Divertimento for Clarinet, Basssoon and Strings
will be premiered March 23 by Alison Eales and
Debbie Barnes at City Lit College in London.
Located in Holborn, City Lit has been the venue
for previous premieres of my music by Alison Eales.
Brookgreen Suite for Flute Choir was premiered
December 9, 2023 at Colorado State University
Pueblo with Andrea Artley conducting.
Subsequent performances have been led by Deborah Rebeck Ash in Michigan. The music came to mind after experiencing the bronze sculpure garden “The Fountain of the Muses” in the Brookgren Gardens in Myrtle Beach. I walked the gardens while visitng George and Sharon Hummel. The gardens is comprosed of themed sculpture gardens which are enhanced by trees, seasonal flowers, and trees. The choir consists of 4 Soprano Flutes, Bass Flute and Contrabass Flute (with alternate substitutions for the Bass and Contrabass). Of the three movements (Gardens, Sculpture, Trees) the Sculpture movement was composed first. The piece is abstract, constructed from an imaginary silver, metallic sculpture (the ue of the flute) that begins to sound and sing in sympathetic harmonic and melodic vibrations.
Island Sunrise is a new commission
by the consortium of low flute choir directors:
Deborah Rebeck Ash, Alexandra-Monar Suhajda
and Eileen Yarrison.
The Lower Michigan Low Flutes premiered it in
Saginaw on September 15, 2024 led by Debbie Ash.
Debbie performed it with the Lowly Cantations at
the Florida Flute Convention February 2, 2025.
The Lower Michigan group will perform it at the
NFA convention in Atlanta August 9 at 9 am.
The piece was inspired by yet another
George Hummel photo taken at sunrise on Bull Island.
Autumn Gray for Flute/Alto Flute and Piano was premiered Leo Snow for the Music Club Hartford. While visiting Stowe and Burlington, Vermont we went to Smugglers Notch. In this photo we are surrounded by large, gray rock formations.
In this piece, the leaves are the light. Shades of yellow, orange and red engulfed by early morning clouds and fog. The music contrasts color and gray.
The evocative and illusive low tones of the alto flute are enhanced by subsequent passages in the higher, illuminating, singing tones of the concert flute. The music, shifting in mood and perspective is illuminated by piano shadings of the evolving flute passages.
Listen to Leo’s premiere recording: