News

Florida Symphony Youth Orchestras announce Composer-in-residence partnership with CF2

ORLANDO, FL – In partnership with Florida Symphony Youth Orchestras (FSYO), the Central Florida Composers Forum invited current members to apply for one of five composer residencies with ensembles within the FSYO organization. Residencies will take place during FSYOs 63rd concert season with the unifying theme for all residences being PULSE. Each composer was left to interpret that theme in any meaningful and appropriate way.

Overture Strings will premiere a commissioned piece by composer Ryan McQuinn during the POPs in the Garden concert on Sunday, February 9, 2020, at The Grove at Mead Botanical Garden. “My piece for the young children in Overture Strings embraces unity while celebrating diversity,” says McQuinn. “It’s wonderful to witness the youngest musicians learning to walk. I hope that my piece helps them feel more sure-footed and inspires confidence that bolsters their journey.”

The Prelude Orchestra will premiere a commissioned piece by Timothy Stulman during the Spring Classics concert on Sunday, March 8, 2020 at Edgewater High School. “It’s an honor to have the chance to work with such talented young musicians,” says Stulman. “Young players are often times even more creative and receptive than seasoned professionals, since the world is newer for them.” Also premiering a piece during the Spring Classics alongside the Philharmonia Orchestra is composer Alex Burtzos. Burtzos notes, “My piece for the Philharmonia Orchestra addresses the word PULSE according to its musical, biological, and historical meanings; it’s an emotional work that will demand a virtuosic response from these talented young performers.”

The Jazz 1 Orchestra will premiere a commissioned piece by composer Scott Dickinson during the Jazz at Blue Bamboo concert on Sunday, April 19, 2020 at Blue Bamboo Center for the Arts. “I’m thrilled to get the chance to compose for the gifted young musicians that comprise the FSYO Jazz Orchestra,” says Dicksinon. “There are few experiences that can invigorate a future composer like performing a new piece written specifically for you! I’ll be creating a piece that’s both tailored to the strengths of the musicians, and also inspired by our shared theme of PULSE.”

The Symphonic Orchestra, led by Music Director Hanrich Claassen, will premiere a commissioned piece by composer Brandon Martin during FSYO’s 63rd Season Finale concert on Sunday, May 3, 2020 at Calvary Orlando. “I seek to write a piece that addresses the Pulse Shooting: not only exploring the grief and sadness in its aftermath, but also the healing, the affirmation of self, and the celebration of being alive,” says Martin. “I am excited to work with an organization such as FSYO that is passionate about educating the next generation of musicians.”

Tickets for each of the concerts may be purchased online at www.fsyo.org with special pricing for children, student, senior, and military. Florida academic and private teachers receive free admission to all FSYO season subscription concerts with proof of I.D.

About the Composers:

  • Ryan McQuinn – Ryan has worked on various video games and podcasts such as Interstellar Space: Genesis, Lotia, Dungeons & Doritos, Call of Cthulu Mystery Program, Liberty: Vigilance, and Dark Dice. He is currently creating sfx for Axe Cop, scoring and doing sound design for the Lightning Dogs short film, and writing orchestral versions of Johnny Cash music for Cash & Friends.
  • Timothy Stulmam – Timothy has received numerous honors and awards at both national and international levels. As the winner of the First Music Commission, he was commissioned to compose an orchestral piece for the New York Youth Symphony that was premiered in Carnegie Hall on March 7, 2010. His music has been selected for performance by the Cleveland Chamber Symphony, Toledo Youth Orchestra, the International Tribuna Sax-Ensemble in Madrid, and the BGSU Philharmonia. He was a featured composer at University of Central Missouri’s New Music Festival, Electronic Music Midwest, the 1st Annual Huntsville New Music Festival, and Juventas New Music Ensemble’s Murmurs from Limbo concert series.
  • Alex Burtzos – Alex is an American composer and conductor based in New York City and Orlando, FL. His work has been performed across four continents, and released on New Amsterdam and Sono Luminus record labels. Alex has collaborated with some of the world’s foremost contemporary musicians and ensembles, including JACK Quartet, Yarn/Wire, Contemporaneous, ETHEL, loadbang, Jenny Lin, RighteousGIRLS, and many others. He is the founder and artistic director of ICEBERG New Music, a New York-based composers’ collective, and the conductor of the hip-hop/classical chamber orchestra ShoutHouse.
  • Scott Dickinson – Scott has won multiple awards for big band arrangement and professional and collegiate jazz ensembles across the country have played his compositions and arrangements. He was recognized as the honorable mention in the Doc Severinsen International Orchestral Composition Contest. He has been commissioned to write for jazz ensembles, choir, and orchestra. Scott is the Course Director for Musical Arrangement in the Music Production Department at Full Sail University and is a member of the Dr. Phillips Jazz Orchestra.
  • Brandon Martin – Brandon is a performer/vocalist, choral clinician/conductor, composer, and former music educator. He currently sings with The Voices of Liberty at Walt Disney World Resort. He also sings with the Tampa Spiritual Ensemble and serves on the Board of Directors for the Orlando Gay Chorus. He was commissioned by the Association of Anglican Musicians for their 2015 Annual Conference, and has written orchestrations for St. Pete Opera.

