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

Steven Stucky Tribute |
October 1, 2017

Pianist Gloria Cheng will perform a set of tributes to Steven Stucky written by a host of composers close to him, including Donald Crockett's Nella Luce; Gloria and pianist Xak Bjerken will also perform works by the late composer, and dear friend, in this invitation-only event to raise funds for the Steven Stucky New Music Residency Campaign, hosted by the Cornell University Department of Music.  October 1 at 5pm in the home studio of Nancy and Mike Mooslin.

Thornton Edge plays 21st century music for voice |
October 4, 2017

Donald Crockett leads USC's new music ensemble, Thornton Edge, in a program devoted to vocal music from the early third millennium.  Featured are Of Being Is A Bird by Augusta Read Thomas, Only the Words Themselves Mean What They Say by Kate Soper, Death Speaks by David Lang, Those Quiet Evenings by Albert Behar, and carpet of flowers/for the first time today by Tamzin Elliott.  Newman Recital Hall, USC campus, 7:30 pm.

Thornton Edge in new music with a beat |
November 15, 2017

Donald Crockett leads Thornton Edge in a concert of toe-tapping music for ensembles large and small, including music by Dan Visconti, Don Freund and Sarah Gibson.  Newman Recital Hall, USC campus, 7:30 pm.

Commission for HOCKET and Kaleidoscope Chamber Orchestra |
April-May 2018

Donald Crockett has been commissioned by the Kaleidoscope Chamber Orchestra for a new work for HOCKET: 4 hands in and around a piano etc. etc. plus a conductorless chamber orchestra of nineteen musicians.  HOCKET is Sarah Gibson and Thomas Kotcheff, composer-pianists, who will lead the piece from the Steinway.  A co-commission consortium is in the works, with Kaleidoscope and Oberlin Sinfonietta so far; stay tuned for additional details.  The premiere will be with HOCKET and the Kaleidoscope Chamber Orchestra in April/May 2018.

New Music USA commission for SAKURA cello quintet |
August 2018 premiere

Donald Crockett has received a commission from New Music USA to compose a major work for the outstanding young cello quintet, SAKURA, for late-summer 2017.  Stay tuned for details!  Updates on the project also available at the New Music USA website.

More information about events