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Draw Me the Sun, written for Alarm Will Sound, has been named a finalist in the 2020 Moscow Conservatory New Classics Competition! The gala concert and announcement of the winners is scheduled for November 15. More information on the competition and the concert here, and I’ll update this space with a link to any live streams or new, exciting news. More info about Draw Me the Sun can be found on the Symphonic/Large Ensemble page. Stay tuned!

P.S. Don’t miss the incredible music of my buddy Matt Browne, another finalist!

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The incomparable University of Nebraska-Lincoln Symphony Orchestra, directed by my colleague and inspired composer/conductor Tyler White, premieres my new work for orchestra, Promise Me You Won’t Believe A Single Word, this afternoon at 3pm CT in Kimball Recital Hall on my home turf at the Glenn Korff School of Music! $5/$3 in person, or hear the live webcast by visiting music.unl.edu. There’s a lot more great chances to hear my work alongside great musicians and great friend coming up – keep an eye on this space, or follow me on social media at ‘gregsimonmusic’ for more information.

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The brilliant Andrew Allen and Gordon Hicken of Rogue Two, who commissioned Step Inside for soprano EQ146.jpgsax and marimba, have just released their tremendous first album! The aptly-named Step Inside features the premiere recording of the same piece, alongside other amazing music by composer-friends Jesse Jones, Jay Batzner, and many others. Makes a terrific stocking stuffer for your favorite new music fan! Get it now via digital download here — CD’s available for order soon!

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BESSIE_JONES,_A_GOSPEL_SINGER,_LIVES_ON_ST._SIMON'S_ISLAND_-_NARA_-_546990 (1).jpg
Bessie Jones, 1973 (photo public domain, U.S.)

Every once in a while, I compose music for electronics which uses as its source American field recordings. These can include folk songs, narratives, or “found” sounds from somewhere in American life. I use these sources as beginning points, entering into a free dialogue with them and the stories they tell about what it means — and has meant — to be an American and to be an American artist. These pieces are loosely organized into an ongoing project which I call Dead Cowboys. My newest musical offering has its beginnings in the legendary American singer and storyteller Bessie Jones. In the source audio, Bessie is talking with sonic historian Alan Lomax and his wife, Antoinette Marchand. This entry into the Dead Cowboys series is entitled Pray For Rain. 

Special thanks for this project’s completion goes to the Lomax archives at the Association for Cultural Equity, an invaluable resource for hidden sounds from the American past. Thanks also to Hunter Ewen for his help smoothing out the technical edges (Hunter is a terrific electronic composer in his own right — check out his website and see for yourself).

Dead Cowboys: Pray For Rain is available below via Soundcloud, and will be listed on gregsimonmusic.com shortly. Like everything else in my output, derivative works of Dead Cowboys are licensed under Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0. For direct download or offline use, contact me directly.

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Giovanni Santos – a great conductor, tremendous friend, and the original commissioner of For Angels, Slow Ascending – is taking his wind ensemble at La Sierra University to Europe this summer, and on Saturday, March 11 they’ll be holding a fundraising concert to help them get there. Featuring a ton of great music, and including For Angels, Slow Ascending in the original maestro’s hands. This is one not to miss!

7pm, $15-$10-$5. Tickets and more here.

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As the calendar turns to 2017, I’ll be doing some small tweaks and redesigns to this space. Mostly cosmetic, which means you can still do all your favorite GSM things (listen, view, and purchase music by visiting the Music page, and find me on Twitter and Linkedin by visiting the homepage) uninterrupted. If you notice that something is missing or broken, don’t hesitate to let me know by using the Contact function, and I’ll get in touch with you right away.

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EQ142.jpgThe University of Michigan Chamber Choir has just released their drop-dead gorgeous album White Hurricane, available on Equilibrium records and for download here. In addition to some really fantastic music by my friends Kristin Kuster and Daniel Knaggs, they offer a stunning recording of my piece Two Lorca Songs. Makes a great belated Christmas present for the choral music fan in your life, and makes even better New Year listening. Order from Equilibrium above, from Amazon here, or find it on Google Play and Spotify!

 

 

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Yes, this place has been awfully quiet for interminably long. As it turns out, writing a doctoral dissertation takes a lot of time. But there are some exciting things in the works, and during my first summer of DOCTOR-HOOD I plan to be spending a lot more time here! Remember that you can keep up with my day to day by following me on Twitter.

In the meantime, a humble offering: a performance by the Georgia Tech concert band, dir. Chaowen Ting, of For Angels, Slow Ascending – enjoy!

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After being gifted with a performance for the record books by Alarm Will Sound at the Mizzou International Composers’ Festival, I was recruited to write a profile and recap of the Festival for my dream publication, New Music Box! You can check out my debut for them here. It’s full of pictures from the field at MICF, samples of the incredible music featured at this year’s festival (sorry, no Draw Me the Sun quite yet), and the same questionable standard of writing you can find on this blog. Enjoy!