What's going on? (or) What's Going On!

Things have been rough and tumble for the last 6 months, taking off in wild new directions and hurling me willy nilly all around the globe. I will post progress on each of these projects as it develops, sharing my ideas and my resources.

In December 2007 I finished a draft of Considering Light for Los Angeles Wholesale Orchestra who will premiere this coming September as part of the 3-concert Lucky Mosko Festival. After making it through twelve or so minutes of composed ensemble music, I'm really unhappy with it. The ideas are not fully executed, so I will give it a massive overhaul before it goes to the ensemble. The overhaul will include: reconsideration of the instrumentation, expansion of the structure, and some fleshing out of conceptual ideas that really need to be executed in this work as a prelude to other works I have on my drafting table. I don't feel like this piece can maintain its relevance in any context if it is simply a 'new chamber work' - it has to expand and exploit some of the ideas I've had about chamber music this last year - many of which will displease composers who are comfortable with the current concert-hall status quo.

Meanwhile, I'm madly working on a project for the Illuminated Corridor's Whitney Biennial closing event. The Illuminated Corridor will join San Francisco's Neighborhood Public Radio somewhere in the streets of Manhattan for a massive media frenzy called NOVA. In best form, Ill-Corr at the Whitney Biennial will feature between 30 and 60 invited artists to exhibit their work, projecting and making noise from Civil Twilight until 11pm.

What is the Illuminated Corridor? You can read about it and the artists involved at www.illuminatedcorridor.com or better yet, you can look at it on You Tube

For that project I'm collaborating/sharing audio and space with friend and fellow compositeur Jean-Luc Sinclair. We are both looking forward to the event and to collaborating in some respect, something we've been trying to get to since JL and Séverine Baron worked on e1>3ktr=A back in 2000. It will happen - if not this time, in the very near future as I become rooted in NYC and space compliments tim-ing.

I'm also working on a series of short piano pieces. They run about 2-4 minutes each and will be compiled under a single title to be performed separately or as a multi-movement opus. These are exercises in composition and are meant to keep my discipline strong, like lifting weights in a gym. They are expansions of the musical Journals I began writing after Lucky Mosko three years ago. So far, they're fun, they are bobbles. They will be available for purchase at publishing.nicholaschase.net, and it is likely one or more of them will premiere next year some time in Los Angeles.

I've consolidated my studio to some degree, not out of choice, but out of necessity. In spite of the inconvenience, I am working on a series of electro-acoustic and electronic audio-visual pieces that will be compiled into a touring concert within the next few months. All of the pieces use interactive video as a contrapuntal musical voice. To be self-referential, the first steps in full-interactivity will be included in the project at the Whitney Biennial, May 31. I'll explain the project in detail when I have a real grasp on what it actually is!