2024 Salon Concert – About the Composers and Program Notes

Presents: 2024 Composer’s Salon Concert

Sunday, March 24th, 2024 – Timucua White House
2000 South Summerlin, Orlando, FL 32806.
Doors: 7 pm. Concert: 7:30.

Info for Tickets

Concert Program

1. As the Sun Sets Upon This Autumn NightJeremy Umlauf

Jeremy Umlauf – Piano

2. The Time QuartetPaul Austin Sanders

2nd Movement – The Threads of Time; 3rd Movement – The Dances of Time

Irene Pacheco – Violin 1   Anabel Tejeda- Violin 2

Tyler Pacheco – Viola     Annalise Lange – Cello

3. Barcarolle Dan Crozier

Xiting Yang – Piano

4. Alice + Zoltan 4everAlex Burtzos

George Weremchuk – Alto Saxaphone 

Luis Fred – Bass Trombone

Ammon Perry Bratt – Piano

5. Suite for Flute & String QuartetStan Cording

Foretold, Quest, Processional

Emma Koi – Flute

Lisa Ferrigno – Violin 1   Joni Hanze – Violin 2

Scott Knopf – Viola     Adriana Stenvik – Cello

About the Composers and Program Notes (In Alphabetical Order)

Alex Burtzos is an American composer and conductor based in New York City and Orlando, FL. His music has been performed across four continents by some of the world’s foremost contemporary musicians and ensembles, including JACK Quartet, Yarn/Wire, loadbang, Contemporaneous, ETHEL, Jenny Lin, RighteousGIRLS, Decoda, and many others. Alex is the founder and artistic director of ICEBERG New Music, a New York-based composers’ collective.

Alex holds a DMA from Manhattan School of Music, where his primary teachers were Reiko Fueting and Mark Stambaugh. He is the Endowed Chair of Composition Studies at the University of Central Florida, where he teaches composition, orchestration, film scoring, video game scoring, and music technology. His music is published by Just a Theory Press, NewMusicShelf, and others.

Alice + Zoltan 4ever is based on a 2008 article in Gizmodo magazine. The article related the story of an inventor who, frustrated with his search for love, had decided to build himself a robotic companion. The author concluded on a frankly sympathetic note: “My conversation with Zoltan lasted a couple of hours – not enough time for me to be able to claim that I ‘got’ him. What I did find, however, is that he is not a freak. Strange, maybe, but sympathetic, mature… In short, a likable guy who can’t make it work with women – and so he has found an alternative.” 

This composition strives to capture something of this lovelorn inventor’s personality, and imagines him – maybe – finding happiness at last.

Commissioned by Ana García and premiered by Ana García, Jason White, and Tim Thompson in Bossi-Comelli Studio, New York, NY (October 2014).

Stan Cording is an Orlando native and graduate of Rollins College. He writes in a style called New Lyricism, emphasizing the beauty and mood of the music over the materials or methods used to make it. His music is a respectful continuation of classical music tradition without being overly reverent to a particular style or fad. His music has a strong appeal to both audiences and performers alike. Drawing inspiration from the unique interests and requirements of the musicians, patrons and collaborators he works with, his music is performed in venues from the church to the concert hall, and within a wide range of genres and forms, from art song to choral, chamber, orchestral and Christmas music.
His album, Christmas Carols Old and New, is available on Amazon. Scores and recordings are available on his website:
cording.org.

Suite for Flute and String Quartet is in three movements. The titles and text that inspired each movement:
“Foretold”
“Dream lofty dreams, and as you dream, so shall you become” – James Lane Allen
“Quest”
“Silver hidden in the gold.
Young man hidden in the old.
Laughing lord with weeping eyes.
Bring kind and ring before sunrise!”

– Margaret Lovett
“Processional “
“… the shout of a king is among them.” – Numbers 23:21

Described as “harmonically lush and lyrically soaring” by the New York Times, and as having “abstract elegance, structural coherence, and tender feeling” by the Wall Street Journal, music by Daniel Crozier has been performed or recorded by organizations as diverse as Fort Worth Opera, the Boston Symphony Chamber Players, the Seattle Symphony, and New York City Opera.  His operatic, orchestral, and solo works have been released on the Albany, ACA Digital, and Parma labels. Awards include a fellowship from the Florida Division of Cultural Affairs, an ASCAP Foundation Morton Gould Young Composers Grant, five nominations for awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and first prizes in National Opera Association and Jacksonville Symphony competitions.  He currently serves as Professor of Theory and Composition at Rollins College.

