Thanks for turning out and giving us a great season at New Music Circle! To see the artist roster for our upcoming 2011-’12 season, just visit our website, at: http://www.newmusiccircle.org

On the home front, I’ve been writing more music for my duo with pianist, Jim Hegarty (http://www.JimHegarty.com) and posting some our best work on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Fred+Tompkins&aq=f). I also have a new piece on Bandcamp, called “Another Place” (http://fredtompkins.bandcamp.com). Since I know some of you have already heard these pieces, based upon your responses, I’m hoping very soon to record some of my new work with Jim and post it on YouTube along with a few of the other pieces we’ve recorded, and also record myself playing a new piano piece to be posted on Bandcamp.

Looking a little further down the road, I plan to produce a new CD of my best recent work on flute in a variety of settings from solo, to duo, to flute with synthesizer a piece with Dave Cheli’s acoustic quintet, Tribal Chicken. Especially in the duo and quintet playing, I really feel there is a high level of rapport and an instinctive interchange of musical ideas going on.
Most of the pieces on the CD will be originals, and a few of these pieces, such as “Solo Extensions” and “Voices”, are already posted on the MP3Player page of my blog
(http://www.tompkinsjazz.com/jukebox), so I hope you’ll give them a listen and let me know what you think sometime!

Hi Friends, We have two great events coming up in St. Louis very soon: This Friday, 5/6, 7:30pm, in the Recital Hall at the 560 Music Center (in the Delmar Loop), the Trinity Piano Trio will be playing music by Schubert, Dvorak and Bulgarian composer, Petko Staynov.
With Amanda Kirkpatrick on piano, Manuela Kaymakanova on violin and Tracy Andreotti on cello, you’ll be listening to three of the very top performers in the area – and the hall is wonderfully intimate, with perfect acoustics.

Then on Saturday, 5/14, 7:30pm at the Kranzberg Arts Center, New Music Circle will present Trio Kinsella (flute, piano & cello) performing George Crumb’s great 20th century work, Vox Balaenae (Voice of the Whale) with special atmospheric blue lighting and the performers donning masks. Aside from the stunning visual impact, the music itself is exceptional. All three musicians employ extended techniques on their instruments, creating a mysterious and beautiful effect.
Also on the program will be music by John Corigliano, Thailand’s Narong Prangcharoen, former St. Louis Symphony composer in residence, Joseph Schwantner and the World Premiere of “Falling Through Infinity” by Nicholas Omiccioli.
For more info. on this concert, and to see a full roster of our next season’s 2011-2012 performers, please visit: http://www.newmusiccircle.org

Our upcoming New Music Circle concert, on Saturday, April 2nd, 7:30pm, at Christ Church Cathedral in downtown St. Louis, will absolutely be one of the premier musical events of the season. Pianist, Peter Henderson will perform the great 20th century masterpiece, “The People United Will Never Be Defeated!” by Frederic Rzewski and a complete reading of the “24 Studies in African Rhythms” by Nigerian/Ghanian born St. Louis composer, Fred Onovwerosuoke. Fred O, as he’s nicknamed, is a highly respected composer and choral director in the area, so I’m looking forward to his work; and the Rzewski piece I’ve heard performed by Ursula Oppens in New York and on recordings. It’s a piece that never gets old! Its thrilling and climactic variations on a simple melody create an effect that will remain a part of you long after this concert is over. For more on this event, and to become a ‘fan’ of New Music Circle, please go to: http://www.facebook.com/pages/New-Music-Circle/160363140676120?sk=wall

Hi Friends, I hope you’ll all join me at our next New Music Circle concert to hear the Bloom Project – a dynamic duo of virtuoso instrumentalists, Thollem McDonas – piano and Rent Romus – saxophone, this Saturday night, 1/22, 7:30pm, at the Kranzberg Arts Center,501 N. Grand. As a composer and improviser, myself, I believe these two performers have found a truly successful and vibrant combination of both media. For more info. visit: http://newmusiccircle.organd for bios and sound samples: http://www.edgetonerecords.com/bloom.html

Hi Friends, Happy New Year! We have two really interesting musical events coming up this week, both of which will feature new approaches to improvising and ensemble playing. This Thursday, 1/6, from 7:00pm – 9:00pm, Dave Cheli will perform on saxophone, along with his sons, Kevin (drums & percussion) and Dominic (keyboards). Their approach to controlled free improv. is something to behold, with the sons’ level of virtuosity and spontaneous invention being quite the match and inspiration for the dad.Location: Stone Spiral Coffeehouse 2500 Sutton Blvd Maplewood, MO 63143(314) 335 7388 http://www.stonespiralcoffee.com/location.htmlThen, on Saturday, 1/8, the Chelis will be playing again, in the first half of the evening (8-9pm), and in the second half I’ll be playing flute in a duo setting, along with virtuosic and broad ranging improviser, Jim Hegarty, on piano. We’ll play some original music and our own version of pieces by Ornette Coleman, Brian Eno and Douglas Ewart.Location:  St. Charles Coffeehouse 3821 McClay Road, St. Peters, MO 63376-7327(636) 922-1566 http://www.saintcharlescoffeehouse.com/Hope to see you there!

