I’m a few days late with this semester preview, but things have gotten off to a great start here at ULM. Here’s a brief overview of some of the exciting events happening this spring.

• Brass Trio Tour: Black Bayou Brass began our semester with a three-day tour of Northwest Louisiana and East Texas. We performed for and worked with several great groups of students. In addition to a few run-out concerts to local schools this spring, we will be busy preparing for our annual faculty recital on April 17. Program details to come in a future post.
• Guest Artists Galore: We often have multiple guest artists on the ULM campus each academic year, but this spring we’ll have more than the usual number, including several fantastic horn players. Our first guest artist this spring was Centria Brown, a DMA candidate at Louisiana State University, studying with Professor Seth Orgel.  Ms. Brown is a fellow native of North Carolina and earned her undergraduate degree at Wingate University. She gave a fantastic master class and recital, with a program including the Nelhybel Scherzo Concertante, Mozart 4, Krol Laudatio, and the Lars-Erik Larsson Concertino, op 45, no 5. This coming week we’ll be welcoming another guest, Timothy Thompson, Professor of Horn at the University of Arkansas. He’ll be performing a program of unaccompanied works entitled “Around the World with the Horn.” On February 8 we’ll host the Quintasonic Brass for our annual Brass Day workshop. In addition to a recital by Quintasonic Brass, the day’s events will also include a special horn pedagogy clinic and exhibits by Houghton Horns. To close out this impressive roster of horn artists, the Cobalt Quartet will perform a recital on March 12. Members include several prominent horn performers and teachers from across the country: Jena Gardner, Katie Johnson, Caroline Steiger, and Rose Valby. In addition to these horn players, euphonium virtuoso Demondrae Thurman will be in residence for two days, presenting a guest recital (Feb. 25), master classes, and more.
• Chamber Recitals, Premieres, etc. Along with preparations for our brass trio recital on April 17, I’m also working towards two performances of brand new chamber works with horn. On April 2, I’ll join my colleagues in Trio Mélange for the Louisiana premiere of Dana Wilson‘s song cycle, Love me like a beautiful dream for soprano (or mezzo-soprano), horn, and piano. This substantial new work was commissioned by a consortium initiated by hornist Jeff Nelsen, and his wife, mezzo-soprano Nina Nelsen. The six movements include settings of texts ranging from the 6th century B.C.E. to the 20th century. It’s a hauntingly beautiful work, and is sure to get many more performances in the coming years. Shortly after that, my colleague Mel Mobley and I will travel to Commerce, TX to premiere Crystal Kaleidoscope, a new work for horn and vibraphone by Ken Davies. We commissioned this piece with some generous help from the International Horn Society’s Meir Rimon Commissioning Assistance Fund. I have a fairly light orchestral load this spring, which should balance out well with my other teaching and performing obligations.
• Texas Music Educators Association Convention: TMEA is widely recognized as one of the biggest (and best) music education conferences in the world, and I’m fortunate to have the opportunity to attend for a few days in February. I won’t be performing or presenting, but I look forward to my first time at this event. More details in future posts!
• Editorial and Review Activities: Carving out time to write blog posts has been a bit difficult for me these past several months, as (among other things) I’ve been engaged in some related activities – namely reviewing new books and compositions for the Horn Call, and, more recently, joining the IHS Online Music Sales editorial team. I have enjoyed my work on both projects, and I’m especially excited to be involved with the “Music of Douglas Hill” collection. Be on the lookout for several new additions to this section of the online catalog in the coming months. That being said, I am hopeful that I can return to at least a semi-regular blogging schedule this semester. With all of the varied happenings I shouldn’t have any trouble finding material to write about!

As always, best wishes for a great semester to my colleagues near and far.