Videos posted of premiers...

In case you didn't see them on my Facebook page or at jimscully.com - here are videos from the chamber music concert on 11/13/09.

Here is Eclectic Suite - for guitar ensemble. The group is the CSUB Guitar Ensemble and I am the director.

Here is Low and High - for two pianos. The performers are Rebekah Rogers and Sarah McFarland.

Nice work everyone, and thanks for the performances!

Upcoming premiers

As I sit in a doctors office waiting to be seen I figure I might as well let my three readers know about my upcoming performances.

On November 7 @ 7:30 PM two of my recent compositions for jazz combo will be performed by students at CSUB. Modes of Transport and D's Changes will be performed. MOT is a modal jazz tune and D's changes is a 32-bar AABA tune. Both present different challenges for improvisers.

On November 13 at the CSUB Chamber Concert (8 PM in the Dore) I have two sets of works getting their world premiers. The first is the Eclectic Suite for Guitar Ensemble. This 5 movement suite consists of miniature pieces and will be played by the CSUB Guitar Ensemble, which I direct. The second set is a pair of pieces for two pianos entitled Low and High which will be played by Sarah McFarland and Rebekah Rogers, two piano students at CSUB.

The next two events bleed into 2010, but considering my infrequent posts I might as well put this up now.

On January 28, 2010 a piece I am currently writing, Duality for Two, will be premiered in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The piece is an extension of my work Duality in Time for flute and cello that was premiered in Hartford in August. The performers (Rachel Arnold and Ashley Addington) commissioned the longer work and I will be hopping on a plane to attend. Gonna be great.

The last upcoming premier is for a sonata for classical guitar that I am currently writing for New Jersey guitarist Keith Calmes. Keith is a Julliard and USC gradute and a stunning player, as well as a friend. He asked me to write him a piece last year, but it wasn't until I attended La Guitarra festival in September that I was inspired to start the work.

Keith will premier the piece on February 21 at CSU Bakersfield during a solo recital he will present.

I am very excited about these upcoming performances and look forward to all the music.

-- Posted from my iPhone

La Guitarra California Festival

So, every two years a great guitar festival comes to Central California. La Guitarra California 2009 is this weekend and I am heading over to the coast for two days of classical guitar madness.

I am a jazz guitarist. Strike that - I am a composer who plays jazz guitar. Those are different things. Guitarists sit for hours by themselves in a practice room working on right hand technique in a way that I never did. To be a classical guitarist is to be a master technician. I am not that guy. Now, in retrospect, I think I wish I was that guy - but that ship has sailed. Long ago.

Here is Marcin Dylla playing the "Canto" from Ginastera's guitar sonata. It is stunning music and even more stunning playing. I am hoping for one moment like that this weekend.

I will be seeing David Tanenbaum (playing Takemitsu) and Carlos Barbosa-Lima/Berta Rojas duo on Friday night.

Berta Rojas playing the guitar of Barrios (c. 1914)

Barbosa-Lima and Rojas playing Luiza

On Saturday morning one of my former students will be performing at a masterclass w/ Tanenbaum. Later in the afternoon I'll be seeing Michael Partington (playing Piazzolla) and then on Saturday evening I will see the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet (Lotus Eaters by Andrew York and Blue Echo by Chet Atkins), something I have been waiting for for the better part of three years. Just a cool group - and very musical.

Anyway, I am geeked to be seeing such a bad ass set of concerts and very stoked that I get to bring about 10 members of the CSU Bakersfield Guitar Ensemble and their esteemed private guitar instructor, Roger Allen Cope, with me.

I'll post pictures from the festival via my iPhone.