• Kenton Coe, who lives in Johnson City, Tenn. and Zirconia, N.C., announces his new website, www.kentoncoe.com, which contains audio samples of his music. On May 13, 2011 he received the Composer of the Year award from the Appalachian Music Teachers Association.
Coe is composer-in-residence of The Carolina Concert Choir, Bradford Gee, Conductor. Associated with Blue Ridge Community College, this auditioned group draws singers from western North Carolina and upstate South Carolina. The choir, which has adopted Coe's "A Quiet Alleluia" as their signature encore, premiered his "American Camp Meeting Hymns" in March 2011.
• Robert Campbelle continues to compose service music for his church choir at Central Presbyterian Church in Bristol, Va. New service music performed in 2011 includes two introits: "The Lord Is in His Holy Temple" and "This Is the Day that the Lord Has Made."
Campbelle currently has 10 works available on Holy Measures, an online resource that makes unpublished sacred music available for purchase and download (http://www.holymeasures.com/). He also has five pieces posted on Reverbnation (http://www.reverbnation.com/robertcampbelle), including a setting of "Shenandoah" (premiered in April 2010 by Voices of the Mountains under Pat Flannagan), as well as his sole original composition to date in a folk/country style: "I Remember Love." Campbelle composed this song to commemorate his parents' 50th wedding anniversary. This performance features singer Jane Morison and the composer, with Donna Fowlkes, piano.
• Jonesborough, Tenn. resident Daniel Gawthrop has had a number of recent performances, commissions, residencies, and appearances.
On Jan. 3, 2011, he was featured in a live interview for Utah Public Radio focusing on the release of a CD entitled, "Show Me Thy Ways; the Sacred Choral Music of Daniel E. Gawthrop." The disc was recorded by the Utah State University Chamber Singers under the direction of Dr. Cory Evans and features 11 pieces from Gawthrop's catalog.
During the last week of January 2011, Gawthrop was in residence at Lipscomb University in Nashville where he gave a master class to composition students, spoke to theory and conducting students and worked with several choirs on interpretation of his music.
Gawthrop was appointed Composer of the Year for the annual Contemporary Music Festival at Appalachian State University (ASU), Boone, N.C. During the first week of March 2011, the composer was in residence at ASU giving classes, rehearsals and private instruction. The week concluded with a public concert devoted entirely to his music.
On March 20, 2011, Gawthrop was in Greenwood, S.C., for the premiere of a new work for chorus, organ and handbells, entitled "There Is A Voice Singing." The piece was commissioned by Thomas Wood and his family in memory of Jean Olive Wood, wife and mother, and was performed in worship at Greenwood's First Baptist Church.
On April 11, 2011, Gawthrop was in northern Virginia for the premiere of "Moonlight" for SATB chorus and bass clarinet. The piece was commissioned by Heritage High School in Leesburg, Va., and performed by their choir, conducted by Nancy Riley.
On May 14, 2011, Gawthrop was in Jamestown, N.Y., to offer master classes and speak to students at a local high school and college as a part of the festivities surrounding the premiere performance of "She Walks in Beauty" for SATB chorus. The work was commissioned for The Chautauqua Chamber Singers by their director, Rebecca Ryan.
In early July, Gawthrop was in Boise, Idaho to attend the Region VIII Convention of the American Guild of Organists (AGO). While there, the composer offered a reading session devoted to his choral music and a lecture on the life of a composer in the 21st century. The opening concert of the convention, held at The Cathedral of the Rockies, featured the world premiere performance of Gawthrop's "Ritual Flourish" for organ, commissioned by the AGO for this event.
• Robert Greene, a resident of Bristol, Va., has been awarded first prize out of 78 entries in the American Guild of Organists Region V Composers Competition for his composition for organ entitled "Danza del Espiritu Santo." This piece was performed on June 12, 2011 at Christ Church Cathedral in Lexington, Kentucky, as part of the AGO Region V convention. Morningstar Music Press has published this composition in a collection entitled "Biblical Sketches."
