The first performance of my original music in my new town! Marble and Glass is performed by the UNL Jazz Orchestra (with me at the helm) this Wednesday night, April 26 at 7:30pm! Kimball Recital Hall – admission is free. See you there!
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Performing with the UNL Faculty Jazz Ensemble (plus livestream!)
Featuring standards and originals, including a tune or two of mine! 7:30pm, Westbrook Music Building 119 at UNL, free admission.
Non-Lincolners: this event is livestreamed! View the stream for free at http://arts.unl.edu/music/webcasts.
Song Title Flash Fiction, Vol. 3
Every once in a while, in order to break the creative blocks, I write. My favorite project is to ask friends and colleagues for the titles of their favorite songs, promising to use them as the titles for new flash fiction (very short stories, only a few hundred words in length) and post the results here. Part exercise in new artistic directions, part homage to Mr. Tambourine Man, mostly an effort to fill this space with things worth reading.
I’m often working on these little flash stories behind the scenes, so if you have a suggestion for a title, share it on Twitter @gregsimonmusic, or email me using the Contact page. Here’s the third volume of song title flash fiction, with due credit to their respective sources. If you’re curious to hear the songs behind the titles, just click the artist names.
La Sierra University Wind Ensemble performs ‘For Angels, Slow Ascending’
Directed by Giovanni Santos, the extraordinary conductor who commissioned the work. This is a fundraising concert for LSU’s European tour this summer. Tickets and more here.
Just Announced – ‘For Angels, Slow Ascending’ at La Sierra University!
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.
Sophia Han premieres ‘Atacameños’ for solo violin – Florida State University
Atacameños, commissioned by Sophia Han, receives its premiere performance on her second doctoral recital. 7:30pm in Longmire Recital Hall – free admission.
Pardon Our Dust
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.
UM Chamber Choir’s new album out now!
The 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!
The “Me” Generation: Kevin Volans and Privilege in New Music
There are few things that get under my skin more than the popular stereotype of the millennial. You know the one: lazy, entitled, constantly staring at the screen to see if they can find trigger warnings in their politically correct Facebooks. It’s a lazy, facile, and (frankly) unbelievably stupid characterization of a vague collection of individuals that, when examined more closely, doesn’t really exist. And yet it’s pervasive in our culture here and internationally, mostly perpetuated by relevance trolls or writers who have literally nothing else to write about but often easily seen in social networks and casual conversation, even among millennials themselves. If you are a millennial (like me), you see it in boldface all around you. You’re too sensitive. You’re lazy and coddled. You’re entitled.
Monday was a red-letter day; my frustration with this stereotypical garbage finally intersected with the new music community. (more…)
Jon Kratzer Performs “Way Through the Woods” at UMKC
Jon performs The Way Through the Woods for trumpet and electronics on his Master’s recital at the University of Missouri, Kansas City. More information about Jon at http://jonkratzer.com/ – what a player! 5:00pm, Central United Methodist Church, Kansas City, MO.