About FSYO: Florida Symphony Youth Orchestras exists to encourage children and young adults, through the practice and performance of orchestral music, to become passionate leaders, thinkers, and contributors in their local community and beyond. In its 63rd Concert Season. Today, FSYO serves almost 300 students and is comprised of seven ensembles – three symphony orchestras, one string-training orchestra, a chamber orchestra, two jazz orchestras – and two supplementary programs – Stringmania Summer Camp and Sing-Song, String-Along.

FSYO programs are carefully structured to encourage student growth with FSYO throughout their primary and secondary years. Florida Symphony Youth Orchestras full range of ensembles gives each student a place to excel with peers at a similar level, and an opportunity to collaborate with seasoned music professionals on local, national, and international levels. During summers, Symphonic Orchestra students participate in life-changing experiences of organized tours, alternating between international & national travel every other year.

Programs are sponsored in part by the Florida Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs; the Florida Council on Arts and Culture; Orlando Utilities Commission; The City of Orlando, Mayor’s Matching Grant; and United Arts of Central Florida. We thank these groups for their generous support.

By Charlie Griffin, ago

7th Annual Composer DIY Salon Concert

Reserve Your Tickets Here

Central Florida Composers Forum – 7th Annual Composers DIY Salon Concert
Sunday, September 29 at the Timucua White House
2000 South Summerlin, Orlando, FL 32806.
Doors: 7pm. Concert: 7:30.
VIP Tickets are $30, other seating by donation.

For seven 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 Rebekah Todia’s Crossing The Bar, for piano and voice; Melody Cook’s For Two Voices, No. 2, for clarinet and piano; Holly Cordero’s Personified Bliss, for string quartet, Bob Jr.’s Conjure the Storm, for piano, guitar, bass, and drums; Paul Austin Sanders’ electronic compositions Danze Africanne, Spirit of the East, and Bop Latinesque; ChanJi Kim’s Imaginary Lines for clarinet and audio; and premieres of Alex Burtzos’ X Codes, for violin, clarinet, and piano, and also his Perforation, for solo piano.

By Charlie Griffin, ago

Venus & the Radio – August 8 @ Timucua

Reserve your tickets here

Venus & the Radio
Thursday, August 8 at the Timucua White House
2000 South Summerlin, Orlando, FL 32806.
Doors: 7pm. Concert: 7:30.
Tickets are $10.

While Orlando has begun to gain recognition for its arts community, not much has been said about the lines and boundaries drawn between artistic disciplines. When it comes to music and literature, The Central Florida Composers Forum, in collaboration with local literary publisher Burrow Press, aim to blur those boundaries and inspire future collaborations with their upcoming event, “Venus & the Radio.”

This one-of-a-kind event will feature two prominent Florida authors reading excerpts from their newest books (published by Burrow Press) in collaboration with four Orlando-based members of the Central Florida Composers Forum.

Orlando Poet Laureate Susan Lilley will perform Florida-inspired work from her collection Venus in Retrograde with accompaniment from composers Mark Piszczek and Timothy Stulman. Piszczek’s interactive approach will incorporate Lilley reading live with Piszczek on soprano saxophone and pre-recorded audio electronically manipulated by sound artist Jared Silvia. Stulman will do real-time audio processing of Lilley’s performance, combined with a pre-recorded audioscape.

