SAKURA Premiere at Disney Hall

Donald Crockett has received a commission from New Music USA to compose a major work for the outstanding young cello quintet, SAKURA, for the 2019/20 season. The premiere of Carving an Alphabet will be on the closing concert of the Piatigorsky International Cello Festival, which is part of the Colburn Celebrity Series, in Disney Hall, Los Angeles on March 22, 2020. Stay tuned for additional details! Updates on the project are also available at the New Music USA website.


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"And The River" Consortium Commission & Premiere

"And the River", Donald Crockett's new concerto for duo pianists and chamber orchestra featuring HOCKET, premiered in May 2018 with Kaleidoscope Chamber Orchestra.

Co-commissioned by Kaleidoscope, Oberlin Conservatory, and the Aspen Music Festival, "And the River" with HOCKET travels to Oberlin in November 2018 and to the Aspen Music Festival in July 2019.



"And the River" - Excerpt 1
"And the River" - Excerpt 2

"And the River" - Excerpt 3
"And the River" - Excerpt 4

"And the River" - Excerpt 5
"And the River" - Excerpt 6

"And the River" - Excerpt 7
HIGHLIGHTS FOR SPRING/SUMMER 2018

Two commissioned premieres are on the way, with Donald Crockett hard at work on a new concerto for HOCKET piano duo in a co-commission with Kaleidoscope Chamber Orchestra, Aspen Music Festival, and the Oberlin Sinfonietta.
Here is a workshop session on the piece with Sarah Gibson and Thomas Kotcheff, aka HOCKET, as they navigate in and around a Steinway grand:


A featured work early in 2018 is Night Scenes for piano trio, which Chicago's Fifth House Ensemble has been touring in 2016/17 and 17/18, with upcoming performances at Eastman and at the Grand Teton Festival in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Night Scenes will also be featured at the Bennington Chamber Music Conference this summer at Bennington College, Vermont.

Here are sample tracks from the Night Scenes recording by Firebird Ensemble on New World Records:

Audio Excerpts: 
Mvt 1. Scatter the Barbarians - excerpt from Night Scenes
Mvt 2. The Blue Guitar
Mvt 3. Midnight Train
Mvt 4. Night Hawk

In Summer 2018, Donald Crockett returns to the Aspen Music Festival to conduct the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble for three weeks, then on to the Bennington Chamber Music Conference as Senior Composer in Residence, overseeing the composition program, working with the Resident Composers for the summer, and coaching performances of his music, including Night Scenes.

Summer 2017 Highlights

During June-August 2017, Donald Crockett appeared at five music festivals, featuring the Argus Quartet in the world premiere of String Quartet No. 4 "Traveling Symphony" commissioned by the Caramoor Festival in New York. Additional performances included the New York premiere of "Dance Concerto" at the MoMA Summer Garden Series, "Whistling in the Dark" at the Aspen Music Festival, and "Pilgrimage" for piano solo at the Atlantic Music Festival. He also presented a seminar, "Composing String Quartets", at the Bennington Chamber Music Conference in Vermont.

"Whistling in the Dark" rehearsal, Aspen Contemporary Ensemble in July 2017.

Premiere of String Quartet No. 4 "Traveling Symphony", Argus Quartet, Caramoor Music Festival, New York, July 2017


Audio Excerpts: 
String Quartet No. 4 "Traveling Symphony", excerpt 1: beginning
String Quartet No. 4 "Traveling Symphony", excerpt 2: Telling the news
String Quartet No. 4 "Traveling Symphony", excerpt 3: Light the grid
  • "Whistling in the Dark", dress rehearsal, Aspen Contemporary Ensemble, Aspen Music Festival
  • Argus Quartet rehearsal, String Quartet No. 4 "Traveling Symphony", Chicago
  • "Traveling Symphony" tech setup
  • Stage setup, "Dance Concerto", MoMA Summer Garden Series, New York
  • "Dance Concerto", New Juilliard Ensemble, Joel Sachs, conductor
  • "Dance Concerto" audience at MoMA
Click for slideshow
Orchestra

Blue Earth CD released by BMOP/sound

Our latest release brings one of our favorite bi-coastal collaborators to BMOP/sound. Composer Donald Crockett is tuned into the maze of rhythms, cycles, and energy that makes the natural world tick, and has an otherworldly talent at turning those nuances into orchestral music that bursts with vibrancy and motion.

The disc opens with Wedge, inspired by surf off of Newport Beach, California, and full of the beautiful, fluid power of the ocean. Blue Earth frames the intimate eloquence of solo voices with the full-blown grandeur of a symphonic work, its inspiration the quiet intelligence of the interlocking ecosystems of our magnificent planet. Crockett hones in on a single, personal voice in his Viola Concerto, in which violist extraordinaire Kate Vincent swoops, glides, and races through a lively, playful soundscape.

