Vietcuongmusic http://vietcuongmusic.com Just another WordPress site Mon, 26 Dec 2011 06:27:46 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 The 2011 Midwest Clinic http://vietcuongmusic.com/the-2011-midwest-clinic http://vietcuongmusic.com/the-2011-midwest-clinic#comments Mon, 26 Dec 2011 05:20:42 +0000 Viet http://vietcuongmusic.com/?p=440 Hi everyone!

The 2011 Midwest Clinic wrapped up about a week ago, and I’m still having a hard time believing that I had a piece performed there. While it was my first time there as a composer, it was actually my second time at Midwest.

In 2005, my high school percussion ensemble travelled to Chicago and performed in the Hilton’s Williford Room. Here’s the Lassiter Percussion Ensemble, ca. 2005:

After performing, we even met Vic Firth himself! I still have the drumsticks he signed for me.

I remember waiting at the Manhattan Beach booth for Frank Ticheli to sign my American Elegy score. Sadly, our ensemble call time was ten minutes before his scheduled arrival. I literally had to leave the booth to help drag marimbas and vibraphones up stairs. Despite missing his autograph, I had an amazing experience performing and seeing/hearing what Midwest was all about. Even at 15, I dreamed of being a featured composer there one day.

Well, fast forward six years and my dream came true. The Cobb Wind Symphony gave an absolutely beautiful performance of the first movement of Sound and Smoke for an audience of a couple thousand people. It was surreal. Thank you so much to conductor Alfred Watkins for believing in me for all of these years, and to the CWS performers for putting everything they had into the music! I am still grasping the fact that my name was on a program with composers and conductors I’ve looked up to since I was 15…

ANECDOTE: Ironically enough, the Lassiter Percussion Ensemble also came back to Midwest this year. How crazy is that? After a fun morning of inefficient airline connections (Baltimore to Atlanta to Chicago?…OK whatever) I arrived just in time to hear them. They’re as great as ever and Mr. Lynch still wears his trusty maroon vest (see first picture).

Anyway, here are some photo highlights:

Meeting John Mackey (!!!) after seeing the Lassiter Percussion Ensemble perform:

With Alfred Watkins after the morning rehearsal:

Colonel Gabriel conducting the Cobb Wind Symphony during the sound check:

Part of the audience:

With some conductors from Japan after the performance:

A few of them will be performing Sound and Smoke in Japan next year! How cool is that?! What an honor. They are some of the nicest people I’ve ever met; they even brought me a beautiful gift all the way from Japan.

All in all, Midwest 2011 was a great event and I hope to be back soon. Hopefully it won’t be six whole years until next time. Thank you again to the Cobb Wind Symphony.

Happy holidays!

Viet

]]> http://vietcuongmusic.com/the-2011-midwest-clinic/feed 2 Midwest Clinic http://vietcuongmusic.com/midwest-clinic http://vietcuongmusic.com/midwest-clinic#comments Sun, 18 Dec 2011 18:13:09 +0000 Viet http://vietcuongmusic.com/?p=418 I got back from the 2011 Midwest Clinic yesterday and it was an absolutely amazing experience. THANK YOU again to the Cobb Wind Symphony and Alfred Watkins for a beautiful performance of I.(feudal castle lights) from Sound and Smoke. I have to finish one last paper for this semester, but I will make a much more detailed post (with pictures!) about the event very soon.

Happy holidays,
Viet

]]> http://vietcuongmusic.com/midwest-clinic/feed 0 Sound and Smoke http://vietcuongmusic.com/sound-and-smoke http://vietcuongmusic.com/sound-and-smoke#comments Sun, 20 Nov 2011 06:56:03 +0000 Viet http://vietcuongmusic.com/?p=392 Hi everyone,

It’s been almost a year since I’ve updated…but I’m back! A week ago the Peabody Wind Ensemble premiered my new piece “Sound and Smoke,” and it was a great show. Thank you so much to all of the musicians playing in PWE, and of course Dr. Parker for programming the piece. I uploaded the audio here for you all to listen. I’m going to talk more about the piece soon, so stay tuned.