Program Notes: Barcarolle, for solo piano

Written during a summer at the Oregon Bach Festival, this fourth barcarolle in a series of five is the most introspective of the set.  Conceived during a festival of J. S. Bach’s works, the point of departure is a melody that opens with the intervals found in the musical spelling of the great patriarch’s name.  What follows is a piece about the spinning of long lyrical lines, and lines against and within them.  The traditional, rocking six, nine, or twelve-eight metric scheme of the barcarolle, or boat-song, is here shifted to groups of seven in the piece’s principal idea.  There is a lengthy tradition using the musical translation of the name “Bach” as thematic material, including the very last music written by the master himself.

Paul Austin Sanders has been a member of Central Florida Composers Forum since 2018 ..From Ethereal soundscapes to Neo Classical compositions..this concert will feature his 9th new work..His Creative Background has run the gamut from Studying not only Vocal performance and composition but jazz bass and actors studio as well as a variety of art classes at times……With one grandmother a pianist and the other an artist….the seeds were planted and over time the moniker of RenaissanceArtzMan evolved…
As This concert is connected to word play..I thought to explore some that fit with The Word Play of Time that this string quartet deals with

Abrakadabra..From The Hebrew for making something manifest…to speak it into existence… Tick Tock ..Time moves forward…subdivided into multiple increments of micro seconds, seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years and beyond to Centuries to Millenia to Infinity..Time is a Word….Words in Time to the rhythms of Music that flow forth from our minds from the Universal Creative flow that keeps us on the go ..in Time ..each day ..each way we create, Inspired by the way the moment is unfolding in our minds…Tick tock ..This Moment in time is unfolding, Made Manifest by truly being in this moment..Abrakadabra.

Two movements from “The Time Quartet” adapted for the String Quartet will be performed.

2nd Movement – “The Threads of Time”

3rd Movement – “The Dances of Time”

paulaustinsandersstrangerthanfiction.bandcamp.compatreon.com search renaissanceartzman

Jeremy Umlauf is a rising composer from the Orlando, Florida area. His music mostly utilizes a traditional tonal harmonic language that is often mixed with subtle polytonality. His music is also often narratively driven and is occasionally inspired by music outside the Classical tradition. A few of his musical heroes include Leoš Janácek, Gustav Mahler, Alfred Schnittke, Koji Kondo, Jeff Lynne of the Electric Light Orchestra, and Thomas Kalnoky of Streetlight Manifesto.
In his free time Jeremy can be found fishing Florida’s rich fisheries, where he has caught snook, tarpon, spotted seatrout, redfish, largemouth bass, and chain pickerel. His love of fishing helps fuel his inspiration and passion for composition.

Growing up in Florida, I have always had a deep appreciation for breathtaking sunsets. To me, the sunset represents a time of both profound beauty and deep melancholy as the day ends and the night begins. It is this feeling that I aimed to capture in music.As The Sun Sets Upon This Autumn Night begins with a sparse texture that is meant to represent small patches of color slowly creeping into the sky. As the introduction progresses, the musical activity increases, acting as a parallel to even more new shades of color appearing at the beginning of the sunset. The activity culminates into a flurry of motoric motion which represents most of the duration of the sunset. After a cascading descent, the piece starts to wind down as the sky grows darker. Before long, the piece suddenly ends and all that is left is the silence of the night.

2022 Salon Concert – About the Composers and Program Notes

Sunday, October 23 – Timucua White House
2000 South Summerlin, Orlando, FL 32806.
Doors: 7pm. Concert: 7:30.

Info for Tickets

Stan Cording is an Orlando native and Rollins College graduate who writes music in a style called New Lyricism. He writes music in a wide range of genres and forms, from art song to choral, chamber, orchestral and Christmas music. His album, Christmas Carols Old and New, is available from Amazon.

This is the premier performance of Fête, which was written especially for the Confetti Trio. 

It has 4 short movements, depicting the moods created by various decorations at a party: Streamers, Banners, Lanterns and Tinsel.

