MYSO Percussion Ensemble to Perform Four African Dances

The Milwaukee Youth Symphony Orchestra Percussion Ensemble, directed by Linda Siegel, will perform Four African Dances as a part of their February 28th program Classic Cadences. Needless to say I am looking forward to hearing such fine young musicians perform my music. 

Update on Wednesday, February 4, 2015 at 09:39AM by Wes Stephens

Just received word that the MYSO performance of Four African Dances has been moved to May 16. For more info click here.

New Commission for Concert Band

I have just been approached to write a grade 3 to 3.5 work for the St. Joseph Community Concert Band. This is a great opportunity for me since I have been wanting to write for a large ensemble for quite some time. I look forward to learning a ton about writing for concert band, as well as collaborating with this talented group of musicians. The piece is slated to  be premiered sometime in the 2015-2016 concert season. More details to come in the near future. 

Update: I Prefer Laughter To Tears

I just got the first snippet of a rehearsal recording of I Prefer Laughter To Tears. I will hopefully have a finished recording to share with you all soon in the coming months. Until then I made a MIDI realization for people to listen to. 

Drumset Music Featured At Fringe Festival

Hey guys

If you are in the Rochester, NY area on September 21-22 check out the Rochester Fringe Festival. My piece Yin-Yang will be performed, along with 14 other works for solo drumset as a part of Aaron Staebell's hour long solo drumset concert soloDRUMsolo. 

Update on Monday, September 29, 2014 at 06:14PM by Wes Stephens

Just recieved word that my piece Yin-Yang was not programmed on the September concerts due to rehearsal constraints but will be programmed later in the year. 

Theme and Variations for Drumset

In my last post I shared some of Theme and Variations with you (the theme and first variation) and yesterday I finished the entire work (theme and four variations). The piece is dedicated to Blake Marriott, a friend I met as an undergrad at MWSU. He was the first to show me, through his own compositions, that drumset can be more than just a "groove" instrument and deserves to be viewed and taught as a multiple percussion instrument, complete with its own diverse repertoire.  Theme and Variations was written with those goals in mind and really challenges the performer's (and hopefully the audience's) perceptions about what can be expressed musically on the drumset.