Brian Fennelly

Professor Emeritus in the School of Arts and Science at New York University, Brian Fennelly is co-director of the Washington Square Contemporary Music Society, now in its landmark 30th season of presenting concerts in New York City, which this season includes appearances by the International Contemporary Ensemble, the Avalon Quartet, and a collaborative effort with American Opera Projects and the Guggenheim Museum Works and Process series. (See www.wscms.org). Compositions currently in progress include a quintet for the Cygnus Ensemble (Skyscapes IV) scored for two winds, two strings, and guitar. Two works premiered in 2006 at Merkin Hall, New York, develop the same basic material and are dedicated to the composer’s young granddaughter, Sigol Sara Fennelly (Sigol Musings and Sigol: Thirty Flowers). A full biography and catalog of works can be viewed at the ACA website: www.composers.com.

Premieres

Cellist André Emelianoff premiered the cello version of Sigol Musings (2005) on April 3, 2006, at Merkin Hall, New York, NY, while the related String Quartet No. 3 (Sigol: Thirty Flowers) received its premiere by the Avalon Quartet on December 14, also at Merkin Hall.

Performances

Harold Rosenbaum and the New York Virtuosos Singers performed the newly-revised Winterkill in concert at Park Avenue Methodist Church, New York, on May 6, 2006. Rolf Schulte performed the original violin version of Sigol Musings in concert at Hamilton College, Clinton, NY, on November 11, 2006 at the SCI Regional Conference.

Publications

Winterkill (revised 2005), for chorus and piano on a poem of Shelley, and Empirical Rag, version for wind octet with optional contrabassoon (also revised 2005); both by American Composers Edition (American Composers Alliance).

Recordings

In October 2006, the Contemporary Music Projects program of the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust provided a generous subvention toward a CD recording of chamber music to appear in 2007.

Further Information

• 2004-2005 American Composers Update
• 2003-2004 American Composers Update
• 2001-2002 American Composers Update
• 2000-2001 American Composers Update
• 1999-2000 American Composers Update
• 1998-1999 American Composers Update
• 1997-1998 American Composers Update
• 1996-1997 American Composers Update
• SAI's Composers Bureau Online