A composer and writer, Charlie Griffin was born and raised in New York. Active in the Orlando area since 2010, he teaches in Full Sail University’s Bachelor of Science in Music Production degree program, is the founder and director of the Central Florida Composers Forum, and has been a large budget panelist for United Arts of Central Florida. His original music has been performed in 20 countries in venues like Washington DC’s Kennedy Center, New York’s Merkin and Weill recital halls, the American Cathedral in Paris, festivals such as Aspen, SpoletoUSA, and Mexico’s International Cervantino, and conferences such as the WPPC (World Piano Pedagogy Conference), PASIC (Percussive Arts Society), ACDA (American Choral Directors Association) and NFA (National Flute Association). Recent commissions include works for the Bay Area choral ensemble 21V and the Orlando Contemporary Chamber Orchestra. His non-fiction children’s picture book, Indy and Jenny, is available on Amazon and all major outlets.

Samba Variations was originally commissioned and recorded by guitarist Robert Phillips as part of a multi-composer project for a CD release called Orange Blossom Dances. The title, I hope, is self-explanatory. I since revised and rearranged it for two of my dearest friends, guitarist and composer Troy Gifford and clarinetist Jessica Hall-Speak. This version adds substantially new melodic material. 

In 2004 The New York Times named Keith Lay (b.1958 Barberton, OH) “a composer to watch for.” Gramophone magazine described his music as “unapologetically emotional ” (2005). The Orlando Weekly called him “Orlando’s most inventive composer.” 

“My goal is to inspire reverent wonder about the world of sound and the science, perceptions, and emotions that connect us to nature and each other. A life of curiosity, working, music-making, teaching, and growing with Vipassana, Deep Listening, and experimenting help me achieve it.”

To pay respect to James Brown, I cataloged the riffs in his 1972 “Funky Drummer” to create “Funky Tubes for Tuba Trio,” commissioned by the FMTNA, premiering at their convention in 2018.

I met Bob after hearing about his search into lost metallurgic processes that produced superior tubas in the 19th Century and his sons at “Distance Music at Lake Eola” playing monstrous instruments. As his first call for studio sessions, drummer Gerald Law came to my attention through producer Darren Schneider.  

The extreme range of “Funky Tubas” is FIENDISHLY DIFFICULT, which just made the Carpenters love it more. I’ve rewritten it many times to make it easier, but they will have none of it! Because of their long wavelengths, tuba notes take longer to speak, dragging the tempo without constant vigilance. I’ve added the immediate sound of the drums to help maintain funk’s necessary precision.

Seunghee Lee (b.1980) is a Korean-American composer/pianist/educator. Born and raised in Seoul, South Korea, Lee moved to the United States in 2003 and has been on the music faculty at Ave Maria University in Ave Maria, FL since 2015.

Performances of her composition have taken place in notable venues and festivals worldwide, including concert halls in Germany, Finland, Italy, Hong Kong, Columbia, South Korea and across the United States. Her music has won several competitions, residencies, and commissions, including the 2019 Judith Lang Zaimont Prize of International Alliance for Women in Music, McCormick Percussion Group Commission, Florida Youth Symphony Orchestra Composer Residency, and Orlando Contemporary Chamber Orchestra Commission. www.seungheeleemusic.com

Heung, for Piano (Merriment for Piano, 2022), is a piece I wrote for Pianist Chee Hyeon Choi. Her interest in contemporary piano repertoires representing Korean traditional tunes and beats were the main compositional inspiration for this project. This piece is my own interpretation of traditional Korean music, keeping the fundamental impression of tunes and beats (i.e. half-step grace notes for pitch-bending, quasi-whole tone scales, mimicking the performance style of Janggu drum, etc.).  I’ve written four short movements to represent four emotions (happiness, anger, sadness, and joy), which are the main emotions frequently referred in East Asian cultures as Hee, Roh, Ae, and Rack (희로애락, 喜怒哀樂). In the midst of going through these emotions over four thousand years, Korean people have kept merriment alive with them to this day.

Brandon Martin is an Orlando-based vocalist and composer. While he regularly performs at EPCOT with The Voices of Liberty, he has also performed as soloist with the Orlando Philharmonic and has been an actor in or music director for various local theatre productions. As a composer/arranger, Brandon has been commissioned by Florida Symphony Youth Orchestras for its 2019-20 and 2022-23 seasons and is published by Excelcia Music.