• Eric Hodges currently serves as Minister of Music at the First Baptist Church of Weber City, Va. He specializes in new choral settings of traditional texts for use in worship. Nine of his compositions, including "The Lord's My Shepherd," are available on Holy Measures (www.holymeasures.com/). Eric's own website is www.seraphsong.net/index.html
• The hymn tune "Holston" by Ann Holler, a resident of Bristol, Tenn., has been published by GIA Publications in a collection entitled "Assembled for Song." The Flannagan family commissioned this tune for the ordination of Meg Flannagan to ministry in the Presbyterian Church. Mary Louise Bringle is the author of the hymn text, entitled "From Our Mothers' Wombs You Know Us."
On Good Friday, 2011, Holler's canticle "The Covenant" was used in worship at First Presbyterian Church, Bristol, Tenn. Holler is also a contributing composer to Holy Measures.
• Jonathan Knight, originally from Knoxville and a recent graduate of King College, has earned his master's degree in Film Scoring at New York University Steinhardt. For the 2010-2011 academic year he was awarded the Carole Bayer-Sager Songwriting Scholarship. He had the opportunity to record original songs "Walking Through Love" and "Silent Sage" with studio giants Will Lee, Hugh McCracken, Chris Parker, and David Spinoza. Knight's website is http://jonathanknightmusic.com.
• Beth McCoy of Abingdon, Va. has had two pieces selected for publication in 2011.
Hinshaw Music will publish "The Snow Lay On the Ground," recorded first by Gloria Dei Cantores on their "be merry!" Christmas CD. McCoy originally wrote the arrangement for the East Tennessee Children's Choir, which has performed it several times at area concerts, at the Biltmore Estates "Candlelight Tours," and at the Barter Theatre Community Christmas Concert.
Boosey & Hawkes will publish McCoy's setting of "Ave Maria," originally written for the Artistic Reflections II Concert in 2008. For this concert at First Presbyterian Church, Bristol, Tenn., members of the Greater Tri-Cities Area Composers Consortium created music to "reflect" selected paintings in the King College's Caldwell Collection. Performing the premiere of "Ave Maria" were Rachel Barker, soprano, the King College Symphonic Choir and the East Tennessee Children's Choir.
The Morningstar Flute Ensemble performed McCoy's "Canzona" during Tunes @ Noon on Friday, June 17, 2011 at the Paramount Center for the Arts, Bristol, Tenn.
• The MAGNON Recording Studio, Stans-Oberdorf, Switzerland has released a CD recording of "Säntis Thought" for violin and piano, composed by Maria Niederberger. The performers are René Kubelík, violin and Patrizio Mazzola, piano. Niederberger is Professor of Music Theory and Composition at East Tennessee State University,
On February 21, 2011, Juhani Palola performed Niederberger's "Mountain Visions" for solo violin in Feldkirch, Austria. On April 30, The East Tennessee Children's Choir, Jane Morison, Artistic Director, performed "Frühlingsmusen," (Muses of Spring) at Salem Presbyterian Church, Limestone Tenn.
On May 2, Niederberger hosted a concert at East Tennessee State University featuring compositions written by her students.
In September violinist René Kubelík will perform "Mountain Visions" at Northern Arizona University.
On Nov. 13, 2011, there will be a premiere performance of Niederberger's "Dash of Color for Three," for oboe, French horn, and piano, at ETSU's Mathes Hall, by performers Aryn Sweeney, oboe; Jeffery Whaley, French horn; and Chih-Long Hu, piano.
Niederberger's website is <www.maniederberger.com.>
• Evelyn Pursley-Kopitzke, a resident of Blountville, Tenn., was commissioned by Eugene Jones and Jimmie Self to compose a work for their American Cancer Society benefit concert at East Tennessee State University, April 10, 2011. The resulting piece, "Pleiades," a duet for clarinet and euphonium with piano accompaniment, is based on the star cluster Pleiades. Part of the music depicts the legend of the Seven Sisters and their hope and family solidarity -- a nod to the cancer support "family" -- and one of the themes coincides with an actual star chart superimposed on the musical staff.
Pursley-Kopitzke was also commissioned by Alan Fey to write "Expectations" for 11 instruments and one percussionist. He premiered it as a part of his all-new-music graduate recital, April 7, 2011, at Belmont University in Nashville. He also performed it on the Music from the Living concert, April 12, 2011, at University of Tennessee in Knoxville.
UT Chamber Singers premiered Pursley-Kopitzke's "Perfect Peace" for mixed chorus on Jan. 24, 2011 and performed the work again on the UT Choral Arts concert, Feb. 15, 2011.
