Apologies, newsletter recipients: in order to hear the Fog Theme video and recording I alluded to in my last message, you need to view the original post on my website. 

[You see, the way my mailing list works is: I make a blog post on my website, then that blog post automatically goes out to you, my loyal subscribers. And for whatever reason, not all of the content translates. Sorry for the inconvenience! And thanks for listening.]

You may have noticed: the pandemic put a lot of stuff on hold. That was certainly true in the music realm, where many performances were cancelled and many projects were shelved—often indefinitely. 

In March 2020 I wrote this post about a commission I was working on for a chamber trio called Noyo Consort, fronted by trombonist Don Benham (whom I’d met through the Mass for Freedom performance with the Oakland Symphony). I wrote about how the piece had blocked me over and over again, but that I’d finally hit on an idea I felt was working well, and the finish was “just over the next rise.” 

Yeah. March 2020. The premiere had been scheduled for summer 2020. I did manage to finish the piece, but a summer 2020 premiere? Not so much. 

For a while I wasn’t sure it would ever happen, but I’m happy to report that the stars did align at last! Noyo Consort performed their outstanding recital on April 24 in Mendocino, CA, part of the Opus Concert Series through Symphony of the Redwoods. 

​The above video is just a piece of Fog Theme, from a rehearsal I attended. If you have 6 minutes and 39 seconds of listening time, here is a complete recording: 

Fog Theme was inspired by Mendocino itself, and the beautiful Northern California coast it’s perched upon. That promising idea I’d alluded to in my March 2020 post—after months of struggling with how to handle the combo of flute, trombone, and piano—was thinking of those instruments as layers, like the marine layer we experience here on the coast when the fog rolls in: sea, fog, sky. Each seemingly on its own plane, but connected at every moment and constantly interacting, shifting, intertwining. I imagined a day in Mendocino that dawns with a thick layer of fog, opens to bright sunshine as the fog burns away, then ends with the fog rolling back in for the night. 

I was there for the concert with Mindy and Nyx (who helped hand out programs!), and it was truly a delight to experience this Mendocino-inspired music with a Mendocino audience. Along with Don Benham, flutist Mindy Rosenfeld and pianist Jason Kirkman put heart and soul into the piece, and nailed it. 

See that church? The concert was right next to it, in Preston Hall. The views: not too shabby. 

Come out or tune in this Saturday, December 18 at 7:30pm PST to hear International Orange Chorale sing my latest, Come to Us in Water. 

IOC will be live-streaming the concert on Facebook! Facebook registration is not required. For you East-coasters who would prefer not to burn the midnight choral oil, I am told the concert video will be made available at a future date. 

Live concert-goers: Mindy and I will see you at St. Marks' Lutheran, 1111 O'Farrell Street, San Francisco! Please note that masks and proof of Covid vaccination are required to attend the concert. (Says the guy who forgot to bring his card to the Berkeley concert and had to drive home to get it. #embarrassing)

I can tell you, it really was a delight to hear live singing again at the December 4 concert. Kind of surreal, actually. Surreal in a good way. What I mean is: you should come if you can. 

Live Concert Details
Live Stream Details

If you missed my interview on the In Unison podcast, you can find it here. We talk all about Come to Us in Water, past choral work like O Child, A Prayer in Spring, and Cast Thy Bread Upon the Waters, my compositional origin story, what it means to be a Druid, and how I ended up with hotmike.com as my website. 

Merry Christmas, Joyous Solstice, and Happy belated Hanukkah to all! 

The Upcoming Concerts page on my website was blank for a long time. But I'm pleased to announce that the International Orange Chorale of San Francisco, with whom I have been composer-in-residence since before Covid was a thing (you might remember them as the Zoom choir), will be premiering my newest piece, Come to Us in Water, in two concerts this December:

Saturday, December 4, 7:30pm at Christ Church in Berkeley, CA
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Saturday, December 18, 7:30pm at St. Mark's Lutheran Church in San Francisco, CA

When the singers of Sunset and Aloha high schools in the Portland, Oregon area signed up for choir, they probably didn’t expect to be asked to sing in Anglo-Saxon, the distant ancestor of modern English. I’m guessing the same goes for director Chris Rust when he invited me to write a piece for his students to sing virtually, adding, “Write whatever you want.”

