Lawrence Dillon@Sequenza21.com

"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.


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Friday, December 05, 2008
You Had To Be There

Last summer, I wrote about The Better Angels of Our Nature, which was one of the winners of Ravinia’s first composer competition. Last week, I was doing a search for information on another piece of mine, and I came across this nice review of the premiere of TBAoON, which took place on November 23rd. Funny part is, Ravinia never told me when they were premiering the piece – I found out by accident. I think this may be the first time I’ve had a piece premiered without at least coaching a dress rehearsal. I’m definitely sure it’s the first time that’s happened with such a renowned institution.

Much to my delight, the narration for the piece was done by none other than Welz Kauffman himself, the CEO of the Ravinia Festival. Not sure if he donned a beard and a stovepipe hat for the occasion, but he certainly had nice things to say in an email to me afterwards.

Maybe someday I’ll get to hear it myself.