“Why, this is very midsummer madness!”

• O Thou in Whose Presence (SATB choir, piano)
• Benediction (SATB choir, string quartet)

I am thrilled with the quality of the singers’ work in this recital especially considering they only rehearsed these songs once right before the recital. Good work, all! The recordings feature my teacher, Dan Forrest, at the piano and fellow composition major John Hudson conducting. The string quartet was comprised of Sam Arnold, violin; Lydia Anglea, violin; Ron Sondergaard, viola; and Chris Erickson, cello. Enjoy!

From the studios of Dan Forrest and Joan Pinkston…
Come enjoy a recital of some of the best student compositions of the 2009-2010 school year! The recital will feature premieres by Peter Anglea, Mark Buller, Kimberly Hawkey, John Hudson, Caleb Lynch, and Sara Morris. Take a break from your exam prep and support new music by student composers!

When: Tuesday, May 4th 5:00pm

Where: War Memorial Chapel at Bob Jones University.

I will have two new choral pieces premiered in the recital: O Thou in Whose Presence and Benediction for SATB choir and string quartet.

What? Peter Anglea’s Graduate Composition Recital
When? Monday, April 18th, 2011 at 5pm
Where? War Memorial Chapel on the campus of Bob Jones University

That’s next spring on the Monday of Easter week. The recital will feature all original music composed by myself – about 45 minutes worth.

Click here for an iCal appointment that you can download.

Last semester I had my first opportunity to write incidental music for a live performance, and this month the play for which I wrote it will be premiered. Thy Morn Shall Rise by Diana Smith will be performed April 8-10 on the campus of Northland International University. Diana and I began collaborating on the music for this play this past fall and I was able to get the music handed off to Northland by January.

The music consists of four live performers in a small chamber group – piano, cello, violin, and clarinet. I used the same basic 5-note motif (C,E,D,B,C) as the basis for each theme/character. It is played in several different moods and styles – some major, some minor, some modal, one is a modal mixture, and one is even in 10/8 time (hopefully the performers don’t have a hard time with that one). Most of the snippets of music are for scene changes and such and are only 30 seconds long or shorter. I did write a few bits of music that were longer, notably a prelude and music to accompany the recitation of a poem. All in all, it came to about 10-15 minutes of music. I had fun writing it and seeing how much “mileage” I could get out of one 5-note theme.

Not having actually heard the music performed live (Finale playback is only so satisfying…), I look forward to hearing what they do with the music. Maybe they’ll send me a recording of some sort (hint, hint). If you happen to be in/go to the play, I’d love to hear your thoughts on the music.

P.S. Northland has set up a Facebook event for the performance with more information.

This is a pretty huge opera – one of the biggest that we do here at Bob Jones. There are literally hundreds of people involved in the production. Opening night is Tuesday, March 9th, one week from tomorrow as I’m writing this. If you are in the Greenville area (or even if you aren’t) you should definitely consider coming to see this. Even if you don’t think you like opera, this production will not disappoint. The music is cool, the costumes are cool, and the set and staging are really cool.

More information on the opera can be found on the BJU website. You can also view the Facebook event that has been created for it.

• Choral Literature – a survey of choral genres/music down through the centuries
• American Hymnody
• 19th Century Techniques – a study of musical form and analysis of 19th century music
• Private Composition

I am also still in the University Chorale (website | twitter). In addition to performing a concert in April, we are heavily involved in the school’s opera which will be performed in March – Samson et Dalila. All of these classes, plus involvement in choir and opera and work responsibilities will consume most of my time this semester.

But there is always something “cooking” on the compositional front. This month, I will wrap up the incidental music that I’ve been writing for Northland International University’s spring drama. Pretty soon, it will be time to decide on music for my graduate recital (spring, 2011). I will have about 40+ minutes of original music to write for it. I also hope to hear soon from a few publishers regarding my latest choral pieces which I submitted recently.

That’s about all for now. I’m excited about this semester and the many learning opportunities headed my way.

I used the GIMP to create the graphics for the site. The main image is, of course, the watercolor-esque background at the top. I placed a stock image (which I modified to look like a painting) behind a white layer mask and painted portions of the mask away using some free watercolor brushes I found online. That is what gives it the watercolor brush-stroke effect.

To add some extra pizazz, I decided to use some font-replacement technology to utilize a fancier typeface for the headings and main navigational links. I am using the Cufon javascript library and the font is called “Nilland.”

The neat thing about this design, is that it can be re-skinned very easily. That is, I can change the background image at the top and make a few small changes to the CSS and… viola… the site has a completely different feel. You may see it change from time to time with the various seasons or for holidays. It’s very versatile.

So, take a look around and let me know what you think!

Feel free to use it with your congregations and let me know what you think of it. I hope you enjoy it.

Jesus Lives and So Shall I (PDF)