Adjudicating the 2022 WAMMIES

The cat’s out of the bag: I was one of the local Industry Judges for the 2022 WAMMIES, the DMV Region’s Premiere Music Awards Show. The WAMMIES yield thousands of nominations for 60 award categories, representing 20+ genres and D.C.’s vibrant and impressive music community. Last night also recognized two visionary leaders of The Musicianship, the education powerhouse behind the awards: Jeffery Tribble Jr., founder and now CEO of Levine Music, and the newly-named CEO, Eric Liley.

Joel’s Latest Stanford Course: Four More by Sondheim! Starts April 29

My next Stanford class, MUS 178B Four More by Sondheim: West Side Story, Gypsy, A Little Night Music, and Pacific Overtures, will be offered through Stanford’s Continuing Studies Program (CSP) as a live virtual online course on 4 FRIDAYS: Apr 29—May 20 from 11:00 am—1:00 pm (PT).

A continuation of last spring’s Sondheim course, we will focus on four landmark musicals: two early works featuring Sondheim as lyricist only—West Side Story and Gypsy—and two musicals from his successful collaborative period with director Hal Prince—A Little Night Music and Pacific Overtures. We will dig into the music, the lyrics, the structure, the mechanics of what makes these musicals so fantastic and important, and why Sondheim deserves the praise and position in our culture.

Reminder: while this is a Stanford CSP course anyone can register, and the silver lining of a virtual course is… you don’t even have to leave your house to attend. Sondheim from the privacy of your living room? Yes, indeed! Over the past two years people have registered from across the country. You can register HERE. Want an even brighter silver lining? Those registered can access class recordings if you cannot make a session in-person, or simply want to watch it again later.

More awards and accolades for Light as a Feather!

More awards and accolades for Light as a Feather, the beautiful and evocative short film created by my friends and collaborators at Evolve Puppets (Tanya Khordoc and Barry Weill). First it was a selection for the 2021 Vienna International Film Awards, and now selected by Animovies Festival of Animated Objects. Light as a Feather uses excerpts from my chamber piece Pas de Deux (for cello and piano) as its score. You can catch it streaming through April 30 ANIMOVIES: LIFE IS A JOURNEY package, part of the Festival of Animated Objects!

All Things Are Set Ablaze in Keene and New York City.

Those three forces of nature, otherwise known as ModernMedieval – founder Jacqueline Horner-Kwiatek, Martha Cluver, and Eliza Bagg – did two more superb performances of their Words of Love and Wisdom program, including my badass Hildegarde piece From: All Things Are Set Ablaze, as part of the Electric Earth Concerts, Keene, NH. and then at the spectacular Fuentidueña Chapel at The Met Cloisters. And Classical Voice North America loved the program too! Click here for the review. I don’t mind “While it was certainly raucous and exciting – the trio played a tambourine, a small mallet-hit hand drum, and a triangle as they sang – the piece was far from furious. In fact, it was so much fun that Horner-Kwiatek’s final triangle ting earned a chuckle from the audience.”

Elastic Band @Shenendoah Conservatory

I had a great time last week at Shenandoah Conservatory in beautiful Winchester, Virginia. A *very* full visit with friends conductor Tim Robblee and composer extraordinaire Jonathan Newman and the the faculty and students. I taught composition lessons, gave a masterclass, had rehearsal, and heard my Elastic Band (Octet version) performed at the über-hip Bright Box Theater in downtown Winchester. Thank you Jonathan and Tim!

Elastic Band CD submitted to the GRAMMYs!

I’m very pleased that the Acis album be•spoke has been submitted to the GRAMMYs for consideration. There is so much great work by Elena Ruehr, Julian Wachner, Alejandro Hernandez-Valdez, Marcus Thompson, the New Orchestra of Washington, Kevin Bourassa, and others on the CD.

I’ve received a 2018 Arts and Humanities Fellowship from the DC Arts Commission!

I’m thrilled to announce that I’ve been selected by the District of Columbia Commission on the Arts and Humanities for an 2018 Arts and Humanities Fellowship (AHFP) for my upcoming projects! I’d like to thank Arthur Espinoza, Jr., Executive Director of the CAH, their hard working staff and panel for their support. Onwards and upwards!

The Strad chimes in on my “fierce little viola piece!”

I am thrilled that violist extraordinaire Andrew Gonzalez (and pianist Ji, Yekwon Sunwoo) has received this positively glowing review in this October’s The Strad Magazine for his Bargemusic recital this past July. Bruce Hodges also had kind things to say about my “fierce little viola piece” When the World Disintegrates Before Your Eyes as well. Mark Peskanov, Bargemusic Artistic & Executive Director is doing great things there! Want to read the complete review? Want to peruse the score? Click here!

Elastic Band – in the recording studio!

Sunday night, fresh off a terrific pair of performances of Elastic Band at Georgetown’s Gonda Theatre and AMP/Strathmore, the New Orchestra of Washington, conducted by Alejandro Hernandez-Valdez, hit Omega Studios with producer Geoffrey Silver of Acis Productions at the helm. Great session, can’t wait to hear the final product! (photo: Christian Amonson)

Elastic Band, for chamber orchestra, premieres!