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

The second premiere coming up is a New Music USA commission for SAKURA cello quintet.  The piece is set to premiere in late-summer 2018, and exploratory workshops with SAKURA are underway.

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

'to airy thinness beat' at Primrose Competition |
June 15, 2018

Donald Crockett's chamber concerto for viola, to airy thinness beat, will be presented in a version for viola and piano (Kate Vincent and Brendan White) at the William Primrose Viola Competition and concert on June 15 at 5:30 pm in Mayman Hall at the Colburn School of Music.  Other works on the program include Andrew Norman's Gran Turismo in a new version for eight violas, and music by Paul Chihara.

ACE at the Aspen Music Festival |
June 24 - July 15, 2018

Donald Crockett returns to conduct the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble at the Aspen Music Festival for the opening three weeks.  ACE will play in the weekly Chamber Music concerts in Harris Hall, and offer events at the Chapel Series and elsewhere in Aspen in Summer 2018.  Additional details soon.

Bennington Chamber Music Conference |
July 22 - August 12, 2018

Donald Crockett returns as Senior Composer in Residence with the Bennington Chamber Music Conference on the Bennington College campus, coaching participant musicians, working with Resident Composers Lei Liang, Pierre Jalbert and Paul Moravec, mentoring Composition Fellows, and working with the CMC faculty artists on new and recent chamber music, including Crockett's piano trio, Night Scenes.

And the River, concerto for HOCKET |
November 9, 2018

Donald Crockett's new concerto for duo-pianists (HOCKET) and 19 players, And the River, continues its premiere run at Oberlin, with the Oberlin Sinfonietta conducted by Tim Weiss, and HOCKET again as the soloists.  Oberlin Conservatory, November 9.

New Music USA commission for SAKURA cello quintet |
Fall 2019 premiere

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.  Stay tuned for details!  Updates on the project also available at the New Music USA website.

More information about events