This is realy so beautiful! Amazing and beautiful clarinet and flute sound is amazing and also the harmony is realy crazy I love it!

STUNNING. Simply amazing. Where can I get the conductors copy for a chance to teach my orchestra this amazing piece?

Premiere of Joel Puckett's Concerto Duo (for solo flute, solo clarinet and orchestra)
Demarre McGill, flute
Anthony McGill, clarinet
Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra Allen Tinkham, conducting
Recorded live at Orchestra Hall in Chicago on May 13, 2012

PROGRAM NOTE: As I began work on this concerto for the brilliant brothers, Anthony and Demarre McGill, my thoughts naturally turned to family and
childhood. To shared experiences and the joy of comradery and sibling rivalries. Although the entire piece is dedicated to the
brothers, the movements take their inspiration from, and their dedications are given to, three very special toddlers.
The first movement carries the title, “Great American Scream Machine.” Growing up in Atlanta, my folks used to take my sister and
me to Six Flags over Georgia every summer. That park features the world’s largest wooden rollercoaster, the Great American Scream
Machine. Even as a child, I knew in my heart that it was probably a terrible idea to build a rollercoaster out of wood and an even
worse idea to be proud of having the LARGEST one. Needless to say, this thing terrified me [and does to this day].
This movement is dedicated to Roya McAllister whose parents are my dear friends, Roshanne Etezady and Timothy McAllister. I first
came to know Roshanne’s music when we were in graduate school together. She wrote a fantastic piece about motorcycles [and life]
for the Albany Symphony’s Dogs of Desire project. I remember thinking, “That first measure is AWESOME!”
In December, Roshanne and Tim welcomed their daughter Roya to the world. I stole my memory of her first measure and created a
sketch version of what eventually became this movement as tribute to her and a testament to little Roya to make sure she knows how
cool her mom is. Roya, you are a lucky little girl!
If you have ever tried to put a toddler down for a nap, you will understand the sentiments behind the second movement. The image
of the soft lullaby gently and smoothly soothing children to sleep seems ridiculous in the face of my nightly reality! My daughter fights
sleep like a heavyweight prizefighter.
Our nighttime routine has become set in stone. I give her a bath, put her in her pajamas, and we read a book or two. And then we
come to my favorite portion of the routine: the lullabies. Doing my part, I sing her slow lullabies while rocking her and she does her
part, fighting the onset of sleep.
By far her favorite lullaby is the one my grandmother [Mama Dee] used to sing to me: “Sail Far Away, Sail Across the Sea, Only don’t
forget to Sail, back again to me.”
At least, I THOUGHT it was the one Mama Dee used to sing to me. I got curious about the rest of the verses and found that the
song was written in 1898 by Alice Riley and Jesse Gaynor and has only a passing resemblance to the song I remember Mama Dee
singing to me. Better yet, it has virtually no resemblance to the lullaby I had been singing to my daughter!
So this movement is both a journey of daddy trying to coax daughter to sleep and a journey of daughter enjoying the song, fighting
sleep and eventually succumbing to slumber.
I have had this material in my head, virtually nonstop, since the day my daughter was born. I first created a winds only version of this
“lullaby” as a gift for my daughter on her 1st birthday.
Following an extended introduction of the lullaby material by the soloists, you will hear the soloists take turns trying to coax the
toddler to sleep only to be interrupted by the little stomps of a very tired and stubborn [but very cute] little girl. Approximately two
thirds of the way through the movement a dramatic change over occurs where all involved [daddy and daughter] begin to succumb to
sleep.
As the haze overtakes daddy and daughter, the lullaby appears in four-part canon, with half the orchestra singing and half the
orchestra playing the lullaby then slowly dissolving into a sleepy A-flat major chord that is sung by the entire orchestra.
Happy birthday, little A!
The soloists emerge from this singing to begin the third movement by passing apeggiations back and forth, slowly picking up more
and more steam and launching into a sounds that are reminiscent of the cool breezes and sunshine of Southern California, which is
the birthplace of Audrey Simonds’s father. This movement is dedicated to the daughter of CYSO’s own general manager, Joshua
Simonds, who has been a sounding board and source of constant support throughout my time as CYSO’s composer-in-residence.
Audrey, your Dad is a very special person.
Concerto Duo is dedicated to the amazing brothers, Anthony and Demarre McGill and their parents. They are an inspiration and
fantastic models for how to live as an artist and, more importantly, as a human. I am humbled and grateful to have them turn their
attention to my notes.
Concerto Duo premiered on mother’s day 2012, in Chicago’s Orchestra Hall by the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra
with Anthony and Demarre McGill, soloists and Allen Tinkham, conducting.

Concerto Duo with Demarre and Anthony McGill [LIVE]

Joel Puckett's new work for winds, A Proper Goodbye in the premiere performance by Gerard Morris and the Puget Sound Wind Ensemble.

