ComMission projects

Christopher Adler - Plenum Vortices

Solo piece written for both Andrew and his good friend Morris Palter, this piece, written for a condensed drumset, was premiered in 2010 and will be toured heavily by Bliss this year on his solo tour.

John Supko - This River

Continuing work with John will feature not only the 2011 premiere of This River, but this work becoming the center of an evening-length work for Nothing in Common in collaboration with visual artist John Pobojewski.

Michael Gordon - Timber

An evening length percussion sextet that is currently in preparation by the nief-norf Project. To be toured throughout 2011 & 2012.

Martin Bresnick - A Message from the Emperor

A consortium, led by Kevin Dufford, for a percussion duo with spoken text by Franz Kafka. Andrew will be giving the regional premiere of this work at the nief-norf Summer Festival in June! Notes on the piece from Martin:

“In his short parable A Message From the Emperor, Frankz Kafka describes a glorious being, never seen by his countless lowly subjects, who, from his death bed, dispatched an indefatigable messenger (a prophet perhaps) with a most important message - a message just for you. However, for various practical reasons, the message cannot possibly be delivered. And even if it finally did arrive, the one who sent it will have died long ago.

We live on a small planet, circling a medium sized sun, in an ordinary galaxy, among an unimaginable number of other galaxies. We have lived here for more than a million years awaiting- in vain, it must be said - a plausible explanation for this. So we dream of a great being who, as his dying wish, has finally sent someone to bring to us the message for which we, in the twilight of our days, have been waiting so unbearably long. We are still waiting.” -MB

Paul Lansky - Vibraphone Solo TBD

A vibraphone solo being written for Andrew as a “dream project” between himself and composer Paul Lansky, who has shown interest in expanding the possibilities of sound from the concert vibraphone.

James Wood - Cloud Polyphonies

A consortium, headed up by Michael Rosen at Oberlin, Wood will be producing a 30-minute work for percussion sextet in three movements to be performed together or separately. This piece will be toured by the nief-norf Project in 2011-12.