mutterings; pontifications; humblebrags

04.24.22
CONDUCTING ‘LAW OF MOSAICS’ AT NEW YORK CITY BALLET

I am conducting my 2013 piece Law of Mosaics in five performances with the New York City Ballet Orchestra, for a stunning new dance by Pam Tanowitz, at the old State Theatre in Lincoln Center. Can’t tell you how thrilling it is to be in that pit in Lincoln Center. It’s a huge honor to be working with all these people in this setting, and Pam’s work is very moving. There’s also choreography to works by Caroline Shaw and Wayne Shorter on the program.

06.11.21
’PLACE’ A PULITZER FINALIST

Place, my piece with Saul Williams and Patricia McGregor was named a finalist for the 2021 Pulitzer Prize in Music. This piece came together as a result of a massive undertaking by a huge creative team that I’m proud to have worked with. More about the collaborative process of Place, as well as access to all audio and video from the piece, here.

Huge congrats to Tania Leon whose orchestral work Stride won this year, as well as to the legendary jazz composer/conductor Maria Schneider whose thorny and lyrical work Data Lords was also named as a finalist.

11.29.20
’PLACE’ NOMINATED FOR TWO GRAMMIES

Place has been nominated for two 2021 GRAMMY Awards! I was so thrilled and surprised to learn about this, and am so proud of Saul Williams, Patricia McGregor and the whole team.

We've been nominated in two categories:

Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance (a recognition I am stoked to share with the entire ensemble on the album) and Best Contemporary Classical Composition.

GRAMMY Ceremonies take place on January 31! Place is available from New Amsterdam Records, and with any luck the Los Angeles Philharmonic will present the West Coast premiere as soon as in-person performances are allowed again.

11.21.19
’IN YOUR MOUTH’ PRESENTED AT WALKER ART CENTER

The poetry of Dorothea Lasky makes me feel all sorts of things. I thought that maybe her words could help me express a part of myself I was repressing or minimizing, so I started setting her words to music, and then I couldn’t stop. In Your Mouth is a collection of 12 of these songs, performed by myself and a band of 5 musicians, that premieres tonight at the Walker Art Center. Daniel Fish directs and the mesmerizing visual artist Rachel Perry will be creating a work live on stage, with video design by Josh Higgason. After our preview of this material at the Resonant Bodies Festival in New York, I’m ready to present this full piece for an audience here in Minneapolis.

04.20.18
'SOUND FROM THE BENCH' A PULITZER FINALIST

I'm so thrilled that Sound From the Bench, my piece with poet Jena Osman, was named as a finalist for the 2018 Pulitzer Prize. Everyone put so much into this project, from the incredible singers of The Crossing and Volti, conductors Donald Nally and Robert Geary who commissioned the work, to Taylor Levine, James Moore and Ron Wiltrout who played their instruments with absolute ferocity throughout the process, to Nick Tipp who produced our album for Cantaloupe Music. And as added bonus, I had the extreme honor of being included on that list with this year's Pulitzer winner, one of my favorite living musical artists Kendrick Lamar. It was also fun to be interviewed by Slate about my opinion (!) of K.Dot's music and his newfound status as a Pulitzer recipient -- read that article here.

INSTA