News Articles
The American Prize – Honorable Mention, shorter choral works
Watch on YouTube “All Unto Me” is a tribute to Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa, a longtime friend of All Saints Church, Pasadena, and was composed to commemorate the 125th anniversary of the church. Archbishop Tutu preached a sermon based on John 12:32 at All Saints on November 6, [...]
“Watcher of the Sky” Performance on September 28 in Arizona
A performance by the Dark Star Quartet of my "Watcher of the Sky" is coming up on September 28, in Flagstaff, AZ.
Gene Lees Remembers Hugo Friedhofer
"The Hug" Jazzletter, July 15, 1982, by Gene Lees “David Raksin called that morning, May 17, 1981, and said simply, "Hugo is gone," and my eyes misted, even though we had known he was going to die. He was eighty, he was arthritic, and as his daughter Karyl said later, "he [...]
Nevertheless Awarded Silver Medal
“Nevertheless” was composed for, recorded by, and premiered at Carnegie Hall by Trio Casals – Alexandr Kislitsyn, violin, Anna Kislitsyna, piano, & Ovidiu Marinescu, cello. Click to hear Trio Casals perform Nevertheless on YouTube
The 100th Birthday of J.J. Johnson
January 22, 2024 marks the 100th birthday of jazz trombone great J.J. Johnson. One of my career highlights was working with him. In 1984 I had just finished a spotting session with Earle Hagen on the Warner lot for the best-forgotten “Dukes of Hazzard.” J.J. and Earle were both scoring [...]
The Musical Gift L.A. Offers Public School Kids
By Kris Bowers It was a perfect summer’s day in June 1999. As a tender 10-year-old, I nervously approached the 1952 mahogany Winter baby grand piano that sat in the courtyard, center stage. I had been invited to perform solo for the students and their parents at my fifth-grade graduation [...]
Problematic!
Taking an old film score and dropping it into a new film is “like wearing somebody else’s underwear,” veteran composer Earle Hagen used to say. Hagen, the Oscar-nominated, Emmy-winning composer of such classic themes as “The Andy Griffith Show,” “The Dick Van Dyke Show” and “The Mod Squad,” would have [...]
The American Prize – Finalist Honorable Mention
Just Announced Today, November 30, 2023, by The American Prize Finalist Honorable Mention: Composers, COVID-Related Compositions Bruce Babcock, Pasadena CA Time and Again
Carnegie Hall Premiere of Nevertheless
The narrative of Los Angeles-based American composer Bruce Babcock’s engaging new Trio for Violin, Cello, and Piano “Nevertheless” is not so much it’s enigmatic, even passive aggressive title and real time story, as the tightrope of barely contained energy and powerful narrative colors that reap substance and satisfaction from the [...]
