This is a viola concerto commissioned by and composed for Ralph Farris, violist for ETHEL.

Electric Candlelight-Concerto for Viola

electronic dance, techno, pop, groove based music!

Darjeeling

Saxomaphone is a dance piece influenced by a variety of clichés normally associated with the saxophone. There are melodic lines
derived from a variety of pop and jazz genres such as Ska, Reggae, and Hard Bop. I’ve taken these clichés and put them in contexts in
which they are not normally heard. One of the aspects of writing a sax quartet I found most interesting was seeing how the actual
timbre of the instrument is dependent upon the musical situation in which it is placed. A saxophonist playing Charlie Parker’s
Ornithology sounds very different from one playing the Paul Creston Saxophone Sonata. I’ve tried to use a variety of these sounds as
essential ingredients. For me, as a composer, notes are actually a small part of the compositional process. The structure, the macro
and micro-rhythms, the mood and, mainly, the overall sound of the instruments are much more important.

Saxomaphone

Partly programmatic, Themes and Variations on "Simple Gifts" tells the indirect story of a young boy is rained in on a summer's day and slips into a fanciful dream, full of chaos and wonder.

Theme
I. Playfully
II. Like Drops of Water
III. Aggressive!
IV. Drifting
V. "Like A Dream"
VI. Menacing; Rubato
VII. In One
VIII. As If Praying
IX. Open
X. In Time!
XI. Hopeful
XII. Heroically 
Theme (reprise)

Theme and Variations on "Simple Gifts" for Solo Piano

Ken Walicki is an American composer who is widely recognized and acknowledged for his dramatic, and engaging music, which reflects the times in which we live. Because of his unusual and interesting background, his sound world has evolved into a unique combination of Art, Pop, Jazz, and World music. Walicki‘s influences include Gyorgy Ligeti, the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Public Enemy, and much more. He was one of the first composers to use turntables in his music and the first composer to have turntables and a D.J. as regular members in a standing ensemble. His music has been performed throughout the world by, among others, the Kronos Quartet, ETHEL, the New Century Saxophone Quartet, the Soldier String Quartet, the Divan Consort, and members of the New York Philharmonic, The Los Angeles Symphony, The Los Angeles Chamber Symphony, The Detroit Symphony, The Pacific Symphony, the Istanbul Borusan Orchestra, and the SWR Kaiserslautern Orchestra. He is the composer-in-residence for the new music ensemble The Divan Consort. Walicki has received grants and commissions from a variety of organizations and performing ensembles including the American Composers Forum, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Jerome Foundation, the Kronos Quartet, the Mary Flagler Cary Trust, and Meet the Composer.
Growing up playing guitar in local Detroit garage bands, Walicki decided, at early age, he wanted to dedicate his life to music. His education included a two-year period in Germany as a Fulbright scholar where he studied with Karlheinz Stockhausen, Helmut Lachenmann, and Rolf Hempel. He was also an active participant in master classes with Aaron Copland, Samuel Barber, and William Schumann. After returning from Germany, he studied with Jere Hutcheson at Michigan State University where he received his Ph.D. Walicki enjoys traveling and finds it to be a fantastic source of inspiration. After
spending a large amount of time in the Middle East and the Indian Subcontinent, he has found these cultures to be particularly close to his heart. Together these experiences have made him a composer of diverse, accessible, physically, and spiritually moving, yet intellectually rigorous music. In addition to his music being presented in traditional concert music venues such as Lincoln Center in New York and the Liszt Academy in Budapest, his music has also been performed in new music clubs such as CBGB’s, the Knitting Factory, and countless cafes and storefronts throughout the world. Without compromising his values, he has made a point of writing music that relates to people and their situations. Walicki has collaborated with a variety of artists in the classical, pop, theater, film, and dance worlds, including Lydia Lunch, Dora Ohrenstein, the Doug Elkins Dance Company, Emmy winning producer/director Mark Obenhaus, American Opera Projects, Bermuda Triangle, Bang on a Can All-Stars, the Kronos Quartet, Divan Consort, and Ensemble Green. He was the founder and composer of the Ken Valitsky Ensemble, which included Regina Carter and Thomas Chapin as members. Previously, besides being on the faculty at New York University, Walicki has taught composition in Istanbul, Turkey at the Center for Advanced Music Techniques(MIAM), a department of Istanbul Technical University. Currently, he lives in Southern California with his son, and the family dogs. His music is available on Knitting Factory Works, C.R.I., CRS Artists, Channel Records, Albany Records and Ravello Records.

Saxomaphone

Ken Walicki

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