Hi Friends, Our next New Music Circle concert should be absolutely fascinating! Five individual local artists will converge at Steinberg Auditorium in St. Louis on Saturday, December 4th at 7:30PM to present a multi-media Showcase event. Each artist will perform a short set of music, with styles and instrumentations ranging in breadth from the trumpet, conch shells and African/Asian indiginous instruments of Baba Mike Nelson, to the electronic sounds of Eric Hall, to the music and video art of Zlatko Cosic, to the homemade instruments and electronics of Ron Coulter, to the musique concrête sound design of Lauri des Marais. I’m glad I’m not going to be the stage hand who has to clean up after this one!   For more info., visit: http://newmusiccircle.org See you there!

Dear Friends, We have a pretty amazing week of new music coming up in St. Louis. With four events to mention here, I’ll let you click on the links to get all the specific concert info.: On Wednesday (11/10) the Pulitzer Foundation and SLSO will present the next in its series of concerts designed to compliment the “Stylus”installation by Ann Hamilton. Music by Berio, Xenakis and Peter Eötvös(http://www.pulitzerarts.org/events/concerts/)Then on Friday night (11/12) you’ll have a tough choice to make: At the Broadway Bean, the totally electrifying Matthew Von Doran Triowill be performing original music and their own arrangements of jazz standards.(http://www.broadwaybeancoffee.com/); And…. at Holmes Lounge,The Trinity Piano Trio, featuring three of the most talented performers in the area, Amanda Kirkpatrick (piano), Manuela Kaymakanova (violin) and Tracy Andreotti (cello) will perform music byTurina, Pipkov and Brahms – always creative programming! (http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=102128830620&v=wall) On Saturday night (11/13), there will be NO choice at all. You MUST attend New Music Circle’s premiere event of the season, Wadada Leo Smith’s Golden Quartet, featuring Wadada on trumpet, Vijay Iyer -piano, John Lindberg – bass and Pheeroan akLaff – drums; co-sponsored by Washington University. This will be a magical blend of original composition and highly creative improvisation!(http://newmusiccircle.org/)  See you around town!

Hi Friends,  It’s the season opener for New Music Circle, and it WILL
be a thriller! Chamber Project St. Louis is composed of four of the
top young professional musicians in the St. Louis area (which for the
NMC opening concert will be expanded to six)*. Their focus and
specialty is contemporary music by living composers, yet when I heard
a recent concert, I was struck also by the great emotional range of
their repertoire. My favorite piece on the program was by Libby
Larsen, and it just happens that the same piece will be repeated on
the NMC program, on Saturday, 10/16, at Christ Church Cathedral, 1210
Locust St., at 7:30pm. For ticketing information and to read about our
full upcoming season, go to: http://newmusiccircle.org
*To learn more about Chamber Project St. Louis, go to:
http://www.chamberprojectstl.com/

Hi Friends, For the past year and a half, I’ve been playing with a
very talented group of musicians, consisting of Dave Cheli – Bb
clarinet & tenor sax; his sons, Dominic Cheli – piano and Kevin Cheli
- drums and percussion; and Chris Landers – guitars.  The members have
gone their own ways now, but this summer we made a recording of the
two pieces I wrote for the group, “Islands” and “The Next Curve”,
which I uploaded to my MySpace site:
http://www.myspace.com/tompkinsjazz
I hope you’ll give it a listen and post a comment on the MySpace page, if you’d like.

The music is characteristic of much of our playing together – some
free sections, some composed sections and some a combination of both.
For example, “Islands” has a form based upon chords and modes but with
absolutely no melodies written out, all improvised; “The Next Curve”
has sections written out but with totally free improv. sections
inserted in between the solos.

Enjoy, and I hope to see many of you at New Music Circle concerts this season!

standing (L.-R.) – Chris Landers, Fred Tompkins, Dave Cheli;       seated – Dominic Cheli, Kevin Cheli

Here’s a good sign that concert presenters devoted to showcasing a broad range of musical styles within a single event are finding more success and attracting large crowds! Chamber Music Day in San Francisco – I’ll let you read about it.

http://www.sfcv.org/reviews/chamber-music-day-live-free/chamber-music-day-eclectic-ensembles-for-every-taste