* WEDNESDAY MAY 17 - MY BIRTHDAY
I'm sure most of you won't forget that my birthday is right around the corner on May 25th! So leading up to my bday it's hectic but I'm loving it. I'm demo'ing my house and building on my new property and I have an amazing huge concert at McNay Museum. My first time to truly choreograph for my choir, From Those Who Follow the Echoes. This will be our follow up performance to Blue Star in which we won a Cammie award for (drum roll please) "Most Aurally Stimulating Exhibit". Below is one of the performances and us rehearsing with our new award...

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* APRIL 10TH 2017 - PIANISSIMO 

So here we are again. After an intense filled week of rehearsals and experimenting in search of the right tuning, the 6-piano concert was finally here. It brought me joy to see this special crowd in Barcelona closing their eyes and getting lost as the piano sounds from all corners enraptured them. I leave hoping everyone found something special from their viewpoint. My body as always gave everything in presenting a work and I'm burnt to a crisp but again filled with great emotion. It's time to relax but my mind is already thinking of new grand ideas. The photos below show the process from meeting with the conductor, to rehearsing, to promoting on the radio, to partaking alone at the dress rehearsal and alas the concert. Thank you Fabricarte and thank you to all that flew in from Texas and Europe to share this experience with me. Until next time...

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* APRIL 2ND 2017 - BARCELONA

My first few days in Barcelona have been great. For the most part I have been adjusting to the time change and hanging with my friend Alfonso. Alfonso is my friend whom I met while on tour in China. We toured together for a month with our bands playing in China and Mongolia and it is he that invited me to premiere my 6-Piano concert in Europe. If you have followed my blog, you may have figured out that I actually don't enjoy traveling without a purpose. A day on the beach and then I'm bored. Of course I'm traveling almost 3-4 months out of the year and I cherish every moment I'm abroad, as I know I'm fortunate. But for the most part I want to grind away on new projects or see the every day life of my friends, and this is a perfect insight full of meeting and connecting with artists.

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* MARCH 26TH 2017 - BARCELONA BOUND
I'm off to Barcelona this week to start rehearsals for a performance of my music for 6 pianos (scroll down to see videos).  It's been an insane month with a choral performance and with SXSW and now I've been hired for a short film and to do sound design on a commercial.  So needless to say I haven't had time to breathe or really post much.  But I'm workin' my tail off to knock everything out so when I get on the plane I can have a glass of scotch and shift my focus to pianos.  If you are in Barcelona or have friends in Barcelona please share this INVITE with them.  Oh and Go Zags!  Been waiting 20 years for this one.  

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* FEBRUARY 21ST 2017 - FROM THOSE WHO FOLLOW THE ECHOES

I apologize for every blog post having a video!  But this one is long overdue.  Finally I was able to edit one of the videos from the premiere of my new choir, From Those Who Follow The Echoes, at Hotel Emma last fall.  With our next performance looming, I wanted to pump this one out.  Come see us on March 2nd at Blue Star Contemporary for the Contemporary Art Month Kick-Off Party in San Antonio.  Click to watch "Fathers & Sons" by yours truly!!!  

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* FEBRUARY 19th 2017 - FIRST ATTEMPT AT CHORAL MUSIC

As I embark on yet another exciting choral adventure with an amazing group of singers in Texas, I'm reminded of the first choral piece I ever wrote.  I was late in discovering the beauty of the voice but when I delved into it, I got hooked.  There is something special about working with any large ensemble and I remember working with the group you will see perform in this video.  Rehearsals were magical in the sense that the rehearsal space was small and intimate, so I was able to get to know more than a handful of the performers.  And that is what I love about music.  How it brings people together for a common purpose of sharing.  I can't believe years later I have my own choir.  There is this special bond we have as if we've gone to battle for each other and now that we are reuniting for another concert, it feels like a family reunion.  I'm excited to see how it evolves and I hope the singers have a similar sentiment.  So for context, the video below was the premiere of the first choral piece I ever wrote titled, Phosphorescent Flame (also on Spotify & iTunes).  If you scroll down to the preview blog post, you will find info on the next performance!

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* FEBRUARY 8TH 2016 - CONTEMPORARY ART MONTH

Exciting news to announce, my new choir, From Those Who Follow The Echoes, is returning for another exciting performance on March 2nd at the Contemporary Art Month (CAM) Kickoff event at Blue Star Contemporary in San Antonio (6 - 9pm). More details coming soon...