LIVE PERFORMANCE

Score can be found here: https://issuu.com/joelpuckettmusic/docs/puckett_a_proper_goodbye_v.1.2_4.15.2022

A Proper Goodbye Premiere (Live)

LIVE, March 4, 2023, Timothy J. Robblee, conductor
Armstrong Concert Hall, Winchester VA
Scenario by Gary Winter
https://jonathannewman.com/music/piilani-and-koolau

Pi‘ilani and Ko‘olau, an imagined ballet [Shenandoah Conservatory Wind Ensemble]

for wind ensemble

performed by the Texas Tech University Symphonic Wind Ensemble, Sarah McKoin, conductor.

Deciduous (live)

A synthetic sound world of neon nostalgia that evolves into an optimistic synth anthem of bliss.

This is a reading session that Glen Adsit and the Hartt School generously did for me. Real performance(s) will be uploaded at some point in the future.

Synthetic Sunlight (Hartt School READING SESSION)

12 days of Christmas, arranged by Bob, played by Nadia!

Nadia Sirota - The 12 Days Of Christmas - by Robert Sirota

Tau Beta Sigma/Kappa Kappa Psi NIB World Premiere, July 2017.

4) The Low Arc Of The Sun

Play To Win From THE FIX Outlaw And Dennis

[@ 3 min] Team OBS goes ‘Inside the Huddle’ with Joel Puckett, composer of Minnesota Opera’s production of “The Fix” (with a libretto by Eric Simonson) about the fraudulent 1919 Chicago White Sox team. A guest who can shoot the breeze about sports…?!

[@ 37 min] Apparently there are still places that want to hire James Levine. In ‘Chalk Talk’, find out where in the world presenting an alleged sexual predator and cult-leader will still sell tickets...

[@ 46 min] In the ‘Two Minute Drill’, women take the reins of New Orleans Opera and Charlottesville Opera, while the Metropolitan Opera stops giving away free online content…

www.facebook.com/obschi1
www.operaboxscore.com
@operaboxscore

George Cederquist's Album

Getting Our Fix with Joel Puckett!

The famous intro to Rhapsody in Blue done on PICCOLO TRUMPET!

This recording is a world premiere for piano and jazz band arranged by Allan Gilliland and Matt Catingub.  Featuring Jon Kimura Parker (piano) and Jens Lindemann (piccolo trumpet) along with the Canadian All-Star JazzPops Orchestra.  Watch for the full release on November 19, 2020

Rhapsody In Blue Big Band INTRO

Joel Puckett is a composer leaving both audiences and the press buzzing. His music has been described as, “soaringly lyrical” (Minneapolis Star Tribune), “Puccini-esque” (Wall Street Journal), and “containing a density within a clarity, polyphony within the simple and – most importantly – beautiful and seemingly spiritual.” (Audiophile Audition). Parterre Box recently proclaimed, “Puckett should be a household name” and the Philadelphia Inquirer’s David Patrick Stearns mused, “if the name Joel Puckett isn’t etched into your brain, it should be.” In 2011 NPR Music listed him as one of the top 100 composers under 40 in the world.

Hailed as “visionary” (Washington Post) and “an astonishingly original voice” (Philadelphia Inquirer), his music is performed by the leading artists of our day and is consistently recognized by organizations such as the American Composers Forum, BMI, Chorus America, National Public Radio, and the American Bandmasters Association.

Puckett’s music attracts diverse performers and listeners through its emotional energy and commitment. Melding tradition with innovation, his distinctive style grows from his power to create transcendent experiences using charismatic musical language.

The Fix, a grand opera commissioned by Minnesota Opera, premiered in the March 2019 to packed houses, enthusiastic audiences, and largely effusve praise. With a libretto by Academy Award and Tony Award winner, Eric Simonson, the work depicts the rise and fall of the 1919 Chicago White Sox. It is a tragedy ripe with power, romance and redemption, set against the backdrop of America’s favorite pastime. Puckett’s earlier commissions have been premiered and performed worldwide, to exuberant critical acclaim.

His flute concerto, The Shadow of Sirius, premiered in 2010 and has received more than 200 performances and been recorded multiple times, including 2015’s Naxos Surround Sound disc, “Shadow of Sirius,” which received a 2016 Grammy Nomination. Currently the Chair of Music Theory, Ear Training, and Piano Skills at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, Puckett presents workshops nationwide and frequently serves as an adjudicator at competitions for rising composers. His music is represented worldwide by Bill Holab Music.

Concerto Duo with Demarre and Anthony McGill [LIVE]

Joel Puckett

Recent comments

Bryce Zimmerman

R.Alonso

Bachianer

bruce@underscoresmith

Related tracks