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I’ve had a lovely summer full of lots of live radio and a bit of travel. I’m still basking from the release of my new album which you can listen to here and here and buy here and here and here. I’ve participated in a number of podcasts this summer too! This one is kind of serious, and this one is kind of drunk (it’s called a bourbon roundtable with myself and Nico Muhly and Marcos Balter.) Media! Weee!

I am so excited to announce the release of my first solo album, First Things First, on New Amsterdam Records. Come help celebrate at Galapagos in DUMBO on May 15, and don’t forget to pick up your copy on the official release date, May 19.

For me this album is a sort of synthesis of all of these projects and friendships that started in my early twenties. The first piece I ever really commissioned is the first track on this album: Duet No. 1, Chorale Pointing Downwards by Nico. The process of editing and refining this piece (which was originally almost unplayably awkward) was surprisingly wonderful, and I discovered that this type of work was literally my favorite thing.

The music on this album is the result of my collaborations with three fantastic composers, Nico Muhly, Marcos Balter, and Judd Greenstein. Nico I met at school, and Judd and Marcos were both fellows at the Tanglewood Music Center with me, an unspeakably idyllic music festival in the Berkshires.

These guys are wonderful collaborators as well as wonderful friends, and these pieces (most of which were commissioned over a bourbon or two) represent some really lovely collaborations.

The one piece on this album that I did not commission is the last track, The Night Gatherers by Judd. It was commissioned by another Tanglewood friend of ours as a memorial to her grandmother. When I was putting this album together, I thought it would not only contribute beautifully to the arc of the record, but also give me the opportunity to work with my brother, a fantastic violist, and his ensemble, the wonderful Chiara Quartet.

All of these personal connections make this record really special for me, but more importantly, the music on this record is really good; all three of these guys have really strong, individual voices, but I think their music speaks well together. Their music is innovative, and yet feels timely and inevitable. I am so pleased to interpret these guys’ work, and I am thrilled to release this first record.

I’m kicking off mid-march with some good, old fashioned, Dumbarton Oaks. Come! It’s on the 21st; there will probably be some heinous hang at Faces & Names afterwards. Then, the very next day, ACME Quartet (that’s Caleb Burhans, Yuki Numata, myself, and Clarice Jensen) will be premiering Timo Andres‘ Senior in the Big Girl Hall with the New York Youth Symphony. They’re also playing Brahms 1 and Chavez Sinfonia India. Chavez. All of you Illinois kids, though! Come see Songs of Ascension by Meredith Monk at the Krannert Center! That’s in the first week of April, and will be wonderful. We just did a version at the Guggenheim, and people liked it.

and you know what that means: time for a subtle-yet-effective website overhaul. Thanks very much to webcraftsman/tenor Matt Hensrud for tweaking this website into a beautifully-useable space. No more of that pesky HTML event editing for me: phew.

I’ve got some great stuff coming up! First, everyone should come to Joe’s Pub and listen to Luke Rathborne’s Maine-inspired tunes on the 28th. Done.

On the 5th, though: Meredith Monk at the Guggenheim. Come. I’ll be perched at the top of that rotunda, thinking nice thoughts about heights and not-dropping my viola on the audience five stories below.