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.

Opera

THE FACE, Donald Crockett’s chamber opera, premieres in Los Angeles and Boston to Critical Acclaim.

The music is a treasure chest of sounds, intimate effects and bursts of lyrical beauty which sometimes provide background and often participate in the musical dialogue; the book delivers poetry that travels along synapses of the English language directly into private recesses of the heart. The production has a great sense of physical proportion and uses its simple set of materials even on a sparse stage to very great effect. — Huffington Post

More information at http://www.thefaceopera.com.

Photos:

  • The Face — rehearsal
  • The Face — rehearsal
  • The Face — rehearsal
  • The Face — rehearsal
  • The Face — rehearsal
Click for slideshow

Upcoming events

'Fanfare Studies' featured on Thibaut Garcia international tour |
2016 - 2017 season

This season, Guitar Foundation of America 2015 International Competition first prize winner Thibaut Garcia is performing Donald Crockett's Fanfare Studies -  commissioned as the set piece for the competition held in Oklahoma City in June 2015 - on a 60-concert international tour.  Thibaut Garcia's performance of Fanfare Studies at the competition finals was, in a word, phenomenal.  

'Night Scenes' on Fifth House Ensemble's touring season |
2016 - 2017 season

Donald Crockett's piano trio, Night Scenes, will be featured in the touring repertory of Chicago's outstanding new music group, Fifth House Ensemble, during its 2016-17 concert season.
Upcoming performances: April 3, Carolina Strings Academy, Aiken, SC; April 8, Elastic Arts in Chicago; April 21, PianoForte in Chicago

Thornton Edge |
April 12, 2017

Donald Crockett leads Thornton Edge in music by Malcolm J. Singer (Bush Boogie), and Joan Tower (Noon Dance).  Also on the program is music by Jennifer Higdon and James Matheson. Newman Recital Hall, USC campus, 7:30 pm.

ACE at the Aspen Music Festival |
June 25 - July 16, 2017

Donald Crockett returns to the Aspen Music Festival and School in Summer 2017 to lead the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble (ACE) for the first three weeks of the festival in concerts and reading sessions.  ACE performs on the weekly Chamber Music concerts in Harris Hall at 4pm.

July 1 - Polish Folk Songs by Lee Hyla

July 8 - Whistling in the Dark by Donald Crockett

July 15 - Ophelia Dances Book I by Oliver Knussen

Caramoor Festival commission for a new string quartet for the Argus Quartet |
July 14, 2017

The Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts has commissioned Donald Crockett for a new string quartet (title to be determined), his fourth, on behalf of the Argus Quartet, Caramoor's 2016-17 Ernst Stiefel String Quartet-in-Residence. The new quartet will be premiered at Caramoor's 2017 Summer Season on the evening of July 14.

Atlantic Music Festival |
July 18 - 24, 2017

Donald Crockett returns to the Atlantic Music Festival, where he will be teaching AMF composition students and coaching AMF fellows in performances of his music.

Bennington Chamber Music Conference |
July 23 - August 13, 2017

Donald Crockett returns for his sixteenth season as Senior Composer in Residence with the Bennington Chamber Music Conference at Bennington College, Vermont, where he will work with Resident Composers Marc Mellits, Harold Meltzer and Susan Botti, Composition Fellows, CMC participants and performance faculty.  Visit cmceast.org for details of the 2017 conference.

More information about events