Rabbit Tales and Tamar

There are a few more performances of my opera "Rabbit Tales" this week by the
Atlanta Opera
(http://tickets.atlantaopera.org/auxiliary/psDetail.aspx?psn=49084):

Wednesday, March 21, 2012, 10AM & 1PM
Admission: $6
The Atlanta Opera Center
1575 Northside Dr. NW
Bldg. 300, Suite 350
Atlanta, GA 30318

Saturday, March 24, 2012, 11AM
Admission: $6
Fulton County Arts & Culture's Southwest Arts Center
915 New Hope Rd.
Atlanta, GA 30331

I will be making my debut performance with Perimeter Flute on Thursday (3/22) at
6:45pm at Greater Atlanta Christian School. We will be performing my flute
quartet "Tamar". Admission is free and there will be some free nosh as well.

More performances next week!

New "New Music" Ensemble Concerts in Atlanta

This week I will be performing with two new "new music" chamber ensembles here in Atlanta:

Wednesday (2/29) at 8pm
Chamber Cartel
John Adams "songbirdsongs" for two piccolos and percussion
www.chambercartel.com
The Goat Farm Arts Center

Sunday (3/4) at 3pm
Terminus Ensemble
"Between the Walls" by Brent Milam for flute, clarinet, cello, and piano
"Inventio Fortunata" by Drew Dolan for solo flute
www.terminusensemble.org
Central Library Branch, Atlanta-Fulton County Public Library

In between concerts I'll be in Hinesville, GA seeing a performance of my opera "Rabbit Tales" being performed at my nephew's school. And I will also be performing at 9am mass at the Christ the King Cathedral on Sunday.
Busy week! Yay!

Fiscal Sponsorship and Upcoming Performances

Another busy month is on deck! I have plans to perform with the new music ensembles Terminus Ensemble and Chamber Cartel as well as Perimeter Flutes. But, the Chamberlain Duo has secured fiscal sponsorship through Fractured Atlas. You can now make tax deductible contributions to our duo which will help us with operation, travel, recording and hiring other musicians. You can make donations here: https://www.fracturedatlas.org/site/contribute/donate/5847

A lot of performances are planned over the next couple of weeks, especially with "Rabbit Tales" school tours kicking off today. Below is a list of public performances of "Rabbit Tales" as well as my flute performances:

February 26, 2012 at 3:00pm
Public performance of "Rabbit Tales" a children's opera, commissioned by the Atlanta Opera. at Decatur High School Theater, 310 N. McDonough St., Decatur, GA 30030

February 29, 2012 at 8:00pm
Performing "songbirdsongs" by John Luther Adams with the Chamber Cartel. at The Goat Farm

March 4, 2012 at 3:00pm
Performing works by Brent Milam and Drew Dolan with Terminus Ensemble at Central Library Branch, Atlanta-Fulton County Public Library

March 17, 2012 at 9:30am & 12:30pm
Performance of "Rabbit Tales" a children's opera, commissioned by the Atlanta Opera for Girl Scouts Day. at The Atlanta Opera Center, 1575 Northside Dr. NW, Bldg. 300, Suite 350, Atlanta, GA 30318

March 21, 2012 at 10am & 1pm
Public performance of "Rabbit Tales" a children's opera, commissioned by the Atlanta Opera. at The Atlanta Opera Center, 1575 Northside Dr. NW, Bldg. 300, Suite 350, Atlanta, GA 30318

March 24, 2012 at 11am
Public performance of "Rabbit Tales" a children's opera, commissioned by the Atlanta Opera. at Fulton County Arts and Culture's Southwest Arts Center, 915 New Hope Rd, Atlanta, GA 30331

New Publisher: Spotted Rocket

After years of trying to use other publishers to sell and promote my music, I have decided to take matters into my own hands and create: SpottedRocket.com It only made sense as a trained graphic designer and music engraver that I market my own publishing company. So here we are, my very own publishing company. Right now I only publish my own sheet music via PDF. But, hopefully that will change in the future.

2011!?! That was fun!

So 2011 went better than I could ever imagine! With 6 world premieres, two commissions, multiple performances and traveling about every month that made for a record year! So what does 2012 have in store? Its basically a clean slate. There's a couple of possibilities, but nothing in stone. So again, I'll have to make something work.

