Avaloch at National Sawdust

Diagonal!

Still reeling from the awesome-sauce that was Avaloch Farm Music Institute's musical celebration at National Sawdust. We had a great evening of performances featuring ensembles who've worked at Avaloch and pieces made there.  

Thanks to everyone who performed, and to Andy Akiho, Hannah Collins and everyone else who made this event a reality. aTonal Hits, Aizuri Quartet, the Sebastians, Loadbang, Longleash, and Marika Hughes: you all rock! 

Tauber, Akiho, New Morse Code.  Our Blue Period

Practice Makes Perfect

Remember folks, use a metronome!

A video posted by Mike Compitello (@comp.y.tello) on Jan 27, 2016 at 9:36pm PST

Back

Back from a fantastic month in Hong Kong and Hawaii, and rearing to get to work again.

Site updates (including dates, new media, etc) coming soon.  In the meantime, rest assured I am practicing…

Come to Avaloch for the music, stay for the blueberries 

AND thinking about Avaloch Farm's New Music Initiative, a fantastic program for composer/performer collaboration that needs YOUR creative work to stay a dynamic resource! Apps are due Feb 15!

 

PASIC

Had a blast experiencing this year's PASIC (that's Percussive Arts Society International Convention for you non-percussionists) last week in San Antonio.  In addition to catching up with all my percussion friends, heroes and frenemies from around the world, I had the honor of sharing the stage with Gwen Dease, Ji Hye Jung, and Paul Fadoul as part of a keyboard showcase concert featuring music for percussion and…not-percussion! Hannah and I played Andy Akho's 21, and we were treated some some great Klatzow from Ji Hye and Eli Lara, some great marimba/trombone/bass music from Gwen and cohorts, and Lawler/Fadoul's sweet new Roshanne Etezady preludes.  

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Big Screen, small audience! 

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Look ma!

Other highlights: Percussion at Princeton's amazing booth—I bought a ton of music—seeing Vic Caccese shill for Sandbox Percussion's new NYU summer program (apply!), and indulging my inner high-school drumline fanboy. Thanks to the great people at Vic Firth and Zildjian for their support.  Yay percussion!

Pre-Show Banner Selfie!

Breath, Contained

I'm happy to share a new video of Tonia Ko'sBreath, Contained! We were fortunate to be able to take over the Sibley Dome at Cornell for a show with always-astounding Sandbox Percussion, pairing Tonia's work for bubble wrap and electronics with Mark Applebaum's Straitjacket and Reich's Music for Pieces of Wood. Thanks for David Parks for the great video. Tonia has been drawing on and playing  transparent surfaces for some time, but the quintet version of Breath, Contained is her biggest work so far.  The five of us each play a selection of bubble wraps, each of which is capable of generating a multutude of squeaks,squawks, rustles, taps.  After exploring these sounds with a few studies for large and small bubbles (and a solo version of the piece, which I've been performing for some time), Tonia created a new set of electronics, which manipulate our sound in real time through a panoply of filters, resonators, and other electronic devices.  Tonia's studies for large and small bubbles. If that weren't enough, Tonia made a creative and beautiful graphic score to guide us:

Slip-Slidin' Away

I'm super proud to be a part of this amazing piece, and can't wait to see where Tonia takes it.  In the meantime, stay tuned for video of Straitjacket…