This month I had the wonderful pleasure to visit the University of California at Davis for a week as artist-in-residence. Everyone was a joy to work with and get to know. Seven graduate composers wrote excellent works for me, which we workshopped, followed by my performance the next day in their beautiful new hall. I also did a reading session of pieces by nine undergrads. Superb work all round and congrats to them and their professors, Mika Pelo, Pablo Ortiz and Chris Castro!

I also performed the Ligeti Violin Concerto with the UC Davis Symphony Orchestra at the Mondavi Center on May 5th. It was my first performance of this piece and I had a blast! The orchestra – non-music majors and three of the grad composers playing violin and flute – took on the challenge with aplomb and made superb progress over the week. Conductor Christian Baldini was a joy to collaborate with. I played mostly my own cadenza for the final movement. It begins with the first four lines of the Ligeti/Gawriloff cadenza that’s in the score, then goes on to my own take on the concerto material.

Above are the live videos of the Ligeti Concerto and my recital of graduate composers’ works. Enjoy!