Program Notes:

“Confession Drops” and “Full of Life Now” come from a song cycle called Calamus, sharing the name of a collection of Walt Whitman poems. These poems have been interpreted as homophilic, conjuring scenes of “manly, adhesive love” between comrades: at times celebrating the platonic love and camaraderie between men, but sometimes, in a quieter tone, celebrating the romantic love between men. As a fan of Whitman’s poetry, it seems some of his most intimate writing. As a gay man, it feels like a “coming out”, an illuminating and celebrating of love that too often, throughout history, is shrouded in shadow.

Paul Austin Sanders has been with Central Florida Composers forum since 2018 …so far, since then he has had the opportunity to premier 6 original soundscapes at the CF2 Salon concerts in 2018 and 2019 at Timucua Arts Foundation ..And Compose  an original Wind Quintet score for the Joint project with Orlando Story ..where each composer wrote original music to go with each story teller.Paul Moved here from Seattle ,Washington originally to work in entertainment at Disney and later Universal..Since then he has been evolved in the arts community in a variety of ways in Music, Theatre, Film and Visual Art..He Was a Voice Major at Western Washing University in Bellingham ,Washington , with additional Studies in Composition,jazz bass and Actors Studio….

    This will be his first Neo Classical composition to premier at Timucua..This Elations String Quartet  4th movement was completed during the early days of the Pandemic lock down.which became a very creative time..where a diversity of new neo classical music was begun..As well he was able to put together some new creative pages to get his music and art expressions out on to the internet 

paulaustinsandersstrangerthanfiction.bandcamp.compatreon.com search renaissanceartzman

2022 Annual Composer DIY Salon Concert

Sunday, October 23 – Timucua White House
2000 South Summerlin, Orlando, FL 32806.
Doors: 7pm. Concert: 7:30.
VIP Tickets are $30, other seating by donation.

For nine years, Central Florida Composers Forum (CF2) has been offering its members a first-come, first-on, get-er-done yerself opportunity to present work to the Orlando/Central Florida public. The composers themselves perform or arrange for the performers. That always means a wider variety of sonic possibilities than a more typical curated CF2 concert featuring a unified instrumentation.

This program features Alex Burtzos’s SEA, for Vibraphone; Stan Cording’s Fête for violin, flute, and oboe; Charlie Griffin’s Samba Variations for clarinet and guitar; Keith Lay’s Funky Tubes for three tubas and drums; Seunhee Lee’s Heung (Merriment) for solo piano, Brandon Martin’s “Confession Drops” and “Full of Life Now” from Calamus for tenor and piano; and Paul Austin Sanders’s Elations – Mvt. 4 for string quartet.

Guitarist Robert Phillips commissioned, recorded, and now presents 3 CF2 composers on May 17, 2019

Internationally noted classical guitarist Robert Phillips will be giving a concert of new music at the Timucua Arts Foundation White House on May 17 at 7:30 PM. The centerpiece of the concert will be a set of six dances written for Robert by Central Florida based composers. Those composers include Jorge Morel, CF2 members Benoit Glazer, Charles Griffin, and Troy Gifford, as well as Howard Buss, and Rex Willis. In addition, Phillips will play a set of Nocturnes composed for him by British composer John W. Powell.

Phillips recently recorded the pieces that comprise this program. The works are in dance rhythms ranging from waltzes to rumbas and incorporating elements of Afro-Cuban music, Flamenco, and Brazilian dance rhythms. They are to be performed as a set along with a prelude by Robert under the title of The Orange Blossom Dances. These important new works will be released by MSR Classics.

Robert has brought his brilliant interpretations to a diverse range of venues – from traditional concert halls including New York’s prestigious Town Hall, and Lincoln Center to jazz nightclubs. His performance at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall was sold out. In addition to the standard repertory, Robert performs his own compositions, and has premiered works by three-time Pulitzer nominee, Frank Brazinski, Eric Ross, Alfred Giusto, and Meyer Kupferman, as well as a concerto written for him by three-time Grammy winner, Michael Colina. The works by Kupferman and Colina were written for him.

Robert’s recordings include Guitarre Nouveau on TPL records and Lo Mestre, the Music of Miguel Llobet on Centaur records, as well as his self-re-released two volume set, Great Themes and Variations for Classic Guitar (originally released by Mel Bay as a companion to his anthology.) Robert also recently recorded several Spanish songs with Chinese coloratura soprano Shudong Braamse on her Global Music Awards Gold Medal winning album, Sueños De España (Navona Records).

