Crystal update: I’m happy to be able at last to say what show Crystal is rehearsing, now that the cast has been announced; she’s in the ensemble, but has a nice vocal solo and lots of beautiful dancing. It will be the musical Anastasia, at the Watershed theater in Columbia, TN, running September 15 – 24. Tickets are already on sale!

Symphony No. 3 update: Since I last wrote here, the second movement of my new (third) symphony that I’ve been working on seemed to fly along in a white heat of inspiration (or perspiration, working day and night), once I realized it was meant to be the “Stonehenge” movement instead of “The Lady of Shalott” movement. It is now done, and I’m happy to share here a video of the musical mockup. For fun, I’ve put it here with a slide show of Stonehenge photos, but of course it will later be a piece of music only, for the concert hall and on a recording of the whole symphony.  Here is the program note for this ten-minute movement:

Movement 2. “Stonehenge” — You might imagine a haunting ambience with no melody to represent this silent, iconic monument about which so little is known. But Stonehenge speaks more to me of its abstract qualities – an embodiment of pure enigma, a longing for meaning, and a somber pendulum of timelessness (marked here by a slow, three-note ostinato that repeats over fifty times). For me, these things do require some ambience but also melody. If you listen very, very closely, perhaps you can hear the great stones singing these melodies. Some stones sing sadly, some tenderly, some cry out, and at last they all joyfully welcome those sunbursts that, like epiphanies, pierce the stones at every summer and winter solstice.

Ballet update: Two days from now there will be a multi-person production meeting via Zoom with our ballet executive producer and the symphony orchestra CEO, our orchestra conductor, and myself, to discuss details of the June 2024 premiere. I believe we are very near to signing a very prestigious choreographer, and now the story has been reworked; I have reorganized the musical numbers that I’ve composed so far (53 minutes’ worth of 70 total) to go with the revised story. Stay tuned for further details, as they develop.

Musical show update: My musical, Dear Miss Barrett, at Center for the Arts in nearby Murfreesboro, TN (part of greater Nashville) has now been officially set for March 1 – 10, 2024. That’s two full weekends of shows (perhaps 8 shows, not sure), fully staged and costumed with live music.

Fiction novel update: Some weeks ago, I shared here that I had received my sixth or seventh (I think) rejection of my fantasy fiction novel, Tales from the Realm of Faerie, which was inspired by my 2^nd symphony of that same subtitle. I said I’d just keep sending the book proposal out, and after some time neglecting it, I have done so again and again wait for the next rejection! I won’t believe my eyes or ears if someone finally writes or calls and says they want to publish it! 

Non-fiction book update: Meanwhile, I heard today from the publisher of my other book, the one that IS published (The Sound of Beauty), that they are about to do a big marketing push on it. It was published in 2019 and has very gradually kept increasing in sales, has finally paid back my advance and started to make a profit. It has just been adopted this summer by the Archdiocese of Denver for all the music teachers in the 35 schools of their school system, to read and incorporate into their curriculum standards – what lovely news. The marketing push will be to try to get other school systems to do the same. My book itself is not a book for kids, but it is a resource for the teachers.

Enough for now. As always, thanks for stopping by, and here’s wishing you a great and productive fortnight till next time!