A design by Ben Humphreys

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* JANUARY 28TH 2017 - BLANTON MUSEUM OF ART
2017 is off to a great start.  I wrapped up my first concert of the year with my most experimental composition to date.  The concert was at the Blanton Museum of Art which I have been going to since I was a teenager.  The Blanton curates unique and inspiring music in it's gallery, so it's wonderful to partake in the tradition.  For this concert, I was asked to write a new piece to go alongside works I curated for my Keep Composers Weird residency in 2016.  Btw, applications are still being accepted for the 2017 residency, so if you are composer please have a look HERE.  For my piece, I experimented with lights as cues for the players with the goal of exploring music in motion.  I tried various ways of mixing blinking signals and using colored lights for certain cues (as seen here in rehearsals).   Ultimately I ended finding a switch controller where I could manipulate the speed of blinking lights and turn lights on and off.  Each player reacted different to each signal as discussed before the performance.  During the performance the audience actually went inside one of the layers!  I was pleased with the performance as the audience participation meet my expectations of having this be an interactive piece that gave off the feel of an installation.  Performance photos and videos coming soon... 

 
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*  JANUARY 10TH 2017 - FINALLY!...

...the video was posted by Del Mar College for the commissioned work I did in the memory of Eddie Galvan.  This piece was one of my favorite to work on.  I was given 6-8 months but because of an international tour, I procrastinated a bit and crammed it all in a month.  Needless to say, I got very sick after I turned it in.  It has a latin/spanish flavor to it so if you feel like dancin', give it a swirl 

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DECEMBER 29TH - End of Year Sale

* DECEMBER 29TH - End of Year Sale

Hopefully it's not annoying that most of my latest posts have been videos but I'm really enjoying this whole editing gig.  It also allows me to create content on a more frequent basis.  Since this will be my last post of 2016 I wanted to share something special.  This video is a sneak peak at Cacophony in Austin TX during the Neon Heaven session.  I was nervous during this first session as I had never heard my piece sung before but the singers killed it.  We ended up doing 6+ sessions with more singers but this first one really stuck with me.  If you watch until the end, you'll see me looking a bit nervous.  I hope you enjoy the beauty these singers evoke and may it bring you blessings to your ears and soul and into 2017.  Godspeed!  

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*  DECEMBER 23RD - BROKEN NOSE

Shorty after my Kaufman-inspired choral premiere I had a little accident. It's partly why I haven't posted a new blog in a while. I ended up breaking my nose in a small accident during a recreational game of basketball! So I've taken the time to lay low. During that time I started writing a chamber ensemble piece that requires the players to move in a square. It's an extension of my music in motion series. That debuts on January 19th at the Blanton Museum in Austin Texas. I also decided to take a stab at editing video since I have a lot of b-roll footage from performances in Europe and Asia. Here is my first stab. It's for my song, The 4th Moirai, off of my 2nd symphony, Neon Heaven. Check it out and let me know what you think!!

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* NOVEMBER 3RD 2016 - Immersion & Andy Kaufman 

Those who know me, know that I love Andy Kaufman and although I wasn't alive to witness his performance art, I have consumed as much as I can via YouTube and reading a plethora of stories and articles. He broke the norm and pushed the limits in his craft. I'm knee deep into my next project and at times I've wanted to hide and altogether quit. But I'm reminded that it's a process. And what fun is creating art if it lacks exploration and experimentation? 

So I basically started my own choir. It's called From Those Who Follow the Echoes. Talk about a reality show. Cancelations and ghosting galore. But the group that has committed is beautiful and the purpose is to bring people and their stories together. Our first concert is Friday November 11th at Hotel Emma in San Antonio. The choir will be spread out within the Sternewirth room in Hotel Emma with some singers up on the balcony behind the old bar and then the rest being strategically dispersed throughout the space. A small string section will be in the center with the conductor. This performance is immersive with the audience, as attendees will be sitting and standing amongst the performers. THEN...

Here's where I get Andy Kaufman-esque... We will all jump in a bus for cookies and ice cream while singing (YES a bus! donated by Renewable Republic) and shuttle to the Hays Street Bridge that over looks the Pearl and do a pop-up impromptu performance. 

So PLEASE PLEASE come and join our family, our entourage. It's going to be special.

Photos from the Immersive Music Experience at Hotel Emma! 

 

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* OCTOBER 18TH - CAN'T HOLD US BACK!!!

In celebration of "6-Pianos" being nominated for a Lonestar Emmy, David Bukstein at BUK Films put together a live film of the performance in conjunction with Chamber Orchestra of San Antonio Millennial Committee. While "6-Pianos" fell short in it's quest to win this past weekend, I'm ever grateful to KLRU-TV, Austin PBS, Chelsea Sonnen-Hernandez & Mario Troncoso for the support and collaboration. Featured in the video are conductor Alfonso Fernández Vargas and pianistsJustin Sherburn, Catherine Davis, Jeremy Holmsley, Anna Ford Larson, Aron Frank & Ben Tyler Humphreys. The two pieces I wrote for 6-pianos are titled The Fog The Fall The Rise The Return & The 6th Piano. I hope you enjoy...

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