Ciao, Italia…

Mark Buller — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 14:09:18 +0000

Just a quick update from Pavia before I head for home; I’ll write a more detailed post once I get back. The highSCORE Festival has been absolutely amazing. The participating composers and I have really enjoyed and benefited from masterclasses and lessons with some of the leading composers alive today. And they’ve all been great people to work with as well, always kind and giving of their time. I was fortunate to have lessons with Giovanni Albini, Chris Theofanidis, Paul Moravec, and Mario Garuti, and got to know several other musicians as well, including Ugo Nastrucci, the early music expert and lute/Baroque guitar/oud/theorbo virtuoso (and former member of Europa Galante).

Also, my ‘Canticle’ for solo cello and the first movement of the second string quartet were performed by several very talented musicians. I’m hoping to make the recordings available once I get them.
Anyway, more to follow later, after the obbligatory jet lag!

Vanguard Premieres Competition

Mark Buller — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 15:48:15 +0000

This is a few days late in coming, but I’m pleased to announce that I’m the winner of this year’s Vanguard Premieres Choral Composition Contest in the emerging composer category! Sicut Cervus, a setting of Psalm 42:1, was the winning entry; Kevin Dewey, Vanguard’s director, wrote a nice paragraph about it here. The piece will be premiered by Vanguard Voices May 21 in Dearborn, Michigan. Needless to say, I’m pretty excited for that concert!

Also: I just received a schedule of events for the highSCORE Festival in a few weeks. Looks like there will be some great opportunities there. We’ll have private lessons and composition colloquiums with Chris Theofanidis, Giovanni Albini, Paul Moravec, Mario Garuti, and Ugo Nastrucci, as well as Italian lessons. I’ll be coaching a string quartet in a performance of part of my second string quartet; that, the Trope for flute and Canticle for cello will be performed on several of the concerts (to be webcast, by the way). And the weekends are free for sightseeing, which should be great.

More to follow later about works in progress!