Scott Steele

Many of my friends are composers. Music making is, for many of us, a communal activity. I want to take a moment to celebrate their accomplishments. Below you will find information on upcoming performances of their music. Please feel free to explore the numerous links and discover their music.

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February 3, percussionist Lisa Pegher will perform Patrick Burke’s  Saturn Girl at the Percussion Penthouse in NYC. Her repertoire also includes music by Joe Sheehan and Matthew Rosenblum.

Michael Mizrahi will perform Patrick’s solo piano work Missing Piece on the “MidAmerican Center for Contemporary Music” series at Bowling Green on February 16. The work responds to Beethoven’s “Appassionata” sonata. Refreshingly, he treats his relationship with Beethoven not as a commentary or competition. Rather, he chooses to respond to Beethoven’s work out of fondness for the music itself. Visit Patrick’s blog to read more about his approach to the piece.

Christine Burke (not related to Patrick) was featured on Composer’s Circle last week. The site serves composers by featuring one per day. (I was featured back in September.) Christine’s recording has been archived HERE. The piece was recorded this past summer in Italy at the soundScape festival.

On February 3, Mark Fromm‘s Steel, Slag, and Silicon will be premiered by the University Pittsburgh Orchestra conducted by Roger Zahab. Mark  recently started a publishing company, Pierrot Plus, with composer John Arrigo-Nelson.

Alia Musica Pittsburgh will host a recital by clarinetist Gleb Kanasevich on February 7th. It will feature music by Federico Garcia and Kerrith Livingood.

An up-and-coming force in the band world, Derek Jenkin will have his piece We Seven performed by the Arkansas Wind Symphony on February 24. It has been performed by the Northern Arizona Wind Symphony and the University of Missouri-Kansas City Wind Ensemble. Most recently it received astronaut John Glenn‘s stamp of approval. The piece was inspired by the Mercury Seven.

Cody Kauhl is completing a month-long residency at the Brush Creek Ranch in Wyoming. Much of Cody’s recent work has focused on multimedia projects. In 2014 he was awarded an Inspiration Grant. This past weekend his song cycle Excursis was performed at the FSU New Music Festival.

Ted King-Smith was also featured on the FSU program. Ted has been an active member of the Mnemosyne Quartet along with Russell Thorpe, Michael Miller, and Eli Houghland. He will be having performances this spring in Arkadelphia and Seattle as well.

Earlier today my friend Tim Beck launched an updated website. A film composer living in L.A., he is currently in negotiations for two new projects this month.

Chen Yi, Zhou Long, Zhou Jing, Kay He, and Wang Amao are featured on a newly released recording by clarinetist Jun Qian. The CD can be found on Albany records and is titled East Meets West II. I can be heard paying percussion on Amao’s piece, The Feeble Breeze, The Sullen Spring. Jun Qian’s next recording project, West Meet East will feature my own Su Counterpoint. You can listen to Su Counterpoint at: https://soundcloud.com/scottsteele/su-counterpoint