October Newsletter
First full band shows in a decade (NYC & PDX); collaborations with M. Ward, Anthony McGill, and Jeffrey Kahane; new songs (many!); and a pair of conducting debuts.
Sometimes I forget that this Substack represents the evolution of what was once a monthly newsletter that served up the skinny on upcoming gigs. I’m at work on a couple of essays on various topics, but what with the vagaries of [gestures clumsily at the world], they’re slow-going. In the meantime, I write from Santa Fe, New Mexico, with its intoxicating morning light, to give you a heads up about what’s in store this month.
On Sunday, October 5th, I’m singing/playing/conducting alongside Santa Fe Pro Musica, a crack chamber orchestra led by Colin Jacobsen. On the first half, Colin will lead the Dvorak Serenade for Strings; on the second half, I’m singing a handful of songs before conducting If love will not swing wide the gates, a clarinet concerto I’ve written for Anthony McGill. We’ve had two rehearsals so far, and I’m pleased to report that, if only momentarily, my crushing sense of imposter syndrome as a conductor has abated. Anthony and the band sound great; tickets to Sunday’s performance can be found here.
n.b.: New Yorkers will get a chance to hear the work at Zankel Hall next April, though that concert is very nearly sold out; the remaining tickets can be found here.
(Here’s me playing a piano reduction of the second movement.)
Next week, my father, Jeffrey Kahane, is popping up to Portland, where we’ll rehearse for a duo recital set to take place on October 10th at San Francisco’s Herbst Theatre. Tickets and additional information can be found here. As it happens, our concert coincides with the release date for Heirloom, an album documenting my piano concerto of the same name. If you haven’t pre-ordered your copy, you can do so here. There are still about 20 limited edition signed prints of the first page of the score; these will accompany physical purchases of the album while supplies last.1
Then on Sunday, October 12th, I’ll play a solo concert at Healing Force of the Universe in Pasadena, California. This will be my first show on the east side of Los Angeles since 2019. The set will primarily comprise songs written in the last ten months; only a handful of tickets remain.
On October 21st, back in Portland, my Oregon Symphony conducting debut arrives in the form of a concert with indie-folk darling M. Ward, who generously invited me to arrange some of his catalog for string orchestra. He and I will play some tunes together to open the concert; we’ll be joined by twenty-odd string players for a dozen songs on the second half. Matt’s songs were a delight to explore; they are sturdy, well-built, aching, with not a word out of place: the musical equivalent of a deceptively simple but life-affirming porchetta sandwich on crusty bread. Tickets for the show, which will take place at Revolution Hall, are here.
Two quick stops in the Midwest follow — a solo concert at Denison College in Granville, Ohio (October 23, tickets here), as well as a set opening for The Bad Plus in Chicago (October 25, tickets here) — after which I head to New York City. There, I’ll be putting together my first full band show in a decade under the auspices of the 92nd Street Y, which has commissioned me to write, in essence, a new album, which I’ve provisionally titled only light can do that. On October 31st, you can be the first to hear it live, when I’ll be joined in performance by Chris Morrissey on bass, Josh Dion on drums, David Bernat and Domenic Salerni on violins, Lauren Spaulding on viola, and Arlen Hlusko on cello. Tickets and information here.
Finally, for those in Portland, I’ll be reprising only light can do that on November 4th at the Alberta Rose Theatre. There, the band will consist of Andrew Jones on bass, Matt Mayhall on drums, Greg Ewer and Ling Ling Huang on violins, Amanda Grimm on viola, and Marilyn de Oliveira on cello. This, I realize, will be my first ever full band show in my new hometown. I’d be most delighted to see you there.
In case you missed it, I have a new website, which, in addition to offering a proper catalog of my concert works, contains my complete tour dates as well as a compendium of upcoming performances of concert works that I’ve not detailed here. Have a look at your leisure.
As a little postscript: perhaps like some of you, I have followed the meta-discourse surrounding the Ezra Klein/Ta-Nehisi Coates conversation with dismay. I had been planning to write something on the subject, but
, whose political sensibilities rhyme with my own, has written an essay that eloquently and passionately makes more or less the same argument that I would have made.As always, thank you for reading, and for your support. Liking and commenting this post helps others to discover this newsletter, so smash that button if you feel so inclined.
I would be remiss not to mention that October 10th is also the 40th birthday of my dear friend and colleague Timo Andres, who is one of my favorite composers living and working today. Here’s a tiny piano piece of his that I absolutely adore.
I am so bummed that I’ll miss your show at Healing Force. I live less than a mile from there in Pasadena. I’m in Portland (Beaverton) on Tuesday playing at the Reser Center…hoping our paths cross at some point, would love to meet you. Have fun out there…!