Marco Alunno,

Livorno, Italy, completed a piece for solo percussionist commissioned by Colin Tribby and supported by The Hanson Institute for American Music. The piece will premiere in North Carolina in 2007.

John Aylward,

Cambridge, MA, completed a setting of Louise Gluck poetry for mezzosoprano and chamber ensemble that will premiere at Brandeis University in 2007.

Jason Bahr,

Starkville, MS, wrote the first two movements of Mysteries of Light, a commission from the Fromm Foundation. He recently won the Northridge Prize for Orchestral Composition for his work Golgotha.

Fernando Benadon,

Washington, DC, composed Bügi Wügi for pianist Ivan Ilic, who will perform the work across Europe and the United States in 2007.

Eric Chasalow,

Newton, MA, finished composing The Puzzle Master for five singers and computer-manipulated sound. The piece is a collaborative multimedia retelling of the Daedalus and Icarus myth and will premiere at the Boston CyberArts Festival in 2007.

William Coble,

Chicago, IL, completed a setting of sacred music, John 17, for baritone, violin, cello, and piano. He also worked on vocal chamber music for an upcoming festival in Austria and on Variations for the Richmond Symphony.

Nathan Currier,

Lynchburg, VA, worked on a dramatic song cycle for soprano and piano to be premiered in Philadelphia in 2007. He recently completed Possum Wakes from Playing Dead, a piece for harp and cello to be premiered at the Philharmonie in Berlin, and War Music, a new musical theatre work.

Sebastian Currier,

New York, NY, finished a piano concerto commissioned by the Miller Theatre to be premiered in the spring of 2007. He also worked on a piece for harp and string orchestra to be premiered in Berlin.

Corey Dargel,

Brooklyn, NY, collaborated with Yvan Greenberg and Honor Molloy on a new experimental, music-theatre piece, Murphy. He also composed a set of songs that he performed on tour in 2006 to promote his debut album Less Famous Than You.

Anthony Davis,

San Diego, CA continued work on his music theatre work Shimmer. In 2007, his opera Wakonda’s Dream premiered at Opera Omaha, and his clarinet concerto You Have the Right to Remain Silent debuted with the Perspectives Ensemble in New York. A new CD of his opera Amistad will be released on New World in 2007.

Stacy Garrop,

Evanston, IL, wrote Tango Gardél for piano. She also worked on a chamber work for mezzo-soprano, violin, cello, and piano, in which she is setting poems of Billy Collins. Her String Quartet No. 2: Demons and Angels will be commercially released by Cedille Records in 2007.

Lucio Gregoretti,

Rome, Italy, realized a new version of P.A.C.E. for chamber orchestra, which will be performed in 2007 by the Nuova Orchestra Scarlatti. He also composed Mundus Novus for flute and piano. His fourth opera L’ ultimo Avventore, which he worked on during his previous residency at MacDowell, premiered in 2007.

Jorge Grossmann,

Henderson, NV, completed three Diptychs for solo piano, which will be performed in the United States, South America, and Australia in 2007. He was awarded a Nevada Arts Council Fellowship in 2006.

Joel Harrison,

New York, NY, completed a piece for four percussionists and piano that was begun two years ago at MacDowell. He also wrote the final movement to a piece for string and jazz quartet and completed two pieces for his jazz quintet.

Fred Hersch,

New York, NY, worked on a composition for piano titled Variations on a Theme by Tchaikovsky, commissioned by the Gilmore Keyboard Festival. He was nominated for a 2006 Grammy for Best Instrumental Composition for his piece Valentine.

Mike Holober,

Nyack, NY, worked on arrangements for jazz piano trio with woodwind section. He completed five pieces for a future recording to be titled In the Wind. His new quintet recording Wish List was scheduled for a 2006 release.

Alexandra Karastoyanova-Hermentin,

Vienna, Austria, worked on her Violin Concerto, which will be premiered by the Bulgarian Virtuosy Orchestra at Carnegie Hall in 2007. Her newly commissioned viola and piano work, Purple Membrane, had its premiere in 2006.

