Selected Older Announcements
May 24, 2008 The MZJ Ensemble I'm pleased to announce the formation of the *MZJ Ensemble*, a new ensemble based in New York City. The medium-sized group (between a chamber ensemble and a full symphonic group) consists mostly of winds and brass, with some strings, and will perform my compositions as well as some arrangements of existing repertoire. The performances will be a sort of educational concert, a combination of talking and playing. I'll discuss the music--how it's put together and what it expresses--musicians will play examples, and then we'll perform the full works. Many of the compositions will feature soloists from the group, or guest soloists such as vocalists. The musicians, drawn in part from my colleagues and students at Mannes College the New School for Music and in part from other contacts in the area, are top notch. We held our first rehearsal last night at Chelsea Studios, and the sound of the group is beginning to congeal. I'm adapting the arrangements as the roster of players settles into place and am using rehearsals to fine-tune the orchestrations. I'll keep you posted as things develop. New Album Serenade: Music for Saxophone and Piano, the new studio recording which saxophonist Brian Horner, pianist Elizabeth Wolynec-Avery and I have been working on since the recital at Carnegie Hall last year, is very near completion. After much debate, Mr. Horner and I decided not to submit the recording to established labels, but rather to begin our own: Sound Artist Records. This label operates in conjunction with Mr. Horner's exciting new Nashville-based business, Sound Artist Support, which provides support for independent artists who need many of the functions of traditional record companies fulfilled (marketing, concert bookings, etc), but who find in the digital era that a new solution is necessary. We have an excellent designer, Sherri Tracinski, creating an original water-color painting for the cover of the album. The image depicts a city scene suggesting, but without literally showing, a man serenading a woman. The style perfectly captures the romantic-modern combination embodied in the music. I'll post some images soon to show the development of this design. Nov 19 2007 ASCAP Plus Award I was delighted to learn that I've been awarded an ASCAP Plus award for 2007. According to ASCAP's description: "The ASCAPLUS Awards Program is for writer members of any genre whose performances are primarily in venues not surveyed; and/or writer members whose catalogs have prestige value for which they would not otherwise be compensated." New Album Recorded Since the Carnegie Hall Recital on May 13, saxophonist Brian Horner, pianist Elizabeth Wolynec and I have been working on a studio recording of some of the music. We are now at the stage of having a finished master and our next step is to find a record label. (If you have any suggestions, please let me know.) In contrast with last year's independent release "Saxophone Music of M. Zachary Johnson--Live at Steinway Hall," this album, titled "Serenade," is a polished studio recording. It includes the complete Grand Sonata in a revised version, as well as my other solo saxophone compositions and the piano solo "Solitude." We decided not to include my songs for tenor voice, alto saxophone & piano on this album, but if you'd like to hear one of the songs, I have posted "Summum Bonum" to my MySpace page. The singer is tenor Alex Richardson. http://myspace.com/mzacharyjohnson Additional excerpts from our new album are available on Brian Horner's MySpace page (where you can also view some photos of our project.) at: http://myspace.com/brianhorner "Saxophone Music of M. Zachary Johnson -- Live at Steinway Hall" Still a Bestseller at CDBaby Last year in August, this album made it to the overall bestseller list at CDBaby and was included on CDBaby's Top Sellers Sampler CD. Believe it or not, more than a year later we are still making it onto the charts -- see the listing of CDBaby's top selling "traditional" classical albums (we are #37): http://cdbaby.com/top/22 YouTube Videos Get Attention The four video excerpts of the Steinway Hall Recital of my compositions in 2006 have gotten some attention. As you can see at this page, the ratings are all 4 or 5 stars, and the total of the viewings is more than 5500. Not bad for contemporary "indie" classical music. http://youtube.com/profile_videos?user=mzacharyjohnson&p=r Collaboration with Dr. David Camwell Dr. David Camwell, Assitant Professor of Saxophone & Jazz Studies at Simpson College in Indianola, Iowa, contacted me through my MySpace profile, expressing interest in performing some of my works and we have been in touch about a collaboration. We have set an initial plan for performances of *Serenade* at Simpson College and The University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. For more information about Dr. Camwell and a recording of him playing *Serenade* visit his website at: http://davecamwell.com/ May 1 2007 Film Scoring Seminar This past weekend I attended a film scoring seminar taught by Stephen Scott Smalley, who has orchestrated many major motion pictures including "Batman" and "Mission Impossible." The seminar was tremendously valuable—the information was much more practical and usable than the traditional academic rules about orchestration. I learned a lot of great techniques the fruits of which I'm sure you will hear in my next large ensemble pieces. "An Afternoon of Classical Music" at the Washington (GA) Music Festival This past Sunday Brian & Erin Horner performed at the Washington Music Festival to a near capacity crowd at the Little Theatre. Mr. Horner performed my "Serenade for Solo Alto Saxophone" and the pair played the first performance of "Two Wedding Pieces." I'm told the duet was very well received and got lots of compliments so let us look forward to its New York premiere! Apr 13 2007 Mother's Day Concert at Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall A recital of my compositions will take place on May 13, Mother's Day, at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall. The program will include the premieres of Two Wedding Pieces for Saxophone & Horn, and Three Songs for Tenor Voice--as well as performances of "Solitude" and my Grand Sonata for Saxophone. Dec 22 2006 On CDBaby's "Top Sellers" CD CDBaby recently released its "Top Sellers" sampler album and began distributing it to customers for the holiday season as a free gift. The disc includes 79 of the online retailer's top 100 sellers during August 2006 and the sample from Saxophone Music of M. Zachary Johnson -- Live at Steinway Hall, is in slot #61. This sales rank is not just within the classical category, but across all genres--out of more than 155,000 artists. Composer In Residence I have been named Composer in Residence of the 2007 Austin Peay State University Honor Band Festival. The Residency, which takes place in Clarksville, Tennessee in February, will include rehearsals and premieres of several works for large ensemble: a mini-concerto for saxophone and wind ensemble, and *Two Military Pieces* for Symphonic Band. |
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