Robert spent the summer of 2017 in Spain participating as a teacher, ensemble coach, and performer in the Chamber Art Madrid music festival. Phillips performed some of the newly commissioned works at this festival. He will be at the festival again in the summer of 2019.
The Timucua Arts Foundation is located at 2000 S Summerlin Ave. Orlando, Florida 32806. The concert begins at 7:30 PM. Tickets are $25 and can be purchased online here.

2018 Composer’s Salon – Sunday September 9th at 7:30pm

The Central Florida Composer’s Forum is proud to present their 6th annual Composer’s Salon Concert on Sunday, September 9th 2018, 7:30 pm at the Timucua white house (2000 S. Summerlin Ave. Orlando 32806). Five local Central Florida composers: Stan Cording, Troy Gifford, Sharon Omens, Paul Austin Sanders, and Damien Simon will feature original compositions including local and world premieres in a diverse array of musical stylings. Instrumentation includes, piano, violin, clarinet, string quartet, and electronic music.

Salon concerts originated with princes and other royalty holding music concerts in their great rooms or “salons” in their palaces. This rich cultural tradition continues in modern day Orlando with benefactors Benoit Glazer and Élaine Corriveau graciously hosting the 6th Annual Composer’s Salon at their home, the Timucua white house. The concert is free and donations are welcome. You’re also encouraged to bring a bottle of wine or a snack to share. For more information, please visit cfcomposers.org.

About the Composers 

Stan Cording

A native of Orlando, Florida, Stan Cording began studying piano at the age of 8 and eventually majored in music at Rollins College. While he has worked as a professional accompanist and pianist with various local ensembles, his avocation has always been music composition. At the beginning of his career, he pushed against the prevailing trend toward atonal and minimalist music, championing what has come to be known as New Lyricism—a re-engagement with tonality and melody. Cording has always strived to achieve an immediacy and clarity of expression that results in music that audiences love to hear and musicians find gratifying to perform. His album of Christmas music for strings, Christmas Carols Old and New can be found on iTunes and Amazon, featuring both arrangements and original compositions.

Troy Gifford

Dr. Troy Gifford is an award winning guitarist and composer whose music synthesizes elements of Latin, classical, jazz, and rock styles.   His compositions have been performed by acclaimed artists on multiple continents, including at festivals and concerts in North America, South America, Europe and Asia.  He has written music in a variety of settings, including pieces for guitar, voice, piano, orchestra, choir, band, and various chamber ensembles.  He has also written for both the stage and film.

He has won a number of awards for his music, including first prize in composition competitions sponsored by the Guitar Foundation of America, Fingerstyle Guitar Magazine, and the University of Miami.  He has released two CDs of all original material: Delineations (on Flatfoot Records) and Olvidando.  His music has been published by Doberman Yppan and Mel Bay, and he currently serves as a regular columnist for the digital guitar magazine Fingerstyle Guitar Journal.

Dr. Gifford has taught at several colleges and universities and currently lives in Orlando, FL, where he serves as the chair of the music department at Valencia College.

Text for Night Voices (from the poem by Arthur Conan Doyle):

Father, father, who's whispering?

Who is it who whispers in the wood?

You say it is the breeze

As it sighs among the trees,

But there's someone who whispers in the wood.


Father, father, who's murmuring?

Who is it who murmurs in the night?

You say it is the roar

Of the wave upon the shore,

But there's someone who murmurs in the night.


Father, father, who laughs at us?

Who is it who chuckles in the glen?

Oh, father, let us go,

For the light is burning low,

And there's someone laughing in the glen.

 

Father, father, tell me what you're waiting for,

Tell me why your eyes are on the door.

It is dark and it is late,

But you sit so still and straight,

Ever staring, ever smiling, at the door.

Sharon Omens

Sharon Omens is currently the acting President of the Composers Forum. She is a prolific composer, performer and music educator who has a deep passion for music. After receiving her Bachelors of Music and Certificate of Music Therapy, she devoted more than 30 years training young musicians and using music as a source of healing with those in need. She has been a spiritual performer of both piano and voice and has produced six albums with her original compositions. Sharon regularly showcases her original music at the Timucua White House, The Blue Bamboo Center for the Arts and Christ Church Unity Orlando.