More information and track samples

KUSC interview with audio clips

American Academy of Arts and Letters citation

Donald Crockett’s music dwells in a special realm of energetic grace, subtly nuanced emotional force, and sensuous melody. From the athleticism of Wedge for orchestra, the spirited dance rhythms of the septet Whistling in the Dark, the unabashedly erotic setting of Michael Ondaatje’s The Cinnamon Peeler, the inward musings of The Falcon’s Eye for guitar, to the psychological mysteries of his opera, The Face, Donald Crockett’s work engages both his players and his audiences with its compellingly sustained beauty.

Upcoming events

Sarah Gibson Tribute Concert Thornton Edge |
October 8, 2024

Donald Crockett leads Thornton Edge in a Sarah Gibson Tribute Concert featuring three wonderful pieces by Sarah: You are still here, Soak Stain and I prefer living in color.  October 8, 7:30pm Newman Recital Hall, USC campus. 

Aspen Music Festival |
June 22 - July 15, 2024

Donald Crockett returns to the Aspen Music Festival to conduct the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble (ACE) and work with the Aspen Composition Fellows for the opening weeks of the Festival in its 75th Anniversary season.

Concerts with ACE:

June 29, Harris Concert Hall, 4:30pm: Once Upon a Time... by Jihyun Kim

July 6, Harris Concert Hall, 4:30pm: Concerto Grosso by Jessie Montgomery

July 13, Harris Concert Hall, 4:30pm: Theseus Game for large ensemble and two conductors by Harrison Birtwistle, co-conducted with Tim Weiss

Chamber Music Conference at Colgate |
July 21 - August 4, 2024

Donald Crockett returns to the Chamber Music Conference, now held at Colgate University in New York, as Senior Composer in Residence, working with Resident Composers Sarah Gibson and Carlos Simon.  The Last Possibilities of LIght, written for Conor Nelson, will receive a performance with Conor and pianist Audrey Andrist on Saturday August 3 at the Colgate University Chapel, 8pm.

'The Last Possibilities of Light' at CMC with Conor Nelson and Audrey Andrist |
August 3, 2024

Donald Crockett's piece for flute and piano, The Last Possibilities of Light, commissioned by Conor Nelson, will be performed at the Chamber Music Conference at Colgate University on August 3.

The Last Possibilities of Light, with Conor Nelson, flute and Audrey Andrist, piano, Saturday August 3, 8pm, Colgate University Chapel.

String Quartet No. 4 'Traveling Symphony' at Hear Now Festival 2024 |
April 25, 2024

Donald Crockett's String Quartet No. 4 Traveling Symphony will receive its Los Angeles premiere performance by the Lyris Quartet at this year's Hear Now Music Festival. Thursday April 25, 8pm, at 2220 ARTS + ARCHIVES in Los Angeles. Hear Now, in its 13th season, runs from April 24 - 28 this year.

Crockett Violin Concerto with David Bowlin and Thornton Edge |
April 9, 2024

Donald Crockett conducts the Los Angeles premiere of his Violin Concerto, co-commissioned by the Aspen Music Festival and Oberlin Conservatory, featuring violin soloist David Bowlin and Thornton Edge conducted by the composer. Tuesday April 9, 7:30pm, Newman Recital Hall.

Thornton Edge |
February 27, 2024

USC Thornton Edge presents a concert of wildly varied vocal music by Thornton graduate student composer/performers Timmy Peterson, V.C.R. and Anuj Bhutani, opening with the classic sinfonietta overture by Don Freund, Hard Cells, conducted by Donald Crockett. Feb 27, 7:30pm, Newman Recital Hall.

New Music for Orchestra |
February 23, 2024

Donald Crockett conducts the USC Thornton Symphony in this annual concert featuring works by our outstanding Thornton student composers.  This year features works by Gibson Mahnke, Grace Miedziak, Anuj Bhutani, Hannah Rice, Theo Strich and Erika Poh. Friday Feb 23, 7:30pm, Bovard Auditorium.

'The Last Possibilities of Light' premiere |
February 1, 2024

The Last Possibilities of LIght Ritornello-Variations for flute and piano receives its premiere performance on a faculty recital by Conor Nelson.  The work was commissioned by Conor Nelson with the support of the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate Education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison with funding from the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation.  Conor will be doing a premiere run and recording of the work during the 23/24 season and beyond. University of Wisconsin-Madison, Thursday February 1. 

More information about events