"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.
Our composition students have a nifty year ahead of them. In addition to all the usual performance avenues, we have three faculty concerts this year in which the performers have requested the opportunity to premiere a student work.
• First up is the Philidor Percussion Group, which has asked for a piece to premiere here in January, with a subsequent performance at nearby UNCG.
• Also in January, tenor Glenn Siebert and mezzo Janine Hawley are performing a concert of works having to do with the seasons. They’ve asked our students to submit songs about autumn.
• For February, cellist Brooks Whitehouse has requested a piece for cello and children’s chorus -- a striking combination – I think he is planning three performances in all.
• Besides our faculty programs, the Winston-Salem Symphony is having its second annual competition for our students to write a piece for them to premiere in March.
• Then, of course, we have our annual 21st-Century Residency: the Prism Saxophone Quartet will come and, among other activities, have a recording session of student works.
Although our school year doesn't start for another couple of weeks, I’ve alerted all of our students of these opportunities, and I’m encouraging them to get to work. Deadlines are looming!
