Video: Composing from the Summit -
Trailer Two friends, (Bill Blossom and Jon
Deak) bass players in the New York Philharmonic, embark on an
artistic journey fueled by a life in music and inspired by the
Japanese Noh play entitled, Yamamba. Starring Bill Blossom and Jon
Deak. Written, produced and directed by Drew Wyman, Ben Dufour and
Jack Gundling.
Jon Deak is also the founder and
director of The Very Young Composers, the Creative Education Advisor
of the New York Philharmonic, as well as its Associate Principal
Bassist. His compositions have been performed by such Symphony
Orchestras as the Chicago, National, New York Philharmonic,
Minnesota, Cincinnati, Vancouver, Dallas, and many others and at
music festivals worldwide. His Concerto for Contrabass and Orchestra
(Jack and the Beanstalk) was nominated in 1990 for the Pulitzer
Prize. He is the only performing member of the NY Philharmonic in
its 168 year history to have been commissioned to write a work for
that orchestra. His works have been recorded on numerous labels, and
his music is available at publisher Carl Fischer/Theodore Presser,
L.L.C. Jon's fascination with Asia and with Japanese culture in
particular, dates from the many tours he has had the privilege to
make with the New York Philharmonic to that country.
"What little is known about the particulars of John Mooney's life I
gathered from a mutual friend and former colleague from my Milwaukee
Symphony days, violinist David Edward Collins. Mooney was born in
Terre Haute, Indiana in 1916 and died in Lafayette, Indiana in 1990.
He evidently did graduate work at Indiana University, as he
presented a symphonic work as a thesis or dissertation there. He has
further studies in composition with Miklos Rosza and Robert sanders
and was on the faculty of Brescia College in Owensboro, Kentucky.
His other works include dozens of piano preludes, sonatas for
various instruments, chamber music, songs and some symphonic works
including a violin concerto. To the best of my knowledge, the Poeme
for Double Bass and Piano is his only recorded and published work."
— Bill Blossom
Alvin Brehm's relentless pursuit of the muse has brought substantial
recognition as a performer, composer, administrator and teacher.
Guest appearances with the world's leading chamber groups including
the Budapest, Guarnari, Lenox, St. Petersburg, and many, many other
quartets, and as an Artist-Member of the Lincoln Center Chamber
Music Society have firmly established his performing credentials.
His compositions have been performed in Lincoln Center, Carnegie
Hall, and other major halls, and on American and European tours.
Administrative posts included Dean of the Conservatory at the
Purchase campus of the State University of New York, chairman of the
national Chamber Music Panel of the Endowment for the Arts, and
chairman of the state-wide Music Panel of the New York State Arts
Council.
Ron Wasserman's tonal and listenable music is influenced by a wide
range of styles, but no matter where his eclectic tastes take him,
he retains a special affinity for writing music suitable for the
dance. This is no surprise since he has held the position of
principal bassist of the New York City Ballet Orchestra for over
twenty years. Another facet that appears throughout his music is a
strong consciousness of jazz harmony and a feeling of improvisation.
In July 2005, he received his first orchestral commission from the
New York City Ballet to compose a short introductory fanfare
celebrating the forty year residency of the Ballet at the Saratoga
Performing Arts Center. In January 2005, Ron arranged several Astor
Piazzolla Tangos to accompany the new production of Peter Martins'
reworked balled, "Todo Buenos Aires." His orchestra work "Lament and
Restoration" a 9/11 memorial concerto for violin, strings, and
harpsichord was recorded in 2004 by the micro-label Red Bandanna
Records along with his "Suite of Historical Dances." "Lament and
Restoration" was previously performed in Sant'Oreste, Italy and
Nyack, New York. In May of 2005, "Lament and Restoration" was made
into a ballet entitled, "Red Bandanna," choreographed by Margo
Sappington for a performance by Valentina Kozlova and the Dance
Conservatory Performance Project. He has also composed several
highly regarded arrangements of traditional spirituals, jazz numbers
and rages for the Westchester Philharmonic and the New York City
Ballet Orchestra.
