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

Blue Earth on BMOP Radio |
September 1, 7, 9,14, 20, 29, 30, 2021

Selections from Donald Crockett's Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP) recording on BMOP/sound, Blue Earth, with Gil Rose conducting, will be featured on BMOP Radio broadcasts in September:  Sept. 1 at 11am EDT, Sept. 7 at 2pm, Sept. 9 at 7:30pm, Sept. 14 at 2pm, Sept. 20 at 7:30pm, Sept. 29 at 11am, Sept. 30 at 7:30pm. (all times EDT)

Thornton Edge in concert |
October 5, 2021

Donald Crockett directs the USC Thornton Edge new music ensemble in a concert featuring music by Tigran Mansurian, Libby Larsen, Reza Vali and Sebastian Fagerlund. A set for voice and electronics by Thornton MM composer/performers Mingjia Chen and Rohan Chander concludes the evening. Newman Recital Hall, USC campus 7:30pm, LIVE-STREAMED.

New Music for Orchestra |
October 13, 2021

Donald Crockett conducts the USC Thornton Symphony in the annual New Music for Orchestra concert, featuring brand new works by Thornton student composers Hunter Long, Adam Karelin, Alexander Mansour, Ethan Moffitt and JP Merz.  Bovard Auditorium 7:30pm LIVE-STREAMED.

Resident Composer at UNLV |
November 14-15, 2021

Donald Crockett will be featured as a guest composer at the University of Nevada Las Vegas November 14 and 15, with a concert by Nextet including Crockett's Capriccio II for two pianos, Extant in a version for saxophone and ensemble, and his piano trio, Night Scenes.  UNLV campus, November 16, 7:30pm.

Thornton Edge in concert |
November 16, 2021

Donald Crockett leads USC's new music ensemble, Thornton Edge, in a concert featuring works by Kaija Saariaho, Billy Childs and Stephen Hartke.  Newman Recital Hall, USC campus, 7:30pm LIVE-STREAM. 

Kate Vincent premieres 'Cataclysm' at Colburn |
January 29, 2022

Violist Kate Vincent presents the first complete performance of Cataclysm for viola and percussion on a faculty recital at the Colburn School. January 29, 7:30pm, Thayer Hall, Colburn School, Los Angeles.

Violin Concerto co-commission and recording |
21/22 season

Donald Crockett is working on a Violin Concerto for the Norwegian violinist Peter Herresthal, a co-commission including the Aspen Music Festival and Oberlin Conservatory.  Premiere in late-Fall 2021, recording sessions in Winter 2022.  Stay tuned for updates! 

Commission and recording for Piano Sonata 'Red Leaves of Night' |
2021/22 season

American pianist Phillip Bush has commissioned Donald Crockett for his new Piano Sonata Red Leaves of Night for recording in 2021 and performances on tour in 21/22 and beyond. Phillip will pair this with Pilgrimage, an earlier Crockett piano work, and 20th/21st century rep for which Phillip is justly famous (!).  Stay tuned for additional details.

Commission and recording for flautist Conor Nelson |
May 2023

Donald Crockett has been commissioned for a substantial new work for flute and piano by the formidable flute virtuoso Conor Nelson, for premiere at the Kennedy Center in May 2023.  Stay tuned for further details.

'And the River' recording sessions |
May 2020 POSTPONED due to COVID-19 pandemic to June 2022

HOCKET (Sarah Gibson and Thomas Kotcheff) and an ensemble of stellar Los Angeles musicians conducted by the composer were to gather to record Donald Crockett's concerto for duo pianists and chamber orchestra, And the River, for release on the Coviello Classics label, in May 2020, POSTPONED due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  These recording sessions, with the same stellar musicians, are postponed until late-2021/early 2022.

New Music USA commission for SAKURA cello quintet |
March 22, 2020 POSTPONED due to COVID-19 pandemic

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 would have been on the closing concert of the Piatigorsky International Cello Festival 2020, part of the Colburn Celebrity Series, in Disney Hall, Los Angeles on March 22, 2020.  This concert, and the entire festival, was of course POSTPONED due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  Stay tuned for additional details as they unfold in the coming season(s).

More information about events