Dear Friends,
It’s officially summer (in this hemisphere,) and I hope that you have many wonderful activities lined up for a refreshing and productive season. For those of you in deep mid-winter, you have both my sympathy and rather a lot of envy as my thermometer heads toward 100F.
I have two new music projects to announce, and I’m very excited about both of them. Firstly, Verallen Kleinhenz, director of the renowned Albuquerque Civic Chorus, has commissioned a piece celebrating the 100th anniversary of New Mexico Statehood which will be performed on tour throughout 2012. Secondly, I have been asked to write several songs for The Mystery of the Cold, Wet Nose, an inter-generational musical with book and lyrics by Linda Bairstow. This project of the Animal Advocates of the First Unitarian Church in Albuquerque and their supporters is scheduled to premiere in April 2012. As with most artists, it always seems to be feast or famine, and I’m blessed to be enjoying a feast of compositional work at the moment.
Many of you are familiar with my OASIS classes, but I wanted to let you know that I have two four-week series presentations beginning in July for the Osher Lifelong Learning Foundation. For the first series I’ll be giving a class on the music of Colonial America (UNM campus) and the second will be entitled Rock ‘n Roll Renaissance, exploring the work of a surprising number of rock and pop musicians who also write classical music (Bernalillo at Del Webb Alegria). Both classes still have openings, so I hope to see some of you there!
In addition, there’s still time to sign up for the July session of For the Love of Music at the New Mexico School of Music, Nob Hill Campus. This light-hearted introduction to music history and appreciation is designed to emphasise the enduring importance of music in the world and to help students acquire a deeper understanding of music in general. We’re going to have a lot of fun, and I’m really looking forward to the class! If you’re interested in joining us, please call the NMSM Office on 505.266.3474.
In other news: Bonnilyn Neyens wrote to tell me that she performed my arrangement of Finlandia on Memorial Day weekend at both the First Christian Church of Ft Madison, Iowa and St Martha’s Catholic Church of Wayland, Missouri . . . I was happy to receive a congratulatory note from Marquis celebrating 10 years of my biography being listed in various publications, including Who’s Who in America and Who’s Who in the World . . . and last (but certainly not least!) I am thrilled to have received a copy of Australian composer Tim Fatchen’s new CD Dark Sparkles, which I will be reviewing on my blog. I intend to review one new album each month as I get my blog up and running again, so I hope that this will be the first of many.
See you next month!
Follow your heart,
Jane