Paul Austin Sanders

..from the Innersanctum Creative Flow Chamber , Paul Austin Sanders Bids you welcome..he studied music At Western Washington University as a vocal performance major with added studies in composition and opera workshop ( at one point found the door to the theatre dept and did some minor studies in Actors workshop)..before that at Skagit Valley College he studied Jazz bass on top of his vocal music studies…since then work with various opera companies, music ensembles, theatre groups, film productions, and music compositional and artistic creative flow…it is always on the go…..Tubularus Ethereality…soundscape for plastic tube effected layered voices. singing through a tube does a number on the vocal sound…a haunting foggy night…mystery lurking out there…… Fluid Motion in the Evening Air… Glass Bottles and layered Voices…the harmonic structure was created by the multi tracked glass bottles..then the vocal cells were layered in creating the tapestry of sound… a meditative moment in time … Perpetuatum…layered keyboards and voices…started with three innerweaving keyboard tracks ,then the vocals were layered in ..sharing the melodic theme cells between the keys and voices..may it take you to another realm all together…

Damien Simon

Damien Simon is an internationally known composer for ballet/contemporary dance companies, orchestras/ensembles, tv/film companies. As a graduate of the Purchase Conservatory (NY) and the University College of Dublin (Ireland), Damien relocated to Orlando from Buffalo, NY. In addition to writing scores; Damien is a private music teacher in multiple instruments and composition. Damien has written dozens of scores from contemporary ballets in Holland, to ensembles in Austria, to independent films in Australia. Many of his scores become internationally touring pieces, touring all over Europe, Russia and the US.

#71  violin

“ Chicken “ , is a solo Clarinet solo dedicated to the life of Craig Norwood

Composer’s Salon Concert – Sunday January 7th 2018

The 2017 composer’s salon has been rescheduled to Sunday January 7th, 2018 at the Orlando White House (2000 South Summerlin, Orlando FL 32806). Below are a list of featured composers sorted alphabetically. We hope that you join us for an enjoyable evening of new music written by central Florida composers.

Music by Daniel Crozier has been performed or recorded by the Fort Worth Opera, the Boston Symphony Chamber Players, the Seattle Symphony Orchestra, the New York City Opera, the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra, and the Bach Festival Society of Winter Park. The composer writes: “I have always loved yet resisted setting the poetry of Emily Dickinson, the austerity of whose verse seemed to make the idea of adding music somehow intrusive. These four settings were completed in 2014 at the special request of Julia Foster Rottmayer. They were dedicated to her, and to Christopher Rottmayer, on the occasion of their wedding.”

Nicole Gutman is a composer and singer most known for incorporating interdisciplinary medium into her music. Almost all her music tells a story or conveys a physical or emotional setting through onomatopoeia and theatrics from the musicians. Nicole’s worked with leading ensembles including EnsembleNewSRQ, Yarn/Wire, SŌ Percussion and the JACK Quartet. Her current project is a book of songs sung unaccompanied called the A Cappe a Arias. Nicole holds a Bachelor of Music in Composition from Oberlin Conservatory, where she studied with Lewis Nielson and Josh Levine.

The Thing About Cats – Based on a poem by John L’Heureux, this song explores the reason why cats always stare at us. I wrote the music in the point of view of a person who’s had many experiences with these staring cats and and how the act of staring ruining the person’s pleasures in everyday life. The person is using this song to give a warning to everyone listening.

Witness – I wrote the poem in response to the first page of Watchmen by Alan Moore, depicting a New York City street after a murder. The narrator says that this started with something very minor and is now growing into a catastrophe that no one can stop now, but they could have stopped it when it was a minor problem. I wanted to use the build up of a sentence to showcase something starting small and spreading until it creates a huge problem. When setting the poem to music, I applied the same concept to a melody.

Mowing – This song occasionally inserts a whoosh sound effect, reflecting the sound of the scythe described the poem by Robert Frost. The feel of the scythe moving back and forth along the lawn continues its presence in the melody’s slow and steady pulse.

Paul Harlyn has released 7 Chill albums under the artist name Great Barrier whose song “Cairo” was released on Buddha Bar Vol. II that has had sales of over a half a million units. He also has tracks on many chill-out compilations; Search Paul Harlyn in Spotify or paulharlyn.com

Three Views of Japan

  1. The Question of Rain –  A Hakone Ryokan 2:44
  2. Phases of the Moon – A Kyoto Maiko-San 2:51
  3. Nothing Stays the Same – Tokyo at Night 3:38

Each of these short piano pieces were composed while viewing the pictures I took of the culture I experienced during my recent visit to Japan.