Shane Hinton will perform excerpts from Radio Dark, a surreal post-apocalyptic novel set in Florida. Composers Holly Cordero and Charlie Griffin will provide an underscore in the manner of classic radio plays.

“This event is a great opportunity to not only illustrate the variety of talent in Orlando,” says Burrow Press publisher Ryan Rivas, “but also to acknowledge that art isn’t created in a vacuum. And especially to show how one art form can and does inspire others.”

A Q&A and book signing will follow the performance.  

By Charlie Griffin, ago

5 composers to be selected for residencies with the Florida Symphony Youth Orchestras in 2019-20 – June 30 application deadline

Call for Applications

Overview

In partnership with Florida Symphony Youth Orchestras (FSYO), Central Florida Composers Forum invites current composer members (if you would like to join CF2, please indicate so at the end of the form you will fill out, linked below) to apply for one of five possible composer residencies with ensembles within the FSYO organization.

Residencies will take place during 2019-2020 concert season. Composers may apply for more than one residency, but will not be granted more than one. Each applicant composer agrees to at least three interactions with their ensemble (two preliminary sessions and one rehearsal) in addition to attending the premiere of the work they write. Rehearsals take place on Sundays, starting August 18th. Each composer will receive a small stipend for their residency, and each residency will have its own timeline.

Theme

The unifying theme for all the residencies is PULSE. We leave it to the composer to interpret that theme in any meaningful and appropriate way (musically, biologically, culturally, etc.).

Ensemble information

1. Symphonic Orchestra – (A new work 9-12+ minutes duration) $500 stipend. Season Finale Concert premiere on May 3rd, 2020; final parts and score deadline March 11th. This is their premiere orchestra. They play difficult music at a high level.

2. Philharmonia Orchestra – (A new work 4-10+ minutes duration) $500 stipend. Spring Concert premiere on March 8th, 2020; final parts and score deadline January 8th. This group is comprised of younger, less experienced players than the Symphonic Orchestra, but is still capable of rendering complex repertoire.

3. Jazz 1 Orchestra (17-20 players) – (A new work 4-6+ minutes duration) $500 stipend. Premiere TBD. Highly capable jazz band.

4. Prelude Orchestra – (A new work 4-6 minutes duration) $400 stipend. Spring Concert premiere on March 8th, 2020; final parts and score deadline January 8th. This is a beginner full orchestra (light on brass) that typically plays early classical repertoire, for example.

5. Overture Strings –  (A new work 3-4 minutes duration) $300 stipend. Season Opener Concert premiere on October 20th, 2019; final parts and score deadline September 13th. This is their entry level string group. Think of Suzuki book 2. You may consider a story telling component or involving one or two professional level adult musicians.

For more information on the ensembles, please visit: https://www.fsyo.org/programs/orchestras.html

Application Process

The entire application can be accomplished by following this link.

There, you will be asked the following questions:

  • Which ensemble are you applying to work with (First, Second, Third Choice)?
  • What does the residency ideally look like to you, and what role will you as the composer ideally play? If you have more than one choice for ensemble, would your answer change for each ensemble? If so, how?
  • How do you envision incorporating the theme of PULSE into the residency? If you have more than one choice for ensemble, would your answer change for each ensemble? If so, how?
  • If you envision involving a third-party local artist or organization, who would it be and why? (leave blank if N/A)

You will also be asked to supply a single MP3 (can be excerpts, up to 10MB*), a single PDF of a score sample, and a 100-200 word biography.

The deadline for the application to be submitted is June 30, 2019.

If you have any questions, please email cfcomposers@gmail.com or text me at 407.619.6715.

Incomplete submissions will be rejected. *If the file size of the submission exceeds 10MB, please email a Dropbox/Google Drive or equivalent link.

By Charlie Griffin, ago

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.

By Charlie Griffin, ago

Waterfalls, Forests, Coastlines, and other Musical Dreams on March 31 @ 7:30 pm

Central Florida Composers Forum presents “Waterfalls, Forests, Coastlines, and other Musical Dreams,” a concert of works by local composers at Timucua White House, March 31.

