I’ve loved writing the journal this past year. Given the fortunes of City Opera: New York performances of substantial scores by, among others, Adams, Barber, Bernstein, Golijov, and Musto; and dispatches from ALT, there’s been lots to write about: and so many readers (Danny F., Nico, Lisa H., Michael K., DSJ) have been smart and supportive, as has Arts Journal.
That said, it seems the moment to rethink. Yes, I’ve felt ambivalent about being at once in the composing world and commenting on it (about which enough already.) But, more urgently, I’m experiencing a need to cut back, to withdraw: to make, not fill, space. Partly that’s artistic: there are two big projects coming up, and that part of your brain that makes things up out of nothing needs Joyce’s “silence, exile, cunning.” Partly it’s—for want of a better term—professional. I’ve modeled this journal less on a diary than on a column. But a column—or at least a columnist—should be consistent: and I know I’m not going to be writing consistently enough this coming season to justify the blog format.
So the site’s going to be lightly redesigned over the next few weeks: and the biggest change will be to the page you’re reading now. Most of this year’s journal entries will be archived on the writings page: while this page will become a bulletin board of upcoming events—concerts, recordings, &c., and, perhaps, the occasional essay. (It will bear a glancing resemblance to the homepage of J’s spectacular new site.) The idea is that the new page won’t lead a reader to expect updates as frequent as a blog page does, which would feel more honest to me this year.
Thanks again for reading. We’re here in St. Louis for John’s new production of The Ghosts of Versailles, and then I fly to Brugge in July for the first Little Women there (the first in Europe, in fact.) Enjoy the summer!
April 29, 2009London, Washington, New York, and Temple Square: since last I wrote, John’s film has been recorded and mixed, we’ve finished all but the last mastering session on my first orchestral record, my concertino burgeons ahead of its June deadline, and Salt Lake City, via the University of Utah, has heard its first Little Women. (Syracuse’s opens next month, and now, we learn, Calgary gives the Canadian première next year.) It occurs to me that if I wait until I can hear more music-theatre to resume blogging, Mac may very have rolled out OS XX: Dozing Tabby: so I hope you’ll indulge me if the next few posts are more snapshots from the studio than dispatches from the aisle. Meanwhile, I hope you’ll join me and New York City Opera this weekend for the tenth anniversary of the indispensable VOX: Carlisle, Nico, and I will be speaking on a panel Saturday at noon at the Skirball, and Time Out fills in the background here.
March 12, 2009The other job beckons, gentle readers: a libretto due this winter and a concerto due this spring have kept me upstate (and, regrettably, away from Gotham Chamber Opera, Il Prigioniero, among others), and the pace isn’t slowing: J, too, is scoring a film, so new posts will be intermittent at best as we continue under house arrest (sans ankle bracelets) likely through mid-April. Meanwhile, the conversation continues midpage: cheers, until…
February 15, 2009The studio upstate, mid-afternoon: W. noodling at the piano; B., curled up on the window seat, with laptop.
B. So: Anna Nicole, the opera.
W. Make it a one-act, you’ve got a double-bill.