Yup, I’m back at UK. The campus is looking pretty snappy these days, with a new mall taking up a portion of the end of Rose Street. Don’t get me wrong, I do enjoy my current mode of transportation, but it’s always nice to see attention paid to the creation of environments which don’t bow down to the primacy of personal automotive transportation. It’s not done, but it’s coming right along!

The Donovan Scholar program continues to be a great resource. My level of participation in the UK School of Music has been upped quite a bit this semester. Besides two brand new fascinating courses (Film Music, and Electronic Music Tools), the arrival of a new full-time composition instructor, Juan Trigos, has made the connection better. Besides a possible “new music ensemble” class for instrumentalists (a possible performance ensemble resource for composers), Professor Trigos will be inviting his students to participate in a department-wide seminar series where faculty, students, even “outside” composers can present their works. I remember sitting in on a couple of these before COVID, but now, as an active and performed composer, I will probably be asked to present. That’s just so cool!

Professor Trigos has me already thinking about an orchestral tone poem for my next work, though I’m a ways away from starting something on the website yet. Will keep you posted!