Winter Park, Florida – The Central Florida Composers Forum will present “Waterfalls, Forests, Coastlines, and other Musical Dreams,” a showcase concert of selected works scored for Pierrot Ensemble by Full Sail University composer and Central Florida Composers Forum founder and Executive Director Charlie Griffin, University of Central Florida’s recent transplant Alex Burtzos, Orlando-based composers Erik Branch, Damien Simon, and film composer and Cocoa Beach resident Joe Gray.

The term Pierrot Ensemble refers to a specific instrumentation used by Austrian (and later Austrian-American) composer Arnold Schoenberg for his seminal and most famous work, Pierrot Lunaire. Composed in 1912 for voice, flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano, and percussion, this combination was subsequently taken up by many later composers such as Milton Babbitt, John Cage, and Peter Maxwell Davies.

The musicians featured in this concert will be Julie Bateman (voice), Katie Mess (flute), Erik Cole (clarinet), Pepina Dell’Ollio (violin), Abigail Collins (cello), Ammon Perry Bratt (piano), and Justin Steger (percussion).

A diverse collection of works on the program include Charlie Griffin’s Shifting Coastlines, a trio of songs whose lyrics are taken from an anthology of poetry called Verse and Universe. These songs all draw upon science and math to explore the human experience. One example from the set is “Love’s Discrete Non-linearity,” a poem set like a Gypsy tango that uses the language of Chaos Theory to understand a romantic relationship. Selections from two works by Alex Burtzos will be on the program: The Birth of Dangun, a ballet based on the Korean myth of creation, and The Impossible Object, a multi-movement work inspired by works of M.C. Escher. Four vignettes by Erik Branch will include a premiere of his Brises Dansantes. The concert will be rounded out by Joe Gray’s The Black Forest, and Damien Simon’s Change.

The concert will take place on March 31 at the Timucua White House, 2000 South Summerlin, Orlando, FL 32806. Doors open at 7pm. Concert at 7:30. Tickets are by donation.

There’s a reason you don’t see many violinists outside of the classical sphere, because it’s a hard instrument to master and apply to other genres at will. And that’s why it’s beautiful, when you pick up an amazon violin, especially for the first time, it fights back. You form a deep, unique connection with an instrument like that.

By Eric Brook, ago

Central Florida Composers Forum Piano Concert at Timucua Arts October 21, 2018 – Performance Videos

Thank you to everyone who joined us in person and online for our PIano concert!  Above are videos of each piece on the program. If you like these pieces, let us know in the comments. Or better yet, tell your friends! Check back soon for information about future performances!

 

By Charlie Griffin, ago

The Central Florida Composers Forum Presents a Piano Concert at Timucua!

We are very proud to present a concert of piano works by the very talented members of the Central Florida Composers Forum.   We will showcase selected works for piano solo and piano-four-hands.  The featured performers are the award-winning pianist Rose Grace and resident pianist for the Alterity Chamber Orchestra, Will Daniels.

The concert will take place on October 21, 2018  at 7:30 p.m. The venue is the Timucua Arts Foundation, 2000 Summerlin, Orlando, Florida.  Suggested donation is $10-$20

Please join us for a beautiful night of music!

ABOUT THE COMPOSERS AND THEIR COMPOSITIONS

Eric Brook is a classically trained pianist who has degrees in music composition from Oberlin Conservatory (B.M) and the University of Minnesota (M.A).  He composes music in many genres including art music, popular music, and electronic dance music. Currently, he is Course Director of Musical Structure and Analysis at Full Sail University in the Music Production department. Eric also serves as Music Director at Unity on the Space Coast in Titusville, FL.

Diginary is a minimalist composition explores the combination of the harmonic overtone series merged with the mathematics of the binary number system. Compositional strategies of additive rhythmic patterns and indeterminacy are also interwoven throughout the texture.

