Ned Rorem's Eleven Studies

Last Sunday we concluded our season at the University of Chicago New Music Ensemble on a major chord! In just a small handful of rehearsals we put together Ned Rorem's Eleven Studies for Eleven Players. The highlight of this, as a percussionist, is the sixth movement, Invention for Battery. Although the percussion notation is a wee bit difficult to get used to, the movement moves along experimenting several new percussion idioms. I found the most interesting thing of this movement to be the rhythmic games that Rorem plays between the two players and now intricate the composite rhythms are.

Bodhran Lesson

Here is a quick bodhran lesson.

Eugene Espino Dead at 65

From pas.org...a bit late, but worth quoting.

Eugene Santiago Espino, Principal Timpanist of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra for 37 years, died of a heart attack on April 23 in California. He was 65.

"He was a legendary personality in the orchestra and a popular figure in town," Cincinnati Symphony music director Paavo Järvi told the Cincinnati Enquirer. "He was a good example of a great pro and a great old-timer. He's done it all and knew the repertoire and was a real master."

Espino joined the Cincinnati Symphony in 1967, after spending one year as Principal Timpanist with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. During his tenure, he performed two world premieres, an American premiere and a Cincinnati premiere as soloist. Espino also performed with the New York Philharmonic, Metropolitan Opera and the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. A native of Oakland, Calif., Espino graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, and the Juilliard School in New York, where he studied with Saul Goodman.

Elmhurst Symphony Performs Mahler's Second Symphony

I performed Gustav Mahler's Resurrection Symphony last saturday with the Elmhurst Symphony Orchestra. This is the second year in a row I've done the same piece of music, and the second time I've played the second timpani part.

The performance was fairly interesting and director Stephen Alltop kept the compact chorus and orchestra balanced well at the end. Some highlights of this performance for me were getting all the tuning changes right in the third movement (last time I think I missed the first high F), watching the coordination of the off-stage trumpet, horn and percussion parts (it's always interesting to see how this goes in performance!), and finally being able to use a Fred Hinger-like forearm roll in the last 17 or so measures.