simon hutchinson

Just a reminder that I have an upcoming concert tour that is a collaboration composers and performers from the US and Korea with western and Korean tradition instruments. We’ve all been working extremely hard to subsidize our own costs of promotion and rental of space (not to mention composing and practicing), and we’re hoping to have some wonderful audiences to support our efforts.

If you are around, please check out our concerts:

in Kitakami, JAPAN,

Tokyo, JAPAN,

and Seoul, SOUTH KOREA.

From June 30th through July 10, I had a wonderful time participating in the Oregon Bach Festival Composers Symposium (OBFCS). In part this was thanks to the wonderful performers, the Fireworks Ensemble, who premiered my piece, Zephyr, for flute, electric guitar, piano, and amplified contrabass, and in part it was thanks to the wonderful participants, composers from all across the county.

Of course the energy that manifests when so many people with a similar interest gather together is thrilling, but with other interactions with composers (as with most musicians), I often feel there is a tendency toward competition, and the need to prove oneself by pointing out shortcomings in other composers’ pieces. I’m not immune to this myself, and I’m trying harder and harder to control myself (and my raging ego). The environment at the OBFCS, however, was that of cooperation, and that we, as artists, are working together to forward new music. Because of this we were able to listen to all the music presented with a less combative ear, and gain a perspective on where we are as both individuals, and as a group.

I haven’t received the recording yet, and I will post it here when I do. For the meantime, enjoy this blurry photo of me introducing my piece in Beall Hall.

Starting next fall, I will be acting as the director of the TaiHei Ensemble, a new music group in Eugene that performs works inspired by cross-cultural communication across the Pacific Rim. I’m very excited about this, as, of course, I’m fascinated by the potential of international dialog through music, and I’m interested to be working on a different end of the process of musical creation.

TaiHeiEnsemble.com

Anyway, now I’m looking to build our library of works by living composers, so I’m holding a call for scores. Please share your music with us.

Please excuse the appearance / load times of this site. I’ve just upgraded to WordPress 2.8, and it seems there are a few compatibility issues. Thanks for your patience while I iron these out.

I think I’ve gotten everything sorted out… Though it required a downgrade back to WordPress 2.7. Please let me know if discover any problems.

photo by Luke Harris

I’ve received a recording of my piece BEAM for Balinese Gamelan, premiered last month by the Pacific Rim Gamelan. This was my first “serious” piece for the ensemble, and I’m looking forward to using what I’ve learned in this piece in future projects.

beam, joist, shaft, ray, grin, radiate, disseminate

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BEAM (right click to “download file as”)

Here’s a recording from the premiere of my short piece for chamber orchestra, “hayashi,”

The title of this piece, “hayashi,” refers to the must that fills the streets of local festivals, events that draw people together in joyful celebration of their community.

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hayashi (right click to “download file as”)

The Triptych Ensemble is:
Tara Schwab, flute;
Kitty Steetle, oboe;
Nicoleen Willson, clarinet;
Joey Hartman, bassoon;
Jenifer Jaseau, alto sax;
John Dodge, horn;
Nathan Wilson, trumpet;
Ryan Chaney, trombone;
Ben Krause, piano;
Paul Owen, percussion;
Grayson Fiske, percussion;
Haley Engle, violin;
Sean O’Neal, violin;
Amanda German, viola;
Ralph Stricker-Chapman, cello;
Andrew Juul, bass.

This May 29th and 30th, ECCE (The Eugene Contemporary Chamber Ensemble) will be playing a number of pieces commissioned for collaborations between University of Oregon graduate-student composers and choreographers. This event is truly exciting as both a composer and as a bassist for ECCE.

Choreographer Marcie Mamura and I worked together to create “The Morphology of Nature in an Industrialized World” for two dancers, clarinet and percussion, which will be premiered at this event.

Both concerts will have the same program, and both concerts are FREE, thanks to support from the UO School of Music and Dance.

Here is the link to the Facebook page for the concert

I hope to see you there.