"There are no two points so distant from one another that they cannot be connected by a single straight line -- and an infinite number of curves."
Composer Lawrence Dillon has produced an extensive body of work, from brief solo pieces to a full-length opera. Three disks of his music are due out in 2010 on the Bridge, Albany and Naxos labels. In the past year, he has had commissions from the Emerson String Quartet, the Cassatt String Quartet, the Mansfield Symphony, the Boise Philharmonic, the Salt Lake City Symphony, the Ravinia Festival, the Daedalus String Quartet, the Kenan Institute for the Arts, the University of Utah and the Idyllwild Symphony Orchestra.
Although he lost 50% of his hearing in a childhood illness, Dillon began composing as soon as he started piano lessons at the age of seven. In 1985, he became the youngest composer to earn a doctorate at The Juilliard School, and was shortly thereafter appointed to the Juilliard faculty. Dillon is now Composer in Residence at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, where he has served as Music Director of the Contemporary Ensemble, Assistant Dean of Performance, and Interim Dean of the School of Music. He was the Featured American Composer in the February 2006 issue of Chamber Music magazine.
Tonight I’m off to Paris -- on Thursday my piano quartet What Happened, which I wrote about in January, will be premiered at the Maison Danoise. I’ll also be visiting family and taking a trip to the Moulin d’andé, so it remains to be seen how much blogging I will be up for. Barring unforeseen challenges, I should be able to file a few reports.
Based on the rehearsal I heard last week, the music will go well. We’ll have a final rehearsal on Wednesday night, which will give me a good idea of what to expect in the concert.
As much as I’m looking forward to the performance, though, what I’m really looking forward to most is the food. I have a list of restaurants that will test my ability to keep from swooning.
Meanwhile, I have to practice shifting my voice up into my nasal passages.
posted by Lawrence Dillon
6:58 AM