“Wanamaker’s Sonata Deus Sax Machina’s two fast, strongly accented outer movements frame a mysterious, ‘chaconne-informed second’: influenced by the form it may be, but its language and texture are indubitably modern. By distributing motives and themes throughout his piece, Wanamaker skillfully ties the three subordinate movements into a longer, unified whole.” Robert Schulslaper, Fanfare Magazine - 34:2 Nov/Dec 2010.”
New month, new season! This enjoyable summer was spent on some new territory for me - in collaboration with Carrie Mae Weems on a project for the Syracuse, NY based Society for New Music. The new work, A Story Within a Story, brings Carrie’s stunning visual imagery and my sounds together in a new work that explores social and political identity over the past 40 years and beyond. I also had the pleasure of working on some sound design for her The Maddening Crowd, part of her Slow Fade to Black exhibit, showing at Legacy Gallery in North Adams, MA through September 25.
A new season also brings new projects and possibilities. I am pleased to be a part of a few consortium commissions and other projects that will keep me busy for quite a while. More details about those when the time comes... In the meantime, please check the 2012 Calendar for upcoming events!
The Capitol Quartet’s Five Works for Four Saxophones is to be released this fall on the White Pine label. This cd features my work virtuoso work Run, which was commissioned by Capitol in 2009. The Capitol Quartet and Scott Burgess, producer and engineer of this album, were selected as recipients of a grant from the Aaron Copland Fund for Music to record new works by American composers.
Scott Burgess also received another Copland Grant this year to record works composed for Christopher Creviston and Oren Fader. This disc will include my Three Episodes in addition to works by John Anthony Lennon, Dorothy Chang, Eric Schwartz, David Claman, Michael Djupstrom, Brian Coughlin and Whitney Ashe. This will likely be released in 2012. Keep your ears and eyes open!
PRISM Quartet’s Dedication was be released on Innova Records on May 31. Along with my speed metal organum blues, Dedication features 23 short works composed in 2004 in celebration of the Quartet’s 20th anniversary. Music by Tim Berne, William Bolcom, Zack Browning, Robert Capanna, Donnacha Dennehy, Dennis DeSantis, Nick Didkovsky, Jason Eckardt, Roshanne Etezady, Reneé Favand-See, Perry Goldstein, Jennifer Higdon, Libby Larsen, Matthew Levy, Keith Moore, Greg Osby, Frank J. Oteri, James Primosch, Tim Ries, Adam Silverman, Ken Ueno, Gregory Wanamaker, and Chen Yi.
©2010 Gregrory Wanamaker
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