One Takeaway From 2022
A photo of the LeFurge Woods and Nature Preserve in Superior Township, MI I took in October.
I wanted to add a little person context to what is otherwise traditional “year-in-review” content. A simple list of the things I produced and accomplished in 2022 would not honor what has been a tumultuous and triumphant year. So, I tried to frame this personal and professional reflection on 2022 in a more intentional manner, and I think the following does a good job of connecting my present self to the past, and future.
I can be prolific
I want to stress that my productivity in 2022 is an aberration, and that makes it more meaningful to me. We have two young children and I teach what could be a full-time course load at the University of Michigan, were I in a tenure-track position and not a contingent faculty member. Until my resignation this summer, I also held the position of Executive Director for an Ypsilanti-based concert presenting organization called ÆPEX Contemporary Performance. I spent the first six months of 2022 courting business sponsors, designing marketing materials, working with venues and other local partners, as well as addressing other logistics related to the organization’s first ever festival in Ypsilanti.
With this said, I am incredibly proud of all the composing I did in 2022, which is one of the most prolific years of my career. I nearly had as many world premieres in 2022 as I had from 2015-2021; and, in the previous three years, I only had two new works make their debut (only one of which, Talia/Talea, is recorded).
My 2022 catalog includes:
This Could Be Madness (percussion chamber concerto; premiered in June 2022 by Cameron Leach and conductor Kevin Fitzgerald of ÆPEX)
Wires (stereo electronics and photograph; created in partnership with the Ann Arbor District Library)
Around Hear: Nancy Margolis (stereo electronics, video, and spoken word; created in partnership with Embracing Our Differences Michigan)
Around Hear: Lynne Settles (stereo electronics, video, and spoken word; created in partnership with Embracing Our Differences Michigan)
Around Hear: Tai Azzaro (stereo electronics, video, and spoken word; created in partnership with Embracing Our Differences Michigan)
Being unusually prolific like this requires a lot of luck and resourcefulness. The four electronic and multimedia works I released this year are the fruits of a completely new manner of music making I began pursuing in 2021, and, as I will discuss later in this post, the amazing premiere of my percussion chamber concerto This Could Be Madness very nearly didn’t happen, despite years of planning.
I also made serious strides as a scholar in 2022. My years-long research on sixteenth century Afro-Portuguese composer Vicente Lusitano was covered in the BBC, and, in June, I was able to present new findings at a high-profile conference organized by the University of Tours and the University of Cape Town alongside my academic partner, Joseph McHardy. In October, the two of us gave a fantastic presentation of our work to an audience at the Ann Arbor District Library, which represented a major achievement of public musicology. And, more importantly, Joe’s and my revisions to the Grove Music article on Lusitano were finally published last week, meaning that, for the first time ever, a major English-language music encyclopedia accurately describes Lusitano’s racialized identity.
To have all these accomplishments converge this year was both wonderful and overwhelming. I am thrilled to know I can be prolific if I need to, and I am lucky to be able to spend so much time pursuing personally meaningful projects. At the same time, I know this year’s opportunities were rare; I do not know what will carry over, recur, or evolve, which is as exciting as it is daunting. One obstacle I continue to face is unpaid labor, both as an academic and musician. But, asserting stronger boundaries on this issue, especially with my commissioned compositions, has led to some improvement.
This factor, in addition to my increased responsibilities as a parent, played a significant role in my decision to leave my role as ÆPEX’s Executive Director after seven years of leading the organization alongside Kevin Fitzgerald. Despite organizing dozens of performances and presenting the music of nearly 120 composers, I did not succeed in making ÆPEX’s budget robust and sustainable enough to compensate my work. I hope my departure, and the opportunity it creates for new organizational leadership, will break this stagnation and enable ÆPEX to flourish for years to come.
My 2022 ended with an amazing musical experience, the Scoring The Archive project I led with my University of Michigan composition students in partnership with the Ann Arbor District Library. This collaboration pioneered a new kind of programming for the library, as it featured newly-composed music based on materials in the AADL’s holdings for the first time ever. As I look to 2023, I make be most excited to see where this kind of community-centered creativity leads, because I find it very fulfilling and energizing.
