music

Point Of Departure

Scheduled for release September of '08, Point of Departure, my first solo CD, features duets with harp virtuoso Bridget Kibbey. Repertoire to include the Concerto in E by Bach, Siete Canciones Populares Espanoles by De Falla, Histoire du Tango by Piazzolla, and a new piece from Victor Kioulaphides. To purchase individual tracks, click on any of the music files in the player below:

books

Scales And Arpeggios for the Mandolin

Designed to be used for daily practice, this book puts the mandolinist through a workout touching on every technique in the modern player's arsenal, including scales in double stops, artificial harmonics, tremolo, string crossings, and extreme dynamic variations. For advanced students only.

Orchestral and Chamber Excerpts for Mandolin

Every other student of an orchestral instrument is expected to practice the major symphonic and chamber excerpts along with etudes and concerti. With this in mind, I've collected the bulk of the major ensemble repertoire for mandolin in one volume, with edited beamings and fingerings to assist the student in learning these important excerpts. This volume will also be indispensable to the professional mandolinist looking to get a jump on practice time, since the economic demands placed on many modern ensembles often preclude adequate rehearsal time on even the most difficult music. Included in this volume are such well-known examples as Le Rossignol and Agon by Igor Stravinsky; Luimen by Elliot Carter; Mozart's Don Giovanni as well as his two charming songs for mandolin-soprano duet 'Komm, Liebe Zither' and 'Die Zufriedenheit'; Mahler's 7th and 8th Symphonies and Das Lied Von Der Erde; Schoenberg's epic opera Moses Und Aron and chamber works Serenade and Der Wunsch Des Liebhabers; Verdi's famous mandolin excerpt from Otello; and even some lesser-known excerpts from Handel, Górecki, and Frank Zappa.

other

Jacques Brel Is Alive And Well And Living In Paris

The revival of Jacques Brel — directed by Gordon Greenberg — played off-Broadway's Zipper Theatre. Greenberg's production featured the cast of four on the intimate Zipper stage with just a few set pieces and the occasional prop: a chair, a couch, a few suitcases and several glasses of alcohol.

Roadside

From Amazon.com: "This charming show has some wonderful performances, including the stand-out work of Julie Johnson, the leading lady...Most interesting is the fact that the Jones-Schmidt score sounds like it is straight out of the traveling tent shows in Texas that were its inspiration. This is a total departure for these writers and certainly not what one hears over and over again in countless, derivative musicals. The score is played wonderfully by a 4 piece country/western combo. Schmidt's music is never less than infectious."

Jolson & Company

From the New York Times: "...no show that can trot out a succession of hits like 'Swanee,' 'You Made Me Love You,' 'Sonny Boy,' 'My Mammy,' 'Toot, Toot, Tootsie, Goodbye' and 'California, Here I Come' can fail to entertain. As the celebrated vulgarian Harry Cohn says of the songs, while proposing a film biography of Jolson in Act 2, 'We could string 'em together with Mickey Mouse's life and still sell tickets.' So a lot of people who buy...Jolson & Company are likely to go home happy.