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. 

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

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

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

Happy summer, friends! 

I'm excited to share some audio with you from the world premiere of Mass for Freedom, this past April 13 in Oakland: 

I've included the first and last movements (Kyrie and Agnus Dei), along with the text. While you're there, check out the great sneak-peek video if you haven't seen it already.

This is a live recording of a first performance, so there are some inevitable bobbles along the way. But these 120-or-so musicians pulled together some pretty tricky music pretty beautifully, thanks to a lot of hard work and the firm direction of Maestra Lynne Morrow. 

I miss working on it and hanging out with all those great musicians. The good news is that Lynne has big plans for the piece in 2020: the Mass is slated to go on tour with the Oakland Symphony Chorus next summer, with plans for performances in southern cities that were significant to the Civil Rights movement (think Selma) as well as Washington, D.C. 

In upcoming posts I'll be sharing other recent premieres: Accord Treble Choir ("New England Song") and International Orange Chorale ("O Child"). 

Only three-and-a-half weeks until the Oakland Symphony Chorus premieres Mass for Freedom!
Saturday April 13, 8:00pm at the First Congregational Church of Oakland. 

​Hope to see you there. 

Mass for Freedom re-explores the sacred roots of five African-American spirituals that became anthems of protest during the Civil Rights movement. Scored for large mixed chorus and a 24-piece chamber orchestra, the work combines the spirituals with text from the Latin Mass Ordinary (in English translation) and additional words by a certain Michael T. Roberts, M.M., A.B., D.A. 

Advance tickets are $20. All seating is general admission. 

Oakland Symphony Chorus Spring Concert
Lynne Morrow, director
Saturday, April 13, 2019, 8:00pm
First Congregational Church
2501 Harrison St. 
Oakland, CA 

Check out Accord Treble Choir premiering my setting of Walt Whitman's "To Soar in Freedom and in Fullness of Power," June 9 in New York City. (It's less than 3 minutes.)

They nailed it. More premieres below!