This year will kick off getting the hubby more into the mix. We're trying to get a concert of our music in the spring and playing around more. We would also like to get a recording of the concert that we could peddle around. Of course it costs money to hire musicians and record. So we are going to try Fractured Atlas and perhaps Crowd Sourcing or Kickstarter. This is the year for making concrete plans and getting this bird to ave finally fly.

If I could have another year like 2011 I couldn't be happier, but only time and hard work will tell. Tomorrow I sit down and make a business plan for 2012!

I Wonder As I Wander - Bass Flute Solo

 This will be my last post of the year, unless something nuts happens between now and then. I have a bass flute on loan for the next month, and decided to write a Christmas solo for it (It will work for C Flute too). You can view a video of me wielding the beast and order the sheet music here: http://www.nikkinotes.com/IWonderAsIWander.html

We Three Kings Flute Duet

Listen

Level: Intermediate to Advanced
Duration: 2 Minutes
Format: PDF
Price: $2.00

This is an arrangement of the Christmas Carol "We Three Kings of Orient Are". Perfect for intermediate to advanced players. Piece remains in 3/4. Highest note is 2nd G above the staff. Lowest note is D below the staff. Piece is approximately 2 minutes long. Piece will be delivered as a PDF through email.

Chatter, Hopewell, and Rabbit Tales

It's been an amazing month to say the least. The premiere of "Rabbit Tales" had over 400 people in attendance. "Rabbit Tales" is expected to be performed over 50 times by the end of the 2011-2012 season.

"Chatter" has also been performed twice this month by two different duos. Another big thanks to the Dahlia Flute Duo who have really championed this piece for me, and performed it again at the Rochester Flute Fair. I would also like to thank Danielle Spaeth and Caylee Wells who performed "Chatter" for Danielle's graduate recital at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Anxiously waiting the recording :)

"Hopewell" will be performed on Tuesday at Winthrop University by the University's Symphonic Band under the direction of Catharine Bushman in Rock Hill, SC. This is Catharine's first concert as assistant band director at Winthrop University. Her doctorate is "in the mail". I am so excited to be a part of this concert!

That's it for now. I have three future commissions on the table in negotiations. We'll see if any of them shake down. It's been an exciting year, and it looks like next year I will continue in furiously composing (God willing).

Christmas Music for Flute Duo

 It's that time of year again. I currently have 6 different Christmas Carols arranged for flute duo:

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
Silent Night
Coventry Carol
What Child Is This?
O Come, O Come Emmanuel
Pat-A-Pan

You can buy them individually or you can buy them all at once here: http://www.nikkinotes.com/ChristmasDuets.html

Rabbit Tales!

So I composed this little children's opera for the Atlanta Opera called "Rabbit Tales" based on the Br'er Rabbit stories. What an incredibly fun project and creative team of people. I couldn't have asked for a better experience.  The premiere is on October 29, and the event is already "sold out". The opera is not taking any more reservations for the free event. How exciting!

Here's a photo of me with the cast as well as the librettist, Madeleine St. Romain, and stage director, Park Cofield.

World Premiere of "Nautica"

First, Athens Flute Choir had to postpone the performance of "Tamar". They hope to have it on the Oct 27 concert. I'll post details as I get them.

"Nautica", however, will be premiered on Tuesday (Oct 4) at 7:30pm at Georgia State University's Kopleff Recital Hall on their neoPhonia concert. ArtsCriticATL.com did an article about it here: http://www.artscriticatl.com/2011/09/neophonia-returns-with-atlanta-composers-world-premieres-for-red-clay-connections/

Yesterday was a pretty good day which included being a guest speaker at GSU composition seminar. I got a lot of fabulous questions, and I am glad I got the opportunity to talk to the grad and undergrad students.

Even more stuff is in the works. Can't wait until I can share it all!

