May 31-June 3, 2017 brought Classical Guitarist Alan Goldspiel back to the New Music on the Bayou Festival in Louisiana both as a performer and a composer.
On June 2, 2017 his composition, Purple Nokh A Moll, for solo Tuba was performed at Northminster Church in Monroe, Louisiana for the festival participants. Purple Nokh A Moll was commissioned by Joe L. Alexander and performed by Drake Domingue.
On that same day, Goldspiel also performed two other pieces by composers attending the festival. The first was a piece by composer, John Teske, called ad;sr for a quartet of saxophone, amplified guitar, and two trombones. When asked about his piece, Teske stated “My recent work has been exploring the nature of human consciousness, awareness, and sensation. As our culture becomes more interconnected, the experience of time seems to be accelerating and the average attention span is diminishing. Through altering the experience of time through music, I hope to bring to attention greater subtleties of sound.”
The second piece performed by Goldspiel was by composer Uri Netanel called Nouri (The Chase on the Bridge after Sami Michael’s “Palm Trees in the Storm”) for flute, violoncello, and guitar. Both pieces were also performed at the Northminster Church venue in Monroe, Louisiana.
When asked why he returned to the New Music on the Bayou Festival this year, Goldspiel stated, “Being in a musically creative environment like this with such a high level of musicianship is beyond inspiring.”
Last year, Goldspiel’s composition And All That Jazz? was performed at the New Music on the Bayou Festival. He also performed a piece for guitar and bass clarinet by Ryan Dodge called Introduction and Scherzo and another piece for piano, French horn, and electric guitar by composer Mel Mobley called Covering. In addition to those performances Goldspiel also gave a lecture presentation entitled “Composing for the Guitar” to help other composers write for guitar.
