Nebraska and New Music

This was indeed an interesting weekend for our musical and matrimonial relationship.

Corey's parents visited us for the first time since we moved to Ann Arbor. They are wonderful, but the idea of entertaining anyone's parents stresses me out. My mother raised me to present a spotless home, so any spare time I had this past week was spent cleaning, not writing.

The Cunninghams went to the University of Nebraska, so naturally we went to the Michigan/Nebraska game. In addition to our regularly scheduled plans, Corey found out at the last minutes that he would be required to attend two concerts, one on Friday, one on Saturday, both at 8pm. (It kind of cut in to our dinner plans.) I was upset at first, but we worked it out and had a great time. The four of us all went to to concert together on Saturday. (Corey's parts are super supportive of his career. They really make an effort to enjoy the music he enjoys.)

Both concerts were put on by Brave New Works, an ensemble made up of most U of M faculty who perform only works written within the last 20 years. The theme was Michigan Composers, and on Saturday we heard pieces by Erik Santos, Kristin Kuster, Paul Schoenfield and Corey's teacher Micheal Daugherty, all current Michigan composition faculty.

Two songs by Kristin Kuster were performed by soprano Jennifer Goltz. She was my kind of Soprano. Her range was awesome and she had such great command of it. She was never over-the-top with any dynamic or vibrato. The texts were poems by Sappho about love and painful longing, which were set beautifully to a rhythm and harmony that created the same angst that the words did.

Crystal by Daugherty was my favorite piece of the night. It is a duet for flute and alto flute originally written for chamber ensemble, but was done as an arrangement for both flutes and piano. According to the program notes "Crystal visits the dark world of gypsies who attempt to tell fortunes by gazing into crystal balls. A haunting duet...Crystal features extended flute techniques such as fluttering and bending notes." (Fun Fact: the piece premiered on my 19th birthday.) I don't know if there is a recording yet, but I'm looking!