IAWM World Congress 2011 Wrap Up

What a wonderful time in Flagstaff, AZ. I really couldn't ask for a better experience. First of all I think I was really fortunate to have found a pair of fabulous flutists who enjoy playing my music. I have nothing but fabulous things to say about the Dahlia Flute Duo. Wonderful flutists and equally wonderful people. I could easily see myself writing for them in the very near future. Here's a video of them performing "Chatter" at the Congress, and you can see why I am eager to write another piece for them:



You can buy the sheet music here: http://www.nikkinotes.com/Chatter.html

We definitely bonded on this trip which even included some wrong turns on the dirt roads of remote Arizona. Ooops. But we survived!

The concerts that I was able to go to were fabulous and I am glad I had the opportunity to go. Dr. Judith Cloud coordinated the event, and cheers to her on a job well done! The selected music and performances were fantastic and I am glad to be included in such a group.

I couldn't miss the opportunity, however, to visit the south rim of the Grand Canyon. I had been to the north rim a few years ago, but I wanted to see the difference. I am so glad I went:

Certainly a trip and performance I will never forget! Now I get to play it Saturday with flutist Jessica Sherer at Classical Revolution event at Tah Cha Teahouse at 8pm :)

Decatur Book Festival Wrap-up

I hadn't anticipated such a huge turn out for the "Rabbit Tales" panel discussion put on by the Atlanta Opera at the Decatur Book Festival. The Decatur High School Auditorium was pretty full. To be honest I only expected 10 people to show up, boy was I wrong! It was incredibly disarming, and I'm out of practice with speaking in front of such a large group of people. I hope I was coherent and understandable.

Another thing I didn't expect was the mega screen that my scores was projected on. I really didn't expect anything larger than a chalkboard. The screen at the panel discussion resembled more of an IMAX movie screen, and I feel like we all should have been handed 3D glasses at the door. You can get a real sense of scale by seeing Madeleine St. Romain sitting next to the screen. Lesson learned: Be prepared for the unimaginable. It was all something!

It was a rockstar kind of weekend. I got a badge for the festival that read "Nicole Chamberlain-author", a slight misrepresentation which I'm sure my sister will get a kick out of. (See how I ended my sentence with a preposition - I believe its dangling) I also got the hook up in gift certificates. The hubs and I used them all the the Brick Store Pub. We also got to hang in the "Authors and VIP Lounge". I kind of felt out of place, but it was nice to get a free bottled water and out of the scorching heat.

Anywho, it was a good time and I could only hope that all festivals and conferences I went to were like the Decatur Book Festival.

Let Concert Season Begin!

The past couple weeks have been full of good news, and the next couple months are going to be jam packed with events:

September 4 at 2pm
Decatur Book Festival
Decatur High School Auditorium
I will be on a panel discussing the process of composing my opera "Rabbit Tales"

September 16 at 3pm
IAWM World Congress 2011
Northern Arizona University
Flagstaff, Arizona
Dahlia Flute Duo will premiere my composition "Chatter"

September 29 at 1pm
Georgia State University
Composition Seminar
I will be discussing making a living as a composer not affiliated with an academic institution to the undergraduate and graduate composition students at Georgia State University (not to be confused with my alma mater University of Georgia)

October 3 at 3pm
Kopleff Recital Hall
Georgia State University
World Premiere of piano work "Nautica" (fingers crossed pianist can be found)

October 29 at 1pm
Wren's Nest
Atlanta Opera premieres my opera "Rabbit Tales" with questions to myself and the librettist, Madeleine St. Romain after performance.

NPR's radio station 90.1 WABE will also feature and interview with the "Rabbit Tales" team at the end of this month and Atlanta Magazine will have an article about us in the October issue. There's also another commission in the works for orchestra in January 2013! Its gonna be a fun and crazy couple of months! I'll keep you posted as I find out more details.

Yankee Doodle Flute Duet

Listen
Level: Intermediate to Advanced
Duration: 1 1/2 Minute
Format: PDF
Price: $2.00

This is an arrangement of the American Folk Song, "Yankee Doodle". Perfect for intermediate to advanced players. Highest note is 2nd A above the staff. Lowest note is Eb on bottom of the staff. Piece is approximately 1 1/2 minute long. Great for those Patriotic and Athletic Gigs! Suitable for piccolos and violins as well. Piece will be delivered as a PDF through email.

