Composition News

Christopher Adler (Ph.D. composition, 1999) releases new CD, Triangulations
Tuesday, December 1, 2020Triangulations features works for solo khaen by Adler and fellow alumnus Sidney Marquez Boquiren (Ph.D. composition, 1999), as well as Christopher Burns, David Loeb, Vera Ivanova, Yu Kuwabara, and Jeff Herriott. About Triangulations, Adler writes, "I began researching traditional... Read More »

Scott Lee (Ph.D. composition, 2018) releases new CD, "Through the Mangrove Tunnels"
Tuesday, October 20, 2020On November 13, 2020, composer Scott Lee will release Through the Mangrove Tunnels on Panoramic Recordings, an imprint of New Focus Recordings. Through the Mangrove Tunnels, performed by the JACK Quartet with pianist Steven Beck... Read More »

Dan Ruccia's (Ph.D. composition, 2013) group Cyanotype releases its second album
Thursday, August 13, 2020Birdsongs of a Necromancer is a digital-only album recorded during the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown. It is an attempt to create presence through absence, in spite of absence, to spite absence. The eight tracks are fully improvised, each featuring a different quartet of NC-... Read More »

"5 x 8": Newly commissioned work by composer James Budinich
Tuesday, August 11, 2020Budinich writes: "I had the great pleasure of working again with the choreographer Gabrielle Lamb on a virtual commission from Works & Process at the Guggenheim. As a response to the pandemic, W&P has been commissioning these short works that exist virtually on their social media and... Read More »

Brittany Green serves as a guest panelist at the 2020 Splice Institute
Tuesday, July 21, 2020Composition Fellow Brittany Green was a panelist on the Collaborative Relationships in Creating Mixed-Media Panel at the 2020 Splice Institute. As a panelist she shared her experiences and reflections and on the creative process of interdisciplinary collaborations. In response to COVID-19... Read More »

Minato Sakamoto wins 8SW Composer Competition 2020
Tuesday, May 26, 2020Sakamoto's Rondo Americano for flute, viola, and cello won First Place in 8SW (8 Strings & Whistle) Composer Competition. 8 Strings & Whistle will premiere the piece in New York City in Fall 2020 and perform it several times throughout the next season. Minato Sakamoto... Read More »
Congratulations to our 2020 Ph.D. Graduates
Monday, May 4, 2020Graduate Degrees Conferred Elizabeth Anne Crisenbery, Ph.D. (Musicology) Dissertation: “Performing Fascism: Opera, Politics, and Masculinities in Fascist Italy, 1935-1941” Committee Chair: Bryan Gilliam Sarah A Curzi, Ph.D. (Composition) Dissertation piece: Lilacs: Digital Songs and... Read More »

Graduate Composition Fellows win 2020 Charles Ives Scholarships
Tuesday, February 25, 2020Ling and Mulligan have received two of only six Charles Ives Scholarships given this year. This is the first time two fellows in the Duke graduate composition program have been awarded this distinction in the same year. The scholarships, in the amount of $7500 each, will be... Read More »

Premieres by Duke composition fellows James Budinich and Jason Mulligan
Tuesday, February 4, 2020James Budinich's "Plexus: a work in knots" is an electroacoustic score commissioned by Princess Grace Award winning choreographer Gabrielle Lamb for her own company, Pigeonwing Dance. The new, evening-length work will take place on February 7 at the Gerald Lynch... Read More »

Eren Gümrükçüoglu's new composition to be featured at the Taproot New Music Festival (UC Davis)
Tuesday, January 14, 2020Gümrükçüoglu's new piece, Optimist (to a 1958 text by Nazim Hikmet), was written for the occasion and will have its world premiere at the Taproot Festival by the Quince Ensemble on January 30, 2020. During the festival, Gümrükçüoglu will also give a... Read More »