While incredibly strenuous, June was very kind to me.  Not only did I have 3 new pieces premiered but I had the opportunity to work with fantastic Chicago groups like the Chicago Composers Orchestra, Singers On New Ground, and with Anaphora founding member (and my patient husband!) Aurelien Pederzoli.

For the Mute was commissioned by CCO and gave me an opportunity to rework an orchestra piece I had sketched during my Undergrad.  It was wonderful to have such a large work realized and to such a gracious audience!  The piece is a 1 movement work in 10 minutes.

Sonata de Kinor was first previewed by Aurelien earlier in the year at an Anaphora concert where he performed the 1st movement.  Since then, he has played the 1st movement on WFMT , given the full premiere in Chicago and the Las Vegas premiere in my hometown for a hugely successful benefit concert.  Sonata de Kinor is a work for solo violin in 2 movements:

1. Cantor

2. Danzon

Songs about Love was commissioned by a great group in Chicago called Singers On New Ground (SONG). I had never worked with vocals before (outside a school setting) and was both excited and concerned. Excited for a new genre to work in and concerned because I write THE WORST lyrics ever. Luckily, they paired me with a trained writer, Cora Vasseur.  Cora had been trained as a comedy writer by Second City and had some experience in the song writing world previously.  We both were very happy with the result of our collaboration and with the quality of the performances.  There are currently 2 songs in the set with a third in the making:

1. The World is Better (When You’re in Love)

2. Thank You for Making Out Next to Me

All three pieces are now on my Sounds page. Cora also blogs and wrote a very nice reflection of the experience as well:  Cora Vasseur’s Blog