Seunghee Lee (b. 1980), a composer and a pianist, was born and raised in South Korea, where she studied composition and piano at Seoul Arts High School and Ewha Womans University. Prior to moving to Southwest Florida in 2015, Lee received a master’s degree in composition from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Ph.D. in music composition and theory from Brandeis University. Lee is an Assistant Professor of Music at Ave Maria University.

Flying Kite (2017) – After launching a kite into the air, a kite flies in many different patterns depending on its shape, size, direction of wind, and technique of the person who is flying the kite. Kites maybe be flown for recreation and other practical uses. During the First Full Moon Day (Daeboreum, the 15th of January by the lunar calendar) in Korea, some write a phrase like “Bad luck be gone, good luck stay” and let their kites fly away, hoping to have good luck in the coming year.

‘Flying Kite’ for Piano Solo consists of five movements, and each movement describes different patterns and ways of kite flying.  The music is focused on genuinely portraying the movement of the kite, sometimes calmly and other times lively or a bit chaotic, rather than relating music to a particular purpose of flying a kite.

As the piece progresses, I also invite the audience to imagine and experience the spiritual aspect of kite flying, such as sending a message up to God or letting go of hassles and troubles by flying a kite away.

Brandon Martin

I currently perform at Disney with the Voices of Liberty a cappella vocal ensemble, with whom I have performed for two years.  I have earned music degrees from FSU and USF. I write mostly choral/vocal music, but I am venturing into instrumental music more and am writing my first musical.

Danses antiques was inspired by the Swingle Singers performing Bach, but also by the French Baroque style—a modern tribute akin to Ravel’s Le tombeau de Couperin. I try to give a nod to the Baroque without rigidly adhering to the style.

David James Nielsen is a composer for film, TV, and concert hall.

Welcome to Nantucket” was composed for the “Annabelle Hooper and the Ghosts of Nantucket” feature film, and is heard in the opening credits of the film showing Annabelle Hooper and her family driving through Nantucket to a house they will be staying at for a vacation on the island. The music has a uplifting feel and features strings, piano, celeste, and solos for flute, oboe, clarinet,and bassoon.

“Annabelle Finale and End Credits” was composed for the “Annabelle Hooper and the Ghosts of Nantucket” feature film, and is heard as Annabelle Hooper is leaving Nantucket island on a fairy boat. The music incorporates the love them between the characters Annabelle and Billy, and features piano, strings, french horn, and solos for clarinet, flute and oboe.

Sharon Omens is a composer, performer and music educator who has a deep passion for music.

After receiving her Bachelors of Music and Certificate of Music Therapy, Sharon devoted more than 30 years training young musicians and using music as a source of healing. She has been a spiritual performer of both piano and voice and has produced 6 albums with her original compositions. Currently, she is a member of the Central Florida Composers Forum and has featured her original compositions at the Timacua White House, The Blue Bamboo Center for the Arts and Christ Church Unity Orlando.

Damien Simon is an internationally known music composer for Ballet/Contemporary Dance Companies, TV/Film, Orchestras and Ensembles around the world. Damien has written dozens of scores for multiple genres and sizes of groups, depending on the goals of the project.

Educated at the Purchase Conservatory (NY) and University College of Dublin (IRELAND)   Website:  https://damiensimon.net

These 2 scores: “Bailey’s Nails”  and “False Narratives”, scores for Guitar and Viola/Guitar, were commissioned for performers in Salzburg, Austria at the Universität Mozarteum Salzburg. and this will be their US premiere.

Call for Participation: Fourth Annual Composers Salon

Overview

Central Florida composers are invited to submit works for the 4th Annual Composers Salon concert held at the Orlando White House on Sunday, September 18th at 7:30PM. All styles of art music, acoustic and electronic, are welcome for consideration. The composers must provide their own performers. The concert will be presented to an audience of new music fans in Orlando and live-streamed on the Web. Participants will receive a complimentary audio and video recording.

Purpose

The annual salons are concerts that celebrate new music written by local composers in the central Florida area. They are an opportunity for composers to share new music with the central Florida community. The concerts are free (donations welcome) and all ears are welcome.

Eligibility

Members of CFCF will receive priority for programming. Membership details are here on the site. Email David MacDonald with membership questions.

