Hello & Welcome!

Friends,  

Hope this finds you well and safe. 

A couple of quick updates—I’m starting work on a new album, The Green World. The first songs in progress are with Eddie Arkin and Russell Ferrante, more collaborations to come in March.

The musical I’ve been working on with composer  Nan Schwartz in LA and show creator Kat de Blois, in Paris, is still in progress, as is Nan’s and my project—a musical theatre version of  The Grammarians, by Cathleen Schine. The book was chosen as one of 100 notable reads of 2019 by the New York Times.  

On October 11th of last year, composer Bill Elliott and I met up with superstar soprano/conductor Barbara Hannigan in London to record with the BBC Orchestra. Barbara performed two pieces with the orchestra that day: The “Remarkable Sparkle McBride,” based on a children’s book by John Lithgow, and “Bliss,” for which I wrote the libretto. Bill wrote the music and orchestrations for both.

“Bliss” is based on a short story written in 1918 by Katherine Mansfield. It’s about a young wife and mother who is in love with a woman in her social circle. Coincidentally (or not), our recording session was on National Coming Out Day. You can watch it here.

Barbara recently won classical music’s Gramophone Award for Artist of the Year, and Bill and I were over the moon at the chance to create an original work for her.

That’s it for now. Happy 2023!