One Week!

If The Lady, or the Tiger? were a movie, this would be its poster.

One week from tonight, on December 12 (12/12/12), my piece for wind ensemble and narrator – The Lady, or the Tiger? – will be premiered by the Capitol Symphonic Winds.  The concert is at 7:30 pm in Lincoln Theater at the University of Hartford and will also include music by Steven Reineke, Jay Bocook, Thomas J. McGah, Camille Saint-Saens, and Philip Sparke.

The concert will represent not only the world premiere of The Lady, or the Tiger?, but also the first public performance of any of my large-ensemble works. Needless to say, it is very exciting—in part because so many people have contributed to this project. I am grateful to everyone on the "spoof poster" above: to Larry Alan Smith and Robert Carl for their guidance and advice while I was writing this work, to Emmie for being an excellent narrator, and most of all to Gary Partridge and the members of Capitol Winds who have spent the past several months preparing a piece that is at times very challenging. Indeed, it is very humbling to have so many people rehearsing my piece.

In addition to the poster above, I have also put together a rough recording from tonight's rehearsal. (Rough in the sense that I just put a small Zoom recorder down on a chair in front of the group, and also because I've done practically no mastering of the recorded track. But it will do.) So, here are some selections and previews of The Lady, or the Tiger? Because the narration is not particularly audible on this rough recording, the track below features a brief instrumental selection from each movement.  Enjoy!