June 2018 News

My Appalachian Trail Symphony: New England (Symphony No. 1) was performed in April by the Claflin Hill Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Paul Surapine, and by the Sage City Symphony, conducted by myself (in my debut as an orchestral conductor) in May. They were both such incredible experiences, and I'm so grateful for these performances and for all of the audience members who have shared with me how much the symphony has meant to them. (I also was very excited to have the work featured on Vermont Public Radio as well!)

If you weren't able to come to one of the performances, that's ok because I have recordings of each to share! (You may want to read my detailed program notes first which give you the story behind the music as well as a kind of guided tour of the symphony.) I set the recording of the Claflin Hill Symphony performance to a slideshow of photos from my hike so that you can see the sights of the trail while you hear the music that it inspired. The local cable access station in Bennington made a nice recording of the Sage City Symphony concert, so watch that one if you'd like to see me conducting. (The above link is right where the symphony starts, but if you want to hear my spoken introduction to the piece as well, click here). I'm so proud of this piece and hope you enjoy listening to it.

In the span of just over a month, I performed my Piano Music from Four Continents recital 6 times across 3 states: April 29th in Southborough, MA, May 12th in Springfield, VT, May 13th in Walpole, NH, June 1st in Charlestown, NH, and June 2nd in Thetford, VT and Hanover, NH. If you missed all of those performances, that is ok too as I recorded them and have put together a playlist with my best performance of each piece.

On June 24th, I have two performances of my music on the same day in the same small town but in two different venues. In the morning at the First Congregational Church of Walpole, NH, we'll be celebrating my final service as Music Director of the church with latest composition Lord, Make Me an Instrument of Your Peace for SAB Choir and Piano. Then in the afternoon at 3pm just down the street at the Walpole Unitarian Church, Monadnock Music is performing a free concert that will include my Swansong and The Dove in the Ash Grove for Cello and Piano, performed by Rafael Popper-Keizer, cello, and Yoko Hagino, piano. It will be a wonderful way to send me off to my next adventure.

On July 11th, I will have my first performance of a piece of mine in Croatia! My Rumination and Manifestation for Tenor Saxophone and Piano will be performed at the 18th World Saxophone Congress in Zagreb, Croatia by Allison Adams, saxophone, and Casey Dierlam, piano.

I won't be able to make it to Croatia for that concert, but I will be in Europe at that time. For the entire month of July, I'll be walking the Portuguese route of the Camino de Santiago from Portugal to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. My wife and I started the pilgrimage last year but had to cut it short when she developed tendinitis in her achilles, but we are going to give it another shot before we move out to Rochester, NY in August where I start on my PhD at the Eastman School of Music.

Featured Video

An Appalachian Trail Symphony: New England (slideshow)

Recording of "An Appalachian Trail Symphony: New England" performed by the Clafin Hill Symphony Orchestra set to photos from my hike.

Latest Updates

Claflin Hill presents Appalachian Trail Symphony by Keane Southard

30 Sep 2018