Application Deadline

The deadline for submissions is Sunday, August 14th. Please email the following information to Eric Brook (ericjbrook@gmail.com):

  • Title
  • Duration
  • Instrumentation
  • Performer’s Names
  • Score/Audio Recording/Proposal

Selection Process

Approximately 60-75 minutes of music will be scheduled. In the event that more than 75 minutes of music is submitted, scheduling priority will be on a first come first served basis. CFCF would like to thank the Timucua Arts Foundation for administrative assistance and use of the concert space.

Jan. 25: Sacred Sounds at Cathedral Church of St. Luke

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The Central Florida Composers Forum and the Cathedral Church of St. Luke proudly announce Sacred Sounds, a collaborative concert of contemporary spiritual music. Under the direction of Benjamin Lane, spiritual and sacred music will be performed by the adult choirs of the Cathedral Church of St. Luke, along with their Orlando Deanery Boychoir, Girls’ Choir. Guest instrumentalists include cellist Shona McFadyen-Mungall and the Orlando Brass Quintet (Rick Ingoglia and Ken Cutler, trumpets; Michael Barr, French horn; Ben Kon trombone; and William Miller, Tuba). Admission is free.

This will be a fascinating, diverse, and emotionally moving program. Carl Maultsby’s “I Hear Music in the Air” for children’s choir and organ is based upon and evokes the rich history of U.S. slave spirituals, while Keith Lay’s “Wonderous Love” is a 20th century arrangement of the 19th century Southern folk hymn that expresses awe at the love of God.

Benjamin Lane’s epic and joyful “Te Deum” for choir, organ and brass quintet, Michael Miller and Benjamin Lane’s collaborative “Let the People Praise You” for choir, organ, and brass quintet, and Stan Cording’s celebratory “Praise Ye the Lord” for choir and organ all evoke the celebratory and triumphal side of much sacred music while Glenn Osbourne’s chromatic “God, Your Golden Doorway Beckons” for children’s choir and piano highlights a more reflective side of the sacred.

Charles Griffin has two works on the program, a gut-wrenching setting of Rainer Maria Rilke’s “Pieta” for solo mezzo soprano, cello and organ, and “Out of nothingness,” for choir, organ and percussion, which weaves together fragments of poetic texts by various Sufi mystics and evokes non-Western spiritual dance traditions that rely on trance states.

Benoit Glazer’s “Into the Light (Prelude and Fugue in C minor)” for trumpet and organ was written specifically for this concert and marries elements of the improvisatory spirit of Jazz with the rigor of baroque counterpoint as found in the work of the Baroque master of church music, J.S. Bach.

Always Park Free. You can now park anytime 24/7 in the Regions Tower Garage. Entering the up-ramp on Washington, receive an Entrance ticket. At the Cathedral, pick up an Exit ticket from an usher. Using the two tickets, exit the garage free of charge. And street meters are still free all day on Sundays.

For more information call or text 407.951.0550.

Canines For Veterans Tickets On Sale Now!

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The Central Florida Composers Forum, Florida poets, and the Sovereign Brass are proud to honor the dedication and service American military veterans by presenting Canines for Veterans, a program of music and poetry November 9, 10, and 11 throughout the state of Florida. Proceeds from these concerts will be donated to K9s For Warriors, a Florida-based charity that provides service dogs to veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress and traumatic brain injury. The performances are sponsored by the Bryce L. West Foundation, Herschel Lasik, the Timucua Arts Foundation, and Full Sail University.

The concerts will feature patriotic standards as well as world premieres of new music and poems presented by Florida composers and poets. The concert will be performed three times:

  • Nov. 9, 7:30pm
    Trinity Preparatory School Auditorium
    5700 Trinity Prep Lane, Winter Park, FL 32792
    also featuring the Trinity Prep Choir
    Tickets: $20 [purchase]
  • Nov. 10, 7:30pm
    University of South Florida School of Music Concert Hall
    4202 East Fowler Ave., Tampa, FL 33620
    Tickets: $20 [purchase]
  • Nov. 11, 7:30pm
    Community Presbyterian Church in Jacksonville (Atlantic Beach)
    150 Sherry Dr, Atlantic Beach, FL 32233
    Tickets: $30 [purchase]

Tickets are on sale now for all three concerts through the links above. Please help us to support the great work K9s For Warriors does to help American military families.

Please also support Artists for Veterans, a companion art auction presented by the Timucua Arts Foundation. The auction will be held Nov. 3, beginning at 5:30pm at the Gallery at Avalon Island in downtown Orlando. See the Timucua projects page for more details.