COMPOSER
Finished a new piece, and can’t wait to continue working on more composition projects! This composition Familiar Stranger is for soprano, flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano, percussion, and electric bass using some text from Baudelaire’s “The Generous Gambler.”
The Ritsos Project posted a snippet today of the premiere of my song “The Distant” that was performed in Greece last summer at the Samos concert July 9, 2014, and wanted to share with all of you!
Sophie Burgos, soprano; Daniel Pesca, piano; Michele Bianchini, saxophone; Emlyn Johnson, flute
Performed as part of The Ritsos Project 2014 on July 9, 2014 Karlovasi Samos.
Last week, I spent some time uploading videos to YouTube showcasing some of my recent compositions for big band, wind ensemble, and saxophone choir. Check out the following videos, and hope you enjoy my music!
Overdrive (2015) for big band
Performance by the Eastman New Jazz Ensemble, under the direction of Dave Rivello
Featuring: Colin Gordon, soprano saxophone and Billy Petito, electric guitar
Seattle Skies (2015) for big band
Performance by the UNLV Jazz Ensemble 1, under the direction of Dave Loeb
Conducted by Jennifer Bellor
Featuring: Carlos Mata-Alvarez, soprano saxophone and Jakob Yansen, alto saxophone
Seattle Skies (2015) for big band
Performance by the Eastman New Jazz Ensemble, under the direction of Dave Rivello
Featuring: Colin Gordon, soprano saxophone
Noir (2014) for big band
Performance by the Eastman New Jazz Ensemble, under the direction of Dave Rivello
Conducted by Jennifer Bellor
Skylark Lullaby (2014) for saxophone choir
Performance by the Eastman Saxophone Project, under the direction of Chien-Kwan Lin
Conducted by Jennifer Bellor
Noir (2013) for soprano sax, electric guitar, electric bass, and drums
Performance at Rochester Fringe Festival by Colin Gordon, soprano sax; Wendy Eisenberg, electric guitar; Matt Krol, electric bass; Aaron Staebell, drums
Electric Vortex (2013) for wind ensemble featuring a contemporary jazz combo
Performance by Eastman Wind Ensemble under the direction of Jared Chase
Featuring Aaron Staebell’s band “Bending and Breaking”
Out of the Shadows (2012) for trumpet, string quartet, vibes, piano, bass, and drums
Featuring trumpetist Mike Kaupa on his summer faculty recital at Eastman School of Music July, 2012
Midnight Swim (2012) for big band
Performance by the Eastman New Jazz Ensemble, under the direction of Dave Rivello
Featuring: Colin Gordon, soprano saxophone
Out of the Shadows (2011) for big band
Performance by the Eastman New Jazz Ensemble, under the direction of Dave Rivello
Featuring: Colin Gordon, soprano saxophone
The Eastman New Jazz Ensemble, under the direction of Dave Rivello, premiered the newly revised version of my composition Overdrive for big band featuring electric guitar and soprano saxophone. Here is a live recording of the premiere back in April, which features Billy Petito on electric guitar, and Colin Gordon on soprano saxophone. They did an amazing job!!!
The Eastman New Jazz Ensemble, under the direction of Dave Rivello, premiered the version of my composition Seattle Skies for big band with woodwind doublings, featuring soprano saxophone. Here is a live recording of the premiere back in April, which features Colin Gordon on soprano saxophone. They did an amazing job!!!
This is one of three versions of the piece: There is one version that has woodwind doublings, and the other is for bass clarinet, marimba, bass, and drums.
The UNLV Jazz Ensemble, under the direction of Dave Loeb, premiered my composition Seattle Skies in April at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. This is one of three versions of the piece: There is one version that has woodwind doublings, and the other is for bass clarinet, marimba, bass, and drums. Here is a video recording from the premiere.
Monday night, May 4, 2015 I conducted my composition Out of the Shadows (2012, orig. titled “Splash”) at the UNLV NEXTET concert. It was such a wonderful experience working with my musicians on the piece, and they played beautifully!
The performance of "Out of the Shadows" (2012) tonight went really well! I'm extremely grateful to all of the musicians for such a beautiful performance!
Posted by Jennifer Bellor, composer on Monday, May 4, 2015
I’m excited to share that my composition Out of the Shadows (orig. titled Splash (2012)) this Monday, May 4th, 2015 in Doc Rando Recital Hall at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas as part of the final NEXTET concert of the season! Also on the program is a piece for violin and viola by my colleague, composer Joshua Fishbein, a piece by student composer G Liu, and two pieces by composer-in-residence Michael Hersch.
Out of the Shadows was written for jazz trumpet, string quartet, vibraphone, piano, bass, and drums. Here is a list of the performers:
Jorge Machain, trumpet
Sammi Ciarlo, violin I
Tammy Hung, violin II
David Chavez, viola
Lindsay Johnson, cello
Caleb Pickering, vibraphone
Otto Ehling, piano
Summer Kodama, bass
Colin Woodford, drums
I feel so fortunate to have such talented musicians playing my piece!
I had the pleasure of attending the Las Vegas Philharmonic concert last night at the Smith Center with my friend composer Michael Torke. Under the direction of conductor Donato Cabrera, the concert featured pianist Joyce Yang who performed the Rachmaninoff Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini, and two other pieces: John Adams’ The Chairman Dances (Foxtrot for Orchestra), and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5 in E Minor, Op. 64.
Before and after the concert, we grabbed drinks and snacks at Mundo restaurant. I had so much fun catching up with Michael, meeting pianist Joyce Yang and conductor Donato Cabrera for the first time, and also re-connecting with friends who played in the orchestra.
Photo with composer Michael Torke 
Photo with Donato Cabrera, Michael Torke, and Joyce Yang
Photo with friend Hanna Suk-hyrushchenko,
violist in the Las Vegas Philharmonic
The UNLV Jazz Ensemble 1 gave a beautiful performance of my composition Seattle Skies at the jazz ensemble concert April 22, 2015 in the Black Box Theatre at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. The concert also featured UNLV trumpet artist Allen Vizzutti who played with all three UNLV jazz ensembles that evening. I was very happy to have the opportunity to conduct my piece that evening, and grateful to receive such positive responses after the performance. I will post a video recording soon, but in the meantime, here are some photos from the concert!
Photo with Allen Vizzutti after the show:
Photo with composer Michael Torke after the show:
Photo with the soprano saxophone soloist on my piece, Carlos Mata-Alvarez
