Music and being 

Email:
morgangreenwood78@yahoo.com

What inspired my music identity was an existential crisis.  In January of 2014 I lost my grandmother.  She was a wonderful woman and she was more of a mother to me than a grandparent.  I took the loss fairly hard.  My grandmother was the only stable person in my whole life, the only one who was there for me no matter what.  I felt truly alone.
 
When summer came I turned away from nearly all of my friends and began to think.  I thought about my grandmother, my brothers, my friends, myself, and my future.  I thought about my place in the world and I thought about humanity’s place in the world too.  I sat, night after night watching documentaries and playing FPS on my gaming console.  Still, my mind thought and thought and thought...Then I happened upon a documentary by Stephen Hawking.
 
Something clicked when I was guided through this brilliant man’s understanding and theory of how our universe came to be.  However, that “something” didn’t click into place.  I was flung into a full existential crisis.
 
It is that crisis which has inspired everything that you see and hear on this site.  Thank you for visiting and I hope you enjoy!

Ash Stemke (b. 1991) "…simply composes music he wants to hear, because it is beautiful, spouts no unpleasant theories, and manages nonetheless to avoid the too-well-known and trite." (Steven Kruger, New York Arts).

Patrick David Clark was born in St. Louis, MO, and is a composer and conductor, currently adjunct professor of music theory and composition at the University of Missouri.  Patrick is conductor and musical director of the Jefferson City Symphony Orchestra and frequent guest conductor for the Columbia Civic Orchestra and Mizzou New Music Ensemble, and was musical director for The Little Theater’s production of Bye Bye Birdie, Rent, The Odd Couple, and Peter Pan.  Most recently Patrick has been commissioned to write an orchestral work, FE700°C, for the Illinois Symphony Orchestra in celebration of their 20th anniversary, and Snow Coming for St. Louis Symphony pianist Peter Henderson, performed as part of the Sheldon Concert Hall’s 100th anniversary, and a chamber work for The Odyssey Chamber Concerts Series in Columbia, MO.  Orchestral works by Patrick have been programmed by the Seattle Symphony, San Antonio Symphony, Nashville Symphony, Spokane Symphony, and the Nederlands Ballet Orkest.  Chamber works by Patrick have been performed and recorded in The Netherlands and Israel.  Dr. Clark has worked with American Voices as Composition faculty on several trips to both Kurdistan and Thailand.  Patrick holds his Bachelor’s degree in composition from MU where he studied with Thomas McKenney and John Cheetham.  Patrick earned his Master’s degree from the University of Arizona, studying with Dan Asia, and his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in composition from the Shepherd School of Music, Rice University, studying with Arthur Gottschalk, Paul Cooper and Ellsworth Milburn.  Patrick is a Tanglewood Fellow (1997), participated as a composer at June in Buffalo and studied with Louis Andriessen at the Royal Conservatory in the Hague in Holland on a Netherlands-America Foundation Grant (Fulbright). Patrick was one of eight composers selected to write a work for Alarm Will Sound, performed in July of 2011 as part of the Mizzou International Composers Festival.  The resulting composition, Ptolemy’s Carousel, and many other works by the composer can be heard at: http://soundcloud.com/patrick-david-clark



Alec has been an aspiring artist ever since he started playing Tuba when he was 11. He was born and raised in West Des Moines, IA. Ever since there was an opportunity, he has taken part in honor ensembles. Concluding his high school career with being 1st chair in the Iowa All State Band his junior and senior years. He was a part of the Des Moines Youth Symphony his sophomore, junior, and senior years in high school. He has performed at such venues as Walt Disney World, the Midwest Clinic, the Iowa Bandmasters Association Conference, and Lincoln Center in New York. He has studied with Michael Short, Thomas Stein, and Christian Carichner. Currently, he is a Senior in Music Education at Iowa State University.

Mark D. Lauer: Bassoon is following