This summer has been wonderful so far - a road trip that traversed the open, beautiful and sometimes martian-like landscapes of the American West, lots of interesting music being produced by new friends and old, and weather here in Seattle that can really only be described as idyllic. But enough of this petty banter: it's time for The News.
    There are two reviews that showed up for The Box Is Empty show that happened in June - one in I Care If You Listen and another in The Glass. The Box Is Empty played a new piece that they commissioned from me called Hear No Noise. You can have a listen to Hear No Noise here. Last weekend I presented the newest of my time-specific music events, Blue Hour, at Green Lake here in Seattle - I'm presenting it again this coming weekend in Portland.
    In other news of the site-specific sort, I won a call for site-specific scores by the Color Field Ensemble. At their festival in Madison, they'll be doing an iteration of my new piece that will be performed in its entirety in September, Hungry Ghosts. Besides Hungry Ghosts, Nat and Roos will have a sound installation that will run inside a theater for a couple of house in between musical events at Color Field Fest. Also, we have posted a video of the dance performance for All of the Above on YouTube. We did the score for this piece by choreographer Catherine Cabeen. If you enjoy the music in the video, you can buy it on amazon, itunes, or emusic. That's all the news for August - be on the look out for three site-specific music events in September!

On Friday, June 29th, chamber ensemble The Box is Empty will debut Hear No Noise - my new piece for chamber ensemble (flute, bass clarinet, viola, cello, bass), soprano and field recording at The Century Ballrom. The text comes from a collection of poems by 9th century Chinese hermit-monk Han Shan. Here's the text as translated by Red Pine:

Beneath high cliffs I live alone
swirling clouds swirl all day
inside my hut it might be dim
but in my mind  I hear no noise
I passed through a golden gate in a dream
my spirit returned when I crossed a stone bridge
I left behind what weighed me down
my dipper on a branch click clack

Hear No Noise begins with a field recording I made of the dawn chorus here in Seattle recently at a park. May is a really loud time of year for the birds as there are migratory birds drifting through, birds that are mating, and others that are establishing territory. So, there is a lush bed of sound that drifts up initially. The only bit of literal text painting, some drinking gourds will be rattled together at the beginning of the piece and at various places throughout. The rest of the work is slow moving canonical gestures of lush chords shifting gradually over time. The soprano dots the sonic landscape as the text rolls by, but while writing I tried to treat her part as a member of the ensemble, not as a soloist. It is my hope and intention that the piece drifts on effortlessly, though slowly, so that one's perception of time is distorted, and the work overall blending, coexisting, and responding to the field recording - drifting in and out of the sonic woodwork.

Within Chinese poems of this era there are often references and allusions to other poems. Occasionally these references serve as commentary, but more often they serve as a way to add color to the poet's ideas, credence to expression, and pay homage to the past while acknowledging that the moment and our very existence is in constant flux and motion. Hear No Noise - and much of my work - is very much in dialogue with these sentiments, and I hope that a scholar such as Han Shan would approve of my setting of his poem.

Details for the show can be found here, and a short excerpt can be heard below.

I couldn't be more pleased that on Saturday, December 10th Jeremiah Cawley of The Box Is Empty will be conducting my piece Kugami, which is for men's choir and soprano with piano, cello and bass clarinet. The event will be at 3:00pm in Brechemin Recital Hall on the campus of the University of Washington. This piece was originally debuted at Seattle Pacific University under the direction of Ken Pendergrass. Jeremiah's ensemble, The Box Is Empty is a project-based New Music ensemble that is interested not only in playing the hits from contemporary repertoire, but also in expanding undeveloped areas of New Music such as the choral realm. If the amazing performances at the all-Andriessen concert earlier this year is any indication, this new ensemble will be an exceptional addition to New Music...don't miss their next concert on January 21 at The Chapel here in Seattle.