The Central Florida Composers’ Forum presents its annual Salon Concert on Sunday, September 28th, at Timucua. This long-standing CF2 institution is unlike most CF2 events, which have a set instrumentation and theme, in this one, each composer writes for an ensemble or performer of their choice and provides their own performers, hence the DIY sobriquet. This evening’s concert will Florida and world premières of new works by Alex Burtzos, Nate Chivers, Troy Gifford, Kristi Ouellette, Mark Piszczek, and Paul Austin Sanders. Performers include Samantha Barnes Daniel (soprano), Jessica Hall Speak (clarinet), Yun-Ling Hsu (piano), Nate Chivers (guitar), Maria Pikoula (piano), Kristi Ouellette (soprano and piano), Heather Langs (piano), Emily Heumann (mezzo-soprano), Elaine Corriveau (piano), and Paul Austin Sanders (guitar).
The concert presents Alex Burtzos’ “Senescence,” for soprano, clarinet, and piano, Nate Chivers’ “Reticence,” “Windsor Jambs,” and “Live Oak” for electric guitar, Troy Gifford’s “Taqsim” for piano, Kristi Ouellette’s “Compensation” for soprano and piano, and her “Melancholy” for piano, Mark Piszczek’s “Three Songs To Poems By Vincente Huidobro” for mezzo-soprano and piano, and Paul Austin Sanders’ “Etude” for guitar and two electronic soundscapes of his, “Unfolding One At A Time” and “The Galactic Rim,” presented as bookends to the concert.
This is all unique and mostly not previous heard music — well worth your while.
Sunday, August 24, 2025 | 7:30 PMTimucua Arts Foundation
Join us for an evening of rich language, expressive music, and vibrant cross-cultural collaboration, where poetry and composition meet in a shared celebration of the Hispanic diaspora.
This second installment features all newly penned works by local composers setting iconic poems by remarkable poets from Nicaragua, Cuba, Argentina, Peru, and Chile. Featuring texts by Rubén Darío, Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda, José Martí, Alfonsina Storni, César Vallejo, Gabriela Mistral, and Vicente Huidobro, the concert pairs expressive new music with readings and cultural commentary, creating a rich, bilingual artistic experience.
Performers from OCCO, VoxO, and CF2: Keri Lee Pierson (soprano) Emily Heumann (mezzo-soprano) Julia Gessinger (violin) Kristine Griffin (piano) Troy Gifford (guitar)
Poems will be recited in both Spanish and English by Charlie Griffin (OCCO/CF2) and Thamara Bejarano, with cultural context provided by Bejarano (Open Scene Orlando).
The evening’s program brings to life the words of celebrated Latin American poets, each reimagined in new musical settings by composers from Central Florida. These vivid, contemporary interpretations, featuring combinations of voice, piano, guitar, and violin, create an intimate and expressive tapestry of sound and verse.
NICARAGUA Rubén Darío’s Sonatina, set by Gerald Law II for mezzo-soprano and guitar, opens the program with a dreamlike portrait of a young princess longing for a life beyond her royal surroundings.
CUBA Al partir by Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda is a poignant farewell to Cuba, filled with longing and sorrow, and is set by James Hall for soprano and piano. Orlando maverick composer Keith Lay offers a bold setting for soprano and piano of José Martí’s iconic Yo soy un hombre sincero, a powerful declaration of honesty, openness, and personal resolve.
ARGENTINA Alfonsina Storni’s Dulce tortura is a stirring depiction of conflicted desire and emotional complexity. Eric Heumann sets this poem for mezzo-soprano and piano, revealing both its sensuality and its quiet anguish.
PERÚ In Los Heraldos Negros, César Vallejo gives voice to deep spiritual and existential pain. Paul Austin Sanders’s setting for mezzo-soprano and piano draws out the poem’s dark gravity and unanswered questions of suffering.
CHILE Gabriela Mistral’s Hallazgo, a lyrical discovery of love, is set by Bob Walker Jr. for soprano, mezzo, and guitar, striving to capture the poem’s brief, luminous intimacy. Two works by Vicente Huidobro close the program: Días y noches te he buscado…, a symbolic search for truth and selfhood, set by Mark Piszczek for mezzo-soprano and piano; and Altazor, Canto I (fragment), an excerpt from Huidobro’s avant-garde masterpiece, set by Troy Gifford for soprano and guitar, evoking themes of flight, dislocation, and transcendence.
CF2 champions the creation and performance of new music by Central Florida composers, while Open Scene fosters artistic exchange across cultures and disciplines, amplifying the voices of Latin America. This shared vision makes Songs of the Hispanic Diaspora II a resonant and meaningful artistic gathering.
A truly unique and fascinating event will feature premières of works by 8 composers from the Central Florida Composers’ Forum on Wednesday, January 29th, starting at 5:30 PM as part of the “Music in the Gallery” at the Art & History Centers of Maitland (231 W. Packwood Ave., Maitland, FL 32751.) This concert is in conjunction with “Future Nature: The Silent Conversations of Sinuhé Vega,” the new exhibit featuring works of the artist Sinuhé Vega Negrin, whose painting and ceramic sculptures explore ecological and human frailty, drawing on the Dutch Vanitas tradition, and themes of magic realism, surrealism, and of humanity’s mental constructs and disconnection from nature.
The artist will give a talk about his work. The soprano Anna Eschbach, violinist Galen Kaup, and guitarist Troy Gifford will be performing a recital of lush, intimate and arresting music comprised of the premières of Erik Branch’s “There Was Always Time” (poem by Logan Anderson), Alex Burtzos’ “Four Haiku” (poems of Natsune Sо̄seki, Aida Bunosuke, and Yosa Buson), Charlie Griffin’s “Sunken City” (poem by Ariel Francisco), Gerald Law II’s “Take a Look” (poem by the composer), Nate Chivers’ “A Cloud of Flowers” Matsuо̄ Bashо̄, Nick Scout’s “Conversing With Statues” (poem by the composer), Paul Austin Sanders’ “Nature’s Connection To Us…As One We Are,” and Troy Gifford’s “Nothing Gold Can Stay” (setting Robert Frost’s well-known poem.) The event is free and open to the public (register for it on the Eventbrite link below as part of the museum’s “Last Wednesday” series, and is a co-production with the Howey Music Series.
Wednesday, January 29. The Abbey – 100 S. Eola Drive, Suite 100, Orlando FL Show starts at 7:30pm, doors open at 7:00pm $15 in advance, $20 at the door
What happens when six composers from the Central Florida Composers Forum collaborate with six storytellers from the Orlando Weekly “Best of 2019” Orlando Story Club on a predetermined theme? The result is “Joyland,” a one-of-a-kind and first-of-its kind event in Central Florida, produced by the Downtown Arts District. Storytellers will perform compelling personal experiences accompanied by original scores by local composers. The stories and styles are as diverse as our city, they have been in wonderful places performing and learning at Muse Mantra School of Music & Arts for next shows.
The pairs are as follows: Bobby Wesley with Mark Piszczek; Jesse James with Charlie Griffin; Logan Anderson with Erik Branch; Madeline Potts with Paul Austin Sanders; Daniele Ziss with Alex Burtzos; and Aquanza Cadogan with Holly Cordero.
The storytellers will perform with live music by players drawn from the local Alterity Chamber Orchestra, a group known for its dedication to performing contemporary music at the highest levels: Tina Edelstein, flute; Beatriz Ramirez, oboe; Jessica Speak, clarinet; Kathy Thomas, horn; and Christian Eberle, bassoon.
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.