The fool! Little did he know that I’ve long been harboring a desire to set passages from Beowulf, the ancient epic poem that I have loved ever since taking a class in college studying Anglo-Saxon poetry in its original language. In the twenty-plus years that I have been toting around my various Beowulf translations and Anglo-Saxon grammars, I have noted many a wrinkled nose and tart reactions like, “Uh, are you reading that for fun?” 

Hey all, Happy December!

​Please join me and Dr. Lynne Morrow for a free Oakland Symphony virtual event this Friday, December 4, 3:00-3:45pm Pacific Time.

Lynne and I will discuss the Mass for Freedom, my five-movement work for chorus and orchestra that Lynne commissioned and directed with the Oakland Symphony Chorus last year. I'll play some original recordings of the five spirituals that form the core of the work, and talk about why I was inspired by these particular songs. 

We’ll end with a video showing of the full premiere performance, so if you weren’t able to make the concert, I especially hope you'll check it out! There will be some Q&A afterward. 

Just RSVP here for a link to the Zoom. 

​I'm excited to relive the awesome experience of writing and premiering this work. Hope to see you there! 

Mike

Have you heard? Today’s a pretty important day. Everyone is feeling pretty anxious. I know I am. And yet, unless you are one of those fantastic people still making calls and sending texts to get out the vote (thank you, people), there’s really nothing election-related to do today. No news worth consuming until later tonight (and maybe not even then). 

So instead, I invite you to consume some beauty. It’s delicious, and good for you too. I’d like to share a few pieces of music (not mine) that never fail to stir my soul. I have been listening to these, usually late at night, when I feel my spirit getting a little parched. The next time you feel the itch to read another poll, or article about “How Trump can still win,” perhaps you can listen to one of these instead. 

Histoire du tango: Bordello 1900, by Astor Piazzolla (3.5 minutes)
Listen on YouTube
Listen in Apple Music
Family-friendly and Safe For Work, despite the title. This piece single-handedly got me excited about learning classical guitar. I’ve been listening to it for twenty-five years and never get tired of it. If you have time, listen to all four movements. 

Beau soir, by Claude Debussy (3 minutes)
Listen on YouTube
Listen in Apple Music
A beautiful arrangement for violin and piano of this gorgeous song by one of my favorite composers. It conveys a welter of emotions that particularly speaks to me right now, but ultimately it is just a magnificent three minutes of music. 

Is Any Afflicted, by William Billings (1.75 minutes)
​Listen on YouTube
​Listen in Apple Music
In honor of America, here is a quick choral piece by our finest composer of the Revolutionary era. The melancholy of the title lasts for about five seconds; the rest is decidedly chipper. The refrain, “singing and making melody,” is one you’ll be happy to have stuck in your head. 

Petite suite: Cortège, by Claude Debussy (3 minutes)
Listen on YouTube
Listen in Apple Music
Turns out I really like Debussy, and this piece for piano-four-hands is a gem. Again, listen to all four movements if you have time. 

Even if you don’t listen to these pieces, I hope you’ll take some time today to listen to any music you love!

With you in spirit and in unity,
Mike

There’s too much going on right now. What this world needs is a video of singers meeting virtually to sing about virtual meetings. 

Please enjoy Zoom, my first official piece as composer-in-residence with San Francisco’s International Orange Chorale. (It’s three-and-a-half minutes long, and there are lyrics in the video description.)

The planned June concerts did not happen, obviously. But I did have a nice Zoom chat with the choir (and two other composers on the program) about the music they had been planning to perform. And in the ensuing conversation I found myself talking about how it can be tough for us as choral composers to write music that really speaks to the moment, because for legal reasons we tend to use public domain text that is, by necessity, old. 

As I signed off the call, I thought: well, of course we can always write our own text. I could do that again. But what to write about...?

You never know what's going to bubble up. I must have needed some levity in my life; at a time when everything feels really, super serious, Zoom is not. But there is a genuine message here: we are getting through all of this together, one day at a time. We couldn’t possibly do it alone. So isn’t it really, really amazing that we have some tools to help us carry on with our business and be with our loved ones whenever we want, even if we are far away? My twice-weekly Zoom chats (and online card games) with my brother in Tennessee and my dad in Florida have helped keep me afloat these past seven months. That’s something to sing about. And I’m really lucky to have this amazing choir to do the singing for me. 

Hurrah for International Orange Chorale, and hurrah for all of you. Hope everybody’s staying safe in these uncertain times. 

Lots of love,
Mike