On My Way

Seven ravens flew away, symphony edition.

Dear Friends,

As I write this, I am about to jump in my car for two evenings of rehearsals and a show Saturday night with the Salisbury Symphony, conducted by my friend Peter Askim.  (For those of you in NC, INFO here.)  This recording of On My Way, a part of the program, was orchestrated and conducted by Peter Askim, engineered by Simone Tassano and played by the Raleigh Civic Symphony.  Our original gig was pandemic-ed.   We were able to perform once, and I wore a gigantic singer's mask which was really a strange sensation.  I am happy to revisit this wonderful experiment in new textures — a small something I wrote expanded by an eighty-piece band. 

Conductor, composer and lovely human Peter Askim has been my friend for many years – we met at a gig in California more than a decade ago.  Now we find ourselves neighbors raising our children only blocks apart.  When I began exploring site-specific memory by way of music – in a world where the past has little currency, and the present remembers little – Peter was an invaluable source of encouragement.  The songs he orchestrated were the very first of the batch I am now sewing up to record.   There’s a nice synchronicity looking back to the beginning with this weekend’s performance.