This morning I began working on a new piece for the Nova Scotia Youth Orchestra. I’m rather excited about this commission. Many of the performers are (or have been) students of mine at Acadia University. I’ll be updating this blog to include recent thoughts and sketches as the work takes shape. Be sure to check again for updates, or signup for the RSS feed (on the bottom left side).

I’m currently thinking about creating a ‘Concerto Grosso’ using soloists from the ensemble. Rather than a typical concerto grosso, where a subset of the ensemble performs the solo role throughout, I’m considering a three movement form utilizing different soloists for each movement. Of course, this plan could (and probably will) change. But for a youth orchestra situation, creating a work where selected performers have a chance to be in the spot-light, but only for part of the work, is an attractive proposition.

Here’s a sketch I did this morning considering the form of the piece:

1) HIGH whimsical or phantasmical (flute, clarinet, violin, and crotales)
2) LOW a dirge (trombone (or bass trombone), tuba, and double bass)
3) FULL a ‘concerto’ for the entire orchestra