptures!)
• Slate Arts Gallery, a sublimely supportive, inquisitive creative space in Chicago
• SEAMUS 2017 (which I am so excited to go to)

As this new year starts, I hope to keep these collaborative fires goings and finding new ways to support other people, their safety and expression. A big thanks to The Rogue Trio and Sonny Oram from Qwear for being part of this conversation and its many variations this year.

I’m proud to announce that Drive to the Edge was selected for the 2017 SEAMUS (Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the United States) in at St. Cloud State University in Minnesota happening this April.