Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time is one of my absolute favorite chamber works ever written. It’s beautiful, challenging, full of unexpected twists, turns, and textures, and viscerally sublime. I had the opportunity to perform this amazing piece in spring of 2021 — a dark time for many of us as the pandemic dragged…
Note: If you are a clarinetist who has given birth, please help contribute to this important research by taking the “Clarinet Playing During Pregnancy and the Postpartum Period” survey here before January 31, 2019. After my first son was born in 2013, I didn’t have much trouble returning to playing after a month or so…
I’m excited to travel to Colorado this November to perform and record with the Madera Wind Quintet. We’ll be giving numerous master classes and lessons to students at Adams State University in Alamosa, CO. We will record a newly commissioned work for quintet and band by David J. Pierce. The new work, titled El Ranchero, was…
At ClarinetFest last week, I had a great time performing, serving the ICA, meeting new people and enjoying time with old friends. I performed William O. Smith’s Solo for Clarinet with Delay System on a program called “Sonic Kaleidoscope” (review here).
Last week I had the opportunity to perform Steve Reich’s New York Counterpoint on an all-Reich program at On the Boards in Seattle, WA. The Reich has been a pet piece of mine for a while, having recorded all the backing tracks in 2007 and performed it at a variety of venues since – doctoral recital,…
Here are some video cuts from the August 8 Odd Partials performance at the Good Shepherd Center in Seattle, WA, as part of the Wayward Music Series. Greg Dixon’s Fractures for clarinet and computer This work features the composer, Greg Dixon, performing on the laptop along with me on the clarinet. See Greg’s dissertation for…
I’m excited to return to Texas in February for a tour with the Madera Wind Quintet. We’ll be playing in North, East and South Texas, with a varied program of quintet standards by Danzi and Ligeti, original arrangements of music by Copland and Beck, and music from our last album Five at Play as well as…
I’m excited to announce that I’ve relocated from Texas to the Seattle area! My husband Greg Dixon has begun a music faculty position at the Digipen Institute of Technology, and I will be freelancing and teaching. I’m looking forward to joining the musical community in Seattle and having more time to devote to planning performances,…
A few years ago, I wrote a paper about William O. Smith. It wasn’t doing me any good sitting here on my computer, so I thought I’d upload it to make it available to anyone who is interested. The Compositional Style of William O. Smith (PDF) (ZIP) Written as part of the requirements for my…
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the concept of “premieres,” and why they are often over-valued by performers and ensembles. Sure, they sound fancy in an artist bio (e.g. “So-and-so has premiered works on eight continents…”), and they can contribute to the perceived legacy of a performer. We must support the creation of new…