Annual American Composers Update

Michael Braz

SAI Friend of the Arts Michael Braz is Professor of Music at Georgia Southern University, in Statesboro. Currently, he holds commissions from the Raleigh Boychoir for a sacred piece (text from Isaiah) for SSA choir and piano; and from Dr. Sandra McClain for a song cycle (classical texts) for soprano and piano. In 1998, Braz's arrangements that had performances included A La Nanita Nana, Over My Head, I Hear Music, and Summer Is a'Coming In (all for SSA choir and piano), led by Lynn Gackle at Perspectives '98, in Santa Fe, NM (July); and Portland Town, Leviathan, John Cook, and We, The People, with the vocal trio Schooner Fare and the Boston Pops Orchestra, under Bruce Hangen (May).

Premieres

The Magellan String Quartet presented Bluescape at the Georgia Southern University Museum.

Performances

Jubilate Deo, Noche Buena/Silent Night, and Over My Head, I Hear Music, were performed at the Georgia ACDA State Convention, Morrow, GA, conducted by John Broman, July 1998. In August 1998, Tell Me, Where is Fancy Bred? (text by Shakespeare), for SATB a cappella choir, was sung by The Vocal Solution in Norway, ME, with Del Leonard conducting.

Publications

The Lighthouse (poem by Longfellow); SSA choir and orchestra or piano; Jubilate Deo (text from Psalms 98, 100, 150); SSA choir and piano or brass quintet; Noche Buena/Silent Night; 2-part treble choir and piano; The Piper and the Child (text from William Blake's Songs of Innocence and Experience); 2-part treble voices and piano; all by Plymouth Music Co.