Alex Burtzos is an American composer and conductor based in New York City and Orlando, FL.  His works, which bristle with “biting contemporary edge” (Berkshire Eagle) have been performed across four continents.  Alex has collaborated with some of the world’s foremost contemporary musicians and ensembles, including JACK Quartet, Yarn/Wire, Contemporaneous, ETHEL, loadbang, Jenny Lin, RighteousGIRLS, and many others.  He is the founder and artistic director of ICEBERG New Music, a New York-based composers’ collective, and the conductor of the hip-hop/classical chamber orchestra ShoutHouse. Alex holds a DMA from Manhattan School of Music, where his primary teachers were Reiko Fueting and Mark Stambaugh.  He serves as Assistant Professor of Composition at the University of Central Florida.

Wilfred Owen (1893-1918) was a British poet. He composed almost all of his poems while serving in the army during World War I, and his writing directly addresses the ground-level experience of an infantry soldier during a brutal, horrific conflict. Owens’ poems are raw, visceral, and occasionally shocking, even to someone reading more than a century after their creation. In Wilfred Owen at the Gates,  I’ve taken six of these works as a starting point, marrying them to a structure based on Dante’s Inferno. Wilfred Owen was killed in battle in November, 1918, just one week before the armistice. He was 26 years old.

A composer, writer, and voice actor, Charlie Griffin was born and raised in New York. He teaches in Full Sail University’s Bachelor of Science in Music Production degree program. 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 Orlando Philharmonic and for guitarist Robert Phillips. He is the founder and first president of the Central Florida Composers Forum, and has been a large budget panelist for United Arts of Central Florida, a radio show host on WPRK 91.5fm, and the music columnist for Artborne Magazine. Griffin embraces creativity in many forms:  improv comedy, standup comedy, and acting. In May of 2017, his one hour sketch-prov comedy show, enjoyed a 5-show run at the Orlando Fringe Festival. Shortly thereafter, he embarked on a second degree: a BFA in Creative Writing for Entertainment on faculty scholarship at Full Sail University.

A composer can only express their perception of the world through the filter of their own experience, and since my earliest musical experiences revolved around singing and drumming, I often incorporate in my writing elements of popular and/or world music that are most compelling to me, within the context of continuing a concert music tradition.  Vernacular Dances is a three-movement work that comes from this impulse.  The first movement blends jazz and latinesque motor rhythms with melodic material loosely derived from Webern’s Variations for Piano, Op. 27, Mvt. 2.  The second movement is gentle and arioso, orchestrally conceived.  The third contrasts blues rhythms with some I picked up listening to Latin Jazz.  The piece was premiered by Perry Townsend at Steinway Hall in New York, and has since been recorded by Tomoko Deguchi for Capstone Records and by Theresa McCollough for Innova Records.

Sharon Omens is a prolific composer who is the current acting president of the Central Florida Composers Forum.  She has produced six albums with her original compositions and regularly showcases her original music at the Timucua White House.   Ms. Omens is also a spiritual performer of both piano and voice and a music educator/therapist who has devoted 40 years to training young musicians and using music as a source of healing with those in need. Sharon holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Music (piano performance) and a Certificate of Music Therapy.

Visions is a solo piano composition which has a central jazz theme that is revisited diatonically, atonally and rhythmically throughout the piece. Since Ms. Omens is a pianist herself and also studied and played jazz extensively throughout her youth, she enjoys using jazz harmonies and experimenting with them to create contrasting moods and emotions.  Visions moves through many temperaments including lazy, playful, energetic, gentle, determined, passionate, turbulent and resolute. Counterpoint, parallel thirds and varied rhythms and tempos are also utilized in some sections in order to create added intensity, texture and color.

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.

Sick People, Leroy, and Happiness are three solo piano scores written at different times. As a composer for multiple genres and mediums (dance, film, theater); I keep a prolific catalogue, ever expanding in developing my maturity as a composer. Much of my scores have been written just for the sake of writing, not for specific projects. Exploring different genres, mediums and other cultures musics’ excites my hunger for seeing, hearing, and experiencing new sounds and cultures with their music. 

 

 

 

By Charlie Griffin, ago

Videos: Salon Concert, September 9, 2018

Thank you to everyone who joined us in person and online for our Salon concert!  Below are videos of each piece on the program. If you like these pieces, let us know in the comments. Or better yet, tell your friends! Check back soon for information about future performances!

By Charlie Griffin, ago

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

By Eric Brook, ago