Jan Krzywicki,

Philadelphia, PA, drafted In Evening’s Shadow, a chamber work which will premiere in 2007–08. Three of his works recently enjoyed premieres: Vogelfanger for piano solo; Bear’s Dance, a commission from Network for New Music; and Stairway to California for two guitars.

Mikel Kuehn,

Toledo, OH, completed a commission for the Belgian trio Thelema (alto sax, bass clarinet, and piano), which premiered during their North American tour in the fall of 2006. He also began work on a commission from the New York based group Flexible Music (saxophone, guitar, piano, and percussion).

Caroline Mallonée,

Baltimore, MD, completed a set of three piano pieces, a set of three prepared-piano pieces, music for amplified violin, two choral pieces, and five songs. She also worked on her Simon string quartet cycle (based on the Milton Bradley electronic game) and on Dragon Music, an evening length work for voices and instruments.

Christopher McKenna,

Red Bank, NJ, wrote a song cycle set on the route of the Santa Fe Railroad during the Great Depression. He recently signed a publishing deal with Cherry Lane music and a record deal with an Australian record company.

David McMullin,

Boston, MA, worked on two compositions: Too Loud a Solitude, an octet for the Boston-based Firebird Ensemble, and Creatures of Mirrors, a work for string quartet and interactive electronics to be premiered by the Fama Quartet of Prague. He also completed his PhD dissertation on the music of Andrew Imbrie.

Meredith Monk,

New York, NY, completed a new work, Basket Rondo, for the Western Wind Vocal Ensemble. She also began a new piece for her vocal ensemble and the Kronos Quartet. She was recently inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and was also awarded a United States Artist Fellowship.

Lior Navok,

Tel Aviv, Israel, worked on a new orchestral work that incorporated the sounds of nature.

Paul Oehlers,

Voorhees, NJ, completed Out of the Ashes for chamber ensemble and electronic playback, a commission from The Nature Conservancy and Fulcrum Point. He also completed two other electronic pieces. His film score for Most High is now out on DVD.

Tarik O’Regan,

New York, NY completed two works: Israfel, commissioned by Yale University, and Threshold of Night, commissioned by St. John’s College, Cambridge. His debut album, VOICES (Collegium Records), and The Quiet Room (Sony Classical), a compilation disc which included his work, were both released in 2006.

Bobby Previte,

New York, NY, along with collaborator Andrea Kleine, finished a work begun at the Colony in 2005 called The Separation. It premiered in February of 2007 at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis and will then travel to Hallwalls Contemporary Art Center in Buffalo.

David Rakowski,

Maynard, MA, wrote his 72nd piano etude Dorian Blue (for Donald Berman) and three movements of a piano concerto for Marilyn Nonken and the Boston Modern Orchestra Project. He is the recipient of the 2004–05 Elise L. Stoeger Prize from the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.

Carl Schimmel,

Durham, NC, began work on a baroque oboe and harpsichord piece for Duo d’Amore and continued work on a piano duet for students in the Duke University music department.

Laura Schwendinger,

Madison, WI, composed a cello concerto Esprimere for Matt Haimovitz, which premiered in 2007. Her solo flute work Aerialist premiered at Symphony Space in New York in 2006, and her Pocket Concerto, commissioned by New York’s Miller Theater, will be premiered in 2008.

Dan Visconti,  

Arlington, VA, completed revisions on a commission from the Kronos Quartet and began work on additional projects for the Corigliano Quartet and the New York Youth Symphony. Upcoming premieres include performances by the Sybarite Quintet and the Minnesota Orchestra.

Aleksandra Vrebalov,

New York, NY, completed Stations, a work based on Barnett Newman’s paintings and Michael J. Garces’ poetry. It premiered at the 50th Anniversary concert of the RICCO ensemble in 2007. In 2007, Vrebalov was awarded the Charles Ives Fellowship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Stewart Wallace,

New York, NY, worked on an opera based on Amy Tan’s novel The Bonesetter’s Daughter. The 2008 premiere at the San Francisco Opera will be directed by Chen Shi-Zheng and will feature percussionists and suona players from the Beijing Opera.