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NEWS
Boosey and Hawkes has published strike and Passages as part of their Windependence series of works for band / wind ensemble. Recordings of both pieces are available on the new Gasparo CD (GSCD 358) featuring the Meadows Wind Ensemble at Southern Methodist University, Jack Delaney, conductor. You can hear portions of their terrific recordings on my listen page.
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra recording of at the exactest point is now available from Tantara Records and Amazon.com. The cost is $10.95 plus shipping. You can listen to a short excerpt here.
The American Record Guide review (May/June 2006) states, "The scoring....is dazzling. Better still, the work's union of prismatic intricacy with forward-driving impulse creates a compelling sense of structural logic and emotional purpose. The work builds, slowly, with cunning episodes that seemingly relax but actually increase the tension, to the final section, where three climaxes, each grander than the last, generate almost unbearable excitement and finally that sense of arrival...suggested by Jones's title." Ed Reichel of the Deseret News calls the piece "a stunningly forceful, expressionistic essay that shows Jones as a masterful orchestrator and craftsman. "At the exactest point" is one of the more dynamic and electrifying works to come from a Utah-based composer. Davis and the CSO give a magnificent performance that is lustrous, rich and fabulously vibrant." (6-25-05)
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Praise for at the exactest point:
The piece is impressive at every level:
the architecture is flawless,
the orchestration stunning,
the emotional impact profound.
It is a rare occasion indeed when a new
composition affects me so deeply.
—Claude Baker, professor of composition, Indiana University; former composer in residence, St. Louis Symphony Orchestra
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Commissions
The American Fork Junior High School Music Department has commissioned I Will Rise, for band, orchestra, and chorus, to be premiered March 3-4, 2006.
I received a commission from the Barlow Endowment for Music Composition to write a new work for the Brigham Young University Philharmonic commemorating the 200th anniversary of the birth of Joseph Smith. Titled Green Tree, it premiered November 18, 2005.
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra premiered my piece at the exactest point January 8-10, 2004 in Chicago. Sir Andrew Davis conducted. You can
- Listen to a KBYU FM radio interview about the piece
- Read about the premiere and see pictures in BYU Magazine.
Watch BYU Broadcasting's short documentary on the premiere.
- Read Wynne Delacoma's review in the Chicago Sun Times.
I am grateful to the American Music Center for a Composer Assistance Grant to support copying costs for the premiere.
In September 2003 I was appointed dean of the College of Fine Arts and Communications at Brigham Young University. You can read about it in the BYU online newspaper.
Photo by Mark Philbrick.
For information about my music or to request copies of scores, parts, or CDs, please email me at stephen at stephenjones dot us.
last updated: August 6, 2007
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Recent and Upcoming Performances
strike
Brigham Young University Wind Symphony, March 1, 2006, BYU. CBDNA Western / Northwestern Division Conference, University of Nevada, Reno, March 17, 2006.
Birmingham Conservatoire Wind Ensemble, Birmingham, England. December 2, 2003
I Will Rise
American Fork Junior High School Orchestra, Band, and Chorus. March 3, 4 2006, American Fork, Utah (premiere).
Green Tree
Brigham Young University Philharmonic, Kory Katseanes, conductor. November 18, 2005, Provo, Utah (premiere).
Passages
Meadows Wind Ensemble, Southern Methodist University. April 4, 2003, Dallas; April, 10, 2003, London, England; April 13, 2003, Manchester, England (premiere).
Meadows Wind Ensemble, Southern Methodist University. November 20, 2003 (performance and recording session).
at the exactest point
Meadows Wind Ensemble, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX. August 27 and September 26, 2003.
University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point Wind Ensemble, March 4, 2004.
strike 2
University of Illinois Percussion Ensemble, April 4, 2003
The Temple of Our Listening
Group for New Music, Brigham Young University, November 6, 2004
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