Annual American Composers Update

SAI member Persis Parshall Vehar, a free-lance composer/pianist based in Buffalo, NY, has won her 13th consecutive ASCAP award, and a Margaret Fairbank Jory award to write Winter Mountain, for wind ensemble.

On Mar. 6, 1997, Sound-Piece, a three-movement work for clarinet and piano, was presented by Crystal Reinoso and Vehar at SUNY College at Buffalo. The Crane Guitar Quartet, directed by Doug Rubio, introduced the second movement (Snow-Blind) from North Country Suite, at SUNY College at Potsdam, Apr. 29, 1997. Sound-Piece, a three-movement work for organ, had its premiere June 25, 1997, with Jonathan Biggers at the AGO Region II Convention, in Buffalo. On Sept. 28, 1997, the opera French Friends had its first production with soprano Adrienne Tworek-Gryta, baritone Michael Harris, and students from the Alliance Francaise Summer Camp, at Canisius College, in Buffalo. Other 1997 premieres in Buffalo included Hudson River Suite, with Vehar at the piano, at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery (Nov. 15); and Sea Pieces, with the Buffalo Philharmonic Woodwind Quartet, at the Burchfield-Penny Art Center (Nov. 19). On Feb. 23, 1998, The Butterfly Songs will be sung for the first time, with mezzo-soprano Sharon Mabry and pianist Patsy Wade, at Austin-Peay State University, in Tennessee. On Mar. 10, 1998, Time Studies will be played first, with guitarist Doug Rubio.

On Mar. 12, 1997, David Kuehn, trumpets, and Vehar, piano, performed Sound-Piece at Michigan State University, in Lansing. Martin Ruminski, bass, sang The Ghosts of Lindsay in Philadelphia, PA, April 1997. Three Renaissance Tableaux was heard with the Buried Treasures Chamber Ensemble in Lockport, NY, May 25, 1997. In 1997 the Unitarian-Universalist Church Choirs, Barbara Wagner, conductor, presented Dona Nobis Pacem in East Aurora, NY (June 27) and on their British Isles Summer Tour. Works heard in the Buffalo area in 1997 included O Sacrum Convivium and Dona Nobis Pacem, with the Buffalo Philharmonic Chorus Chamber Singers, led by Thomas Swan (Apr. 13); Nine Silences for Song and Parker Treescapes, with Vehar, narrator/piano, at the Unitarian-Univeralist Church (Aug. 24); and the one-act family opera A Hill of Bones, with the SUNY at Buffalo Opera Department, directed by Gary Burgess (Dec. 5-6).

With Roses; string orchestra; Northfield Press.

Women, Women; Sharon Mabry, mezzo-soprano, and Patsy Wade, piano; Three from Emily (Leyerle Publications); Thomas King, tenor; David Vanderkook, cello; Vicki King, piano; Aeolian Records, Nov. 1997.

• SAI's Composers Bureau Online
• SAI's Music for Young People section.