Happy listening,
Viet

]]> http://vietcuongmusic.com/sound-and-smoke/feed 0 Fan Mail http://vietcuongmusic.com/fan-mail http://vietcuongmusic.com/fan-mail#comments Mon, 24 Jan 2011 16:10:28 +0000 Viet http://vietcuongmusic.com/?p=274 If an audience member leaves satisfied or intrigued by one of my pieces, I’m definitely not complaining. Furthermore, it’s always such a nice surprise to have Facebook friend requests from people who have heard one of my pieces and have taken the time to let me know what they thought. In the past couple of weeks I’ve received just a few of these, but I really appreciate these. In fact, I appreciate this so much that I devoted one of my rare blog posts to the subject! Haha, but in all seriousness…though I’m pretty (100%) sure I don’t have followers/fans like THIS it’s nice to know that my music is beginning to have a good effect on other people.

So, add me on Facebook, cause I wanna be friends!

]]> http://vietcuongmusic.com/fan-mail/feed 0 Music in the Great Hall http://vietcuongmusic.com/music-in-the-great-hall http://vietcuongmusic.com/music-in-the-great-hall#comments Wed, 19 Jan 2011 03:03:36 +0000 Viet http://vietcuongmusic.com/?p=268 Last Sunday, my friend and marvel clarinetist Gleb Kanasevich performed Zanelle at the Music in the Great Hall concert series in Towson, Maryland. Tim Smith, music critic of the Baltimore Sun, attended and wrote a very nice review of Gleb’s playing and mentioned my piece.

 

Click here to read it.

 

One of my new year’s resolutions is (you guessed it) to post more entries, so keep checking back!

 

-Viet

]]> http://vietcuongmusic.com/music-in-the-great-hall/feed 0 No more silence http://vietcuongmusic.com/no-more-silence http://vietcuongmusic.com/no-more-silence#comments Sun, 12 Dec 2010 05:00:23 +0000 Viet http://vietcuongmusic.com/?p=198 After a year of running a pretty unfortunate looking website with no recordings, I have joined every other composer on the internet and uploaded some audio to the music page! Please have a listen when you get a chance; these are some amazing performances that I am excited to share with you all.

 

Happy listening,
Viet

]]> http://vietcuongmusic.com/no-more-silence/feed 0 2010 ASCAP/CBDNA Frederick Fennell Prize http://vietcuongmusic.com/2010-ascapcbdna-frederick-fennell-prize http://vietcuongmusic.com/2010-ascapcbdna-frederick-fennell-prize#comments Sat, 11 Dec 2010 00:45:36 +0000 Viet http://vietcuongmusic.com/?p=81 Hi everyone,

 

With the semester winding down, I have some great news to share: Ziggurat received an honorable mention in the 2010 ASCAP/CBDNA Frederick Fennell Prize! I am incredibly honored, and also very happy that the members of the panel heard something special in the piece.

 

Click here for the press release.

 

Congratulations to the other composers who received honorable mentions, and especially to the winner, Joshua Hummel! I look forward to listening to your pieces, and hopefully I will meet all of you in the future.

 

Wish me luck with finals…

 

Best,

Viet

]]> http://vietcuongmusic.com/2010-ascapcbdna-frederick-fennell-prize/feed 0 Welcome http://vietcuongmusic.com/hello-world http://vietcuongmusic.com/hello-world#comments Wed, 22 Sep 2010 20:16:08 +0000 admin@adlibitum http://vietcuongmusic.com//?p=1 Welcome to my newly renovated website! Thank you so much to fellow composer Ariyo Shahry for realizing a few of my ideas and designing this beautiful layout. It’s still in the process of being completed, but anything is better than my old site.

I will try to update this blog regularly with news and other topics that will hopefully be of interest to everyone. Thank you for visiting, and please check back soon!

-Viet

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