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I've
been playing flute since I was 10. I started piano at 21/2 with my dad.
Falling down the steps from the stage after my first recital was my debut
at age 3. My dad and I played at every school and library, church, and
synagogue in Easton, Pennsylvania where I'm from -- I was born there on October
18, 1959.
After winning a local (Allentown Symphony) competition, where I played the Khatchaturian Concerto, I began to study the flute with Julius Baker. He recommended me for an audition with the New York Philharmonic for a Young People's Concert, and shortly thereafter I performed the Mozart Concerto for Flute and Harp with the orchestra on a nationally televised concert. |
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New York Philharmonic Young Peoples' Concert, age 15 |
I moved to New York City when I was 17 to attend Juilliard, where I studied flute with Julius Baker and Samuel Baron. At the same time, my piano studies were with Earl Wild. I joined Earl's group, The Concert Soloists of Wolf Trap, and gave my Carnegie Hall debut in 1980. After winning Young Concert Artists in 1985, I played all over the United States. Later I toured with I Solisti Italiani, playing my piece Airborne, and with the West German Sinfonia. My Mozart cadenzas got a lot of laughs -- I like that. Other highlights have been guest performing at Jessye Norman's Carnegie Hall Recital in 1994; playing with Gerard Schwarz and the New York Chamber Symphony; concerts and concertos in Bogota, Colombia; teaching at the Australian National Academy in Sydney, and in Taichung, Taiwan. |
It was also definitely fun substituting for Jean-Pierre Rarmpal with the New Jersey Symphony on two hours notice (I wrote the cadenzas in the car on the way to the concert). I also played at LaFenice (Venice) before it burned, and at the Teatro Massimo in Palermo. Chamber-music-wise, I've played with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Newport Music Festival, the Spoleto Festival, and the Vancouver Chamber Music Festival. I even headlined for Sarah Vaughan at Riverbend Festival in Chattanooga and did duets with Maureen McGovern in Sicily. At age 5 or 6 I started composing. My first opus, The Lollipop Waltz, did not win the Science Fair Prize in second grade. However, I have steadily improved. James Galway played my concerto, Green Places at the Adare Festival in Ireland and with the New Jersey Symphony in 1993 (I played it too). |
My first tux -- about age 12 |
Around the time of my first piano recital, age 3 |
I've published over 80 pieces for flute and various instruments. Among the works I've written for wind instruments are my Clarinet Sonata and Two Clarinet Sonata, which won the International Clarinet Association Composition Contest two years in a row. There are also three trios for mixed ensemble, and about a closet-full of piano music. I love writing theatre music and have written two shows, FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD and THE AWAKENING. The book and lyrics for both are by my collaborator Barbara Campbell. We've also written many songs and two children's musicals. A revue of my theatrical songs, LOOKING FOR LOVE, was done twice Off-Off Broadway. Theodore Presser also publishes Diary of an Urban Maiden, a theatrical song-cycle written with Barbara which includes Mama Called, a popular cabaret song. |
Playing music with my dad, Paul (on cello), and two family friends. Hey, with pants like that, who needs shoes?! |
Comments I hear most when people describe my music are "like theatre music", "great melody", and "would make a great song." I've also heard "Poulenc", "Bernstein," and "Bolling." Although I love music by all the above, I don't think I really sound like any of them. I think the similarity is more in the way I use elements of all kinds of music in my writing. Chief among my classical music are works for flute. After all, I am a flutist! There are Three Sonatas with piano; music for flute/guitar; flute/harp; Three (Latin) Dances for Two Flutes; piano solos; and three pieces with orchestra. Airborne is a jazz-influenced piece for flute and strings. There are also Trios for flute/violin/cello and flute/marimba/tuba, and fifteen other flute/piano pieces in publication. There are Sonatas for bassoon, oboe, piano (4), 2 pianos, piano four-hands, French horn, and alto saxophone. Theodore Presser is my primary publisher. A more complete listing is included on my compositions page. |