Rainbows and Fireworks

Sometimes  you are pretty certain you know how a concert is going to play out, but you can never be too certain when you decide to play outside. Some musicians will actually rather lose a paying gig than to play outside and risk the uncertainty that is called Mother Nature. Since I'm always up for an adventure and I usually don't turn down a gig if I have a free night, I got to play with the Georgia Symphony Orchestra last night at their Fireworks Spectacular. I just assumed it would be like any other night this week, hot and humid. So I braced myself for a night of sticky playing. Boy, was I wrong!

The principal flutist and I pulled in the parking lot (with our matching convertible beetles) at the same time. The skies looked ominous, so we scurried into the nearest hall to the greens at Kennesaw State. No sooner had we walked in the door, but the heavens opened up and musicians poured into the hall. We all pulled out our phones to see what the weather radar was showing. We were all positive the show would be cancelled. After 10 minutes of sideways rain, the weather let up and all the musicians were curious to see how the sound engineers and stage outside were faring.

Lo and behold, the stage was up, sound checks were commencing, and there was a crowd of people patiently waiting on the lawn! So we decided to just go with it and start the concert. There was some light drizzling and we thought we'd never finish the concert, but then it stopped. At the end of  "Salute to Rogers and Hammerstein" we saw a rainbow..even a double rainbow. Some enchanted evening ;)

The weather was downright perfect from then on, and I'm glad we decided to soldier on. It turned out to be a fabulous night...with the exception of the principal flutist's flute malfunctioning, all was remedied when the piccoloist offered her flute. It all worked out in the end!

Premiere of "Valentine"

The hubby (Brian Chamberlain) and I will be premiering my work "Valentine" for flute and guitar that I wrote for Brian this Friday (6/3) at 8pm at the TahCha Teahouse in conjunction with Classical Revolution ATL event
(http://www.facebook.com/cratl)

3352-c Chamblee Tucker Rd.
Atlanta, GA 30341

Brian and I will not be the only ones performing, however. There will be many professional Atlanta classical musicians performing that night. Another composer, Michael Kurth a bassist for the Atlanta Symphony, will also have a piece performed. I've been to another CRATL event and it was wonderful to hear what some of Atlanta's musicians will pick out to perform when they have a
choice to play with friends in public. Should be a wonderful night!

We even got a plug on our local NPR station. You can listen to the interview of the Atlanta founders of Classical Revolution here: http://www.pba.org/programming/programs/citycafe/

Interview and Hopewell

It's been a whirlwind the past couple of weeks, and amongst it all I am furiously writing to meet my first deadline for the opera in June. This past weekend I was featured on the Atlanta Composers Blog, and you can read the interview here: http://atlantacomposers.blogspot.com/2011/05/quick-q-with-nicole-chamberlain.html

This week I also meet with the Atlanta Opera's documentary team who are going to record the progress of the Atlanta Opera's first ever commission. I don't really know what we are going to discuss. I suppose the process up to this point. It's all very exciting, but I hope I can keep focused on the main objective which is writing good music.

I was also surprised by an announcement that my composition "Hopewell" for concert band will be performed by The Walker School Middle Band directed by Erik Kofoed on Friday for their Honors Day ceremonies. I will get to meet and work with the students some tomorrow. It's one thing to get a piece premiered, its another to get a second performance, its a whole different story to get another performance by another ensemble!

The Atlanta Opera Commissions Children Opera

Here is the official press release!

http://www.atlantaopera.org/media/pdf/Childrens_Opera_050411.pdf

Atlanta Opera Commission and NFA Newly Published Work Finalist

What a week! First off "Smorgasbord" has been selected by the National Flute
Association as a Finalist for their Newly Published Music Competition. I will
finally be attending my first National Flute Convention in Charlotte, North
Carolina in August.

In other news, I can finally announce that the Atlanta Opera has commissioned me
to compose a children's opera based on Br'er Rabbit Tales compiled by Joel
Chandler Harris. Madeleine St. Romain has created a wonderful libretto for me to
use and the work will be premiered in October. The press release was sent today,
and as soon as it is posted to the Atlanta Opera site I will send a link as
well. Looks like I have lots of work to do this summer, but what fun it will be!