Announcements

Composer Lee Hoiby's Setting of a last letter home on YouTube
Private First Class Jesse Givens, a setting for voice and piano of a last letter home from an American soldier who died in Iraq, performed by baritone Andrew Garland, is viewable on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wqnPjkqu20

US Army Pfc. Jesse Givens died in Iraq in the service of his country on the first of May, 2003, in his 34th year. He wrote this letter to his wife Melissa, his five year-old son Dakota (nicknamed 'Toad') and his unborn child Carson (nicknamed 'Bean'). He asked Melissa not to open the envelope unless he was killed. 'Please, only read it if I don't come home,' he wrote. 'Please put it away and hopefully you will never have to read it.'

The work was originally written for a consortium of male vocal ensembles led by Cantus of Minneapolis, Minnesota. Cantus first performed it in March 2006. An audio file of Cantus's performance can be downloaded at www.cantusonline.org.

Shortly thereafter Hoiby made a version for baritone and piano which had its first performance by Andrew Garland with Mr. Hoiby accompanying at a concert of Hoiby's music presented by the music department of the University of Wisconsin at Madison in honor of the centenary of the birth of Gunnar Johansen, the Danish piano virtuoso who was Hoiby's musical mentor. The entire concert, which took place on September 17, 2006, can be found at www.music.wisc.edu/events/eventcalendar.jsp on the September page. The Youtube video dramatization features Mr. Garland lipsynching the Madison audio.

Baritone Simon Chausse of Montreal performed the song in October in Montpelier, Vermont. The music critic of the Montpelier Argus, Jim Lowe, wrote: "A new American song-one that is likely destined for worldwide importance-was presented just months after it was written . . . and because of the song's timeliness and fine crafting, it proved emotionally devastating. . . . Hoiby's simple, never maudlin, melodic lines were never histrionic, only quietly dramatic. Still, there was an underlying cataclysmic feel that was subtly interwoven into the modest tonal accompaniment."

Further information about Andrew Garland can be found at www.andrewgarland.com Further information about Lee Hoiby can be found at www.schott-music.com/news/komponistennews/show,16353.html -- and - www.leehoiby.com

Virginia Beach Composer Featured on Award-Winning CD
Virginia Beach composer John Winsor's orchestral work, Three Essays, is featured on Volume Two of ERMMedia's Masterworks of the New Era CD series. On November 4th, the CD rerceived the 2006 JPF Best Classical Orchestral Album award.

The CD, which contains only works by living composers, competed against standard classical CDs. It features Robert Ian Winstin conducting the Philharmonia Bulgarica. Just Plain Folks, which presented the award, is an organization of over 40,000 music publishers, record labels, recording studios, producers, and other music professionals and organizations. Other composers represented on the CD are Thomas Read, Nancy Bloomer Deussen, Gustav Hoyer, Frederic Glesser, and John Ernst.

John Winsor has taught music theory and designed bandsman training materials at the Armed Forces School of Music. He has also taught clarinet, music theory, and composition at the Virginia Governor's School for the Arts. He is clarinetist and composer-in-residence of the Hardwick Chamber Ensemble and Chairman of the Board of Directors for the National Association of Composers/USA (NACUSA).

John's composition prizes include 1992 and 1995 Delius Awards, the 1992, 1994, and 2004 VMTA Commissioned Composer awards, and the Modern Music Festival 2000 Film Scoring Competition prize. He has received grants from the American Music Center and Meet the Composer, Inc. as well as ASCAP standard awards. His works are performed throughout the United States and, occasionally, in Europe. He is the author of Breaking the Sound Barrier: An Argument for Mainstream Literary Music (iUniverse Writer's Showcase), which is listed as an iUniverse Editor's Choice and Reader's Choice book and won a Bronze Medal in ForeWord Magazine's 2003 Book of the Year Awards. His music is published by Conners Publications. His Caprice for clarinet solo (John WInsor, clarinet) was released on NACUSA's very first official CD - Greetings from NACUSA.

John received music degrees from Heidelberg College (B.Mus, 1974) and Kent State University (M.A., 1980). He studied clarinet with Robert Harrison, David Harris, and Robert Marcellus of the Cleveland Orchestra and composition with John Rinehart and James Waters. He serves as webmaster for NACUSA, the MusicLink Foundation, and the Virginia Music Teachers Association and works as a computer programmer for Unisys Corporation. He is currently sole proprietor of Benchmark Web Sites and an adjunct clarinet instructor at Tidewater Community College.

The Masterworks of the New Era recording series is available through fine retailers and at almost all on-line retailers, including Amazon.com and CD Baby.