Performance blog: Seventh Annual Glenn Glasow Memorial Concert - May 18, 2009

This past Monday, May 18th, was the Seventh Annual Glenn Glasow Memorial Concert at California State University, East Bay (Hayward Campus).  The annual Glenn Glasow concert is the CSUEB faculty and alumni composers concert.  At this concert Philip Santos performed my piece Glimpses of the Moon (2001) for violin.  This was my first non-Festival of Contemporary Music performance in a few years.  This was also my first acoustic performance at a concert since the 4th Annual Festival of Contemporary Music on August 24, 2006, where Richard Lee masterfully performed my solo bass trombone piece, Incursion (2002).  My cello piece Romance (2008) was performed at my wedding last year, but that was not a concert.

I first learned about the performance on March 5, 2009 when my former instructor, now friend, Jeffery Miller emailed me to tell me about the inclusion of my piece on the concert.  Needless to say I was excited for the opportunity to have this piece performed again.  This was only the second performance of the entire piece.  The first took place on April 3, 2004 at the SCI National Student Conference.  Régine J. MontésBarrow performed my piece that day.  The performance was decent, but I felt that she did not understand the concept of the piece.  As a result the phrasing was wrong and she did not give the piece a direction.  While I was glad to have Régine's performance, I wanted to have this piece performed again to get a better quality performance.  In addition, I received my Bachelor of Arts in Music from CSU East Bay (then CSU Hayward) so this performance was a chance for me to return to my alma mater and show them what I have been up to.

This concert was an amazing experience.  There was a lot of great music and awesome performances that night.  Also on the program was Arise My Love, and Come Away by Jean McKinley, Three Rivers by John Hildago, Veni Sancte Spiritus by Frank La Rocca and String Quartet no. 3 by Giancarlo Aquilanti.

Philip Santos did a wonderful job with my piece.  It is a very difficult piece to put together and perform.  He did a masterful job doing so.  I am fortunate that he has agreed to perform this piece again on August 22 at the 7th Annual Festival of Contemporary Music.  He and I will have the opportunity to work some more on this piece together and the performance will be even better.

I have to say that I was honored to be apart of this concert.  I want to express my deepest gratitude and thanks to Jeffery Miller, Frank La Rocca and Composer's, Inc. for including me in this concert and for putting on an amazing show.  To have my music performed alongside these other works is truly a blessing.