I’ve put the finishing touches on a piano piece titled El Jaleo, for the amazing Yoonie Han. It’s a very romantic piece, designed to accelerate from wistful to whirlwind. And boy can Yoonie play it! I’ve learned a lot working through drafts with her. A prize to the first person to tell me where the title comes from! Just post your answer on my Facebook page, and if you’re the first, you’ll win a free Theodore Wiprud CD!
Read more →Reading, PA, is where my mother’s family is from, and it’s where I heard the first orchestral concerts that made an impression on me – with Andre Watts playing the MacDowell Second Piano Concerto. At the ripe old age of 16, suddenly I understood what piano lessons were for! And began to think about what it would be like to create music like that. I’m eager to visit Reading once again but now as a composer, for the Reading Symphony Orchestra performance of my Hosannas of the Second Heaven.
Read more →A rich season for me, starting with the most emotional: daughter Allegra Wiprud will premiere a set of three songs (poetry of life and death and nature) on her junior year recital at Princeton. (We hope to repeat the recital in New York—stay tuned!)
Read more →The Premiere Recording of my Violin Concerto (Katrina)! Ittai Shapira, for whom I composed my concerto, recorded it with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic last January. Now Champs Hill Records issues the release, also featuring Ittai’s ravishing performances of the Barber and Menotti concerti.
Read more →Fire In Heaven And Earth—my first release on Albany Records—will come out around May 1! I’m thrilled by the super performances of orchestral, chamber, and vocal music from the past 20 years of my output, and by James Keller’s liner notes. If you’re on my e-mail list or a Facebook friend, expect a bulletin announcing its arrival. “The Open Door”, commissioned by Francisco Nunez and the Young People’s Chorus of New York, last year became my first publication with G. Schirmer. Now it’s been performed by the biggest ensemble of my career, nearly 300 voices of the Georgia All-State Intermediate Mixed Chorus. Mr. Nunez is championing the work at such events around the nation—check out the results on YouTube here! Violin Concerto (Katrina) is coming
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