A number of people have asked about my current projects. Ordered by deadline, they are:
1. Finish quintet for Erik Ohlson’s recital
2. Finish solo-line viola piece for Ellen Lewis’ production
3. Complete “Stone House” opera piano reduction/piano-vocal edition to be sent to CalArts
4. Sketch string orchestra piece for Palo Alto Chamber Orchestra
5. Set Rita Perl texts for Timur Bekbosunov’s fall recital
6. Set Kipling text for Peter Schueller’s recital
7. Write wind ensemble piece with text, soloists incl. Courtney Huffman
Beyond this, there are several music theatre collaborations in the works (not to be confused with musical theatre), as well as some vocal pieces and a double violin concerto.
One of my latest projects is writing a piece for Erik Ohlson’s senior percussion recital. I’m writing a quintet (cl, tbn, perc— vib, toms, snr, cymb— pno, cb). Sketching resulted in the generation of a “scale” and I’m building the piece around a motive derived from these pitches. It’s going slower than I would have liked; nevertheless, I’m determined to have a draft completed by Tuesday afternoon. It’s incredibly hot right now and my excuse for an AC unit is not quite up to snuff. Time to buy more fans to mount in precarious places.
Welcome to the new GeoffreyPopeMusic.com! I finally decided to change the site— a large part of which is the inclusion of this message board space— because I hadn’t updated in almost a year.
And what a year it has been!
The Starving Composers’ Ensemble has continued to prosper; in November, we played our most ambitious program (three pieces for different large ensemble configurations), and in March we managed to pull off a challenging aleatoric piece for winds and percussion in a single rehearsal.
For me, most notable, was the chamber opera experience. “The Stone House,” commissioned by the Chamber Opera of USC, was completed with weeks to spare, produced on a shoestring budget, sung by generous vocalists, and played by a fabulous chamber ensemble. Although the production was not fully-staged, our “concert staging” with projected visuals served its purpose. I have never worked so intensely on [so long] a piece with as many logistical obstacles involved and as challenging an academic course-load. I’m thankful for everyone who gave me the opportunity, and am making some revisions in preparation for publication and distribution!
I am looking forward to a productive summer of composing in Los Angeles. Please leave me messages, etc. I will post often!
Cheers,
Geoffrey
