2019 was quite an amazing year! I’ve set a personal record for the amount of work that I produced, which means a lot to me since balancing composing along with other work continues to be a challenge over the years. But I am embracing the journey and cherishing progress, not perfection!
I completed six pieces last year, including an orchestra piece, The Castle Upon Crystal Shores, which I had been composing on and off since the spring of 2016. This project was the first work I began to tackle after my unintentional hiatus (called “life”) when I basically stopped writing after graduation minus jotting down a few short lines of ideas here and there that didn’t really grow into anything else. I’m pretty thrilled to have the Buffalo Philharmonic read this piece as part of the American Composers Orchestra Earshot readings at the end of this month!
Here are all of the other works that I finished last year, all of which were performed and/or recorded:
Obsidian, rippled in moonlight, gleams – a piano quintet for the Salastina Music Society
The Enigma of the Twilight Stallion – a multi-level youth orchestra piece for an El Sistema program in San Jacinto, CA
type – an open instrumentation, aleatoric piece for the PHAZE Ensemble (recording and info page coming soon)
hustle – a (traditionally-notated) groovy work for the PHAZE Ensemble
Fire Season – a depiction of autumn in SoCal for the Salastina Music Society
Looking forward to all that 2020 has to offer! My next project is a work for flute and guitar for Ciyadh Wells of the Margins Guitar Collective, an organization devoted to commissioning and performing new works for classical guitar. They held their inaugural concert on December 1st of last year. Stay tuned, and subscribe to my newsletter for additional updates!
Cheers!
-Sakari
Sakari Dixon Vanderveer 