• ATLANTA FAITH PARTNERS RESIDENCY –
Curtis Bryant has been chosen as the Composer-in-Residence for the
Atlanta Faith Partners project sponsored by the American
Composers Forum. Beginning in September, he will work with
three Atlanta congregations – Cathedral
of Christ the King, First
Presbyterian Church, and Lutheran Church of the
Redeemer – to write new works unique to each congregation, as well
as several pieces that all three will share. The participating
congregations were chosen on the basis of their interest in and
commitment to performing new music, their diversity, and their
potential congruence. Established in 1992, the Faith Partners
residencies are emblematic of the American Composers Forum's efforts to
build bridges between composers and already existing audiences that
have lacked exposure to contemporary music but are highly receptive to
it. Several congregations that participated in the program have
continued to commission new works with their own funds following the
conclusion of the residency period, indicating that the program has
sparked a durable enthusiasm for new music.
• June 20, 2008,
7:30 PM – The opening scene from Curtis Bryant's opera "The Anarchist"
was featured
Friday on a program of the Harrower Summer Opera Workshop at Georgia
State University. The scene was directed by David
Grabarkewitz with musical direction by Nina Shuman. Baritone
Stephen McCool and tenor Wesley Morgan were the featured
soloists.
The libretto of "The
Anarchist" by Allen
Reichman is an adaptation of Joseph Conrad's
1907 novel "The Secret Agent."
• May 8, 2008 –
Bryant's "Ragtime" for string
orchestra received a performance by the Lovinggood Middle School
orchestra, directed by Barbera Secrist. The performance was given
at Hillgrove High School in Powder Springs, Georgia. Ragtime is
published by Neil
A. Kjos Music Company in San Diego.
• March 30, 2008,
3:00 PM – Cantare Youth
Choirs of Atlanta directed by Paulette Sigler will perform Bryant's
Jubilate Deo on
their Spring Concert at Mt. Zion United Methodist Church, 1770 Johnson
Ferry Road in Marietta, GA. An encore performance will be given
on Tuesday, April 1 at 7:00 PM at Sandy Plains Baptist Church, 2825
Sandy Plains Road, Marietta, GA.
• March 23, 2008 –
Easter Sunday – The Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Gwinnett (UUCG)
Adult Choir directed by Kevin McKinney will be
performing Curtis Bryant's "The Lamb,"
an a cappella setting of the
William Blake poem from "Songs of Innocence." Bryant composed
"The Lamb" in 2003 for the Gregg Smith Singers after attending the
Adirondack Festival of American Music. The score is published by Lux Nova
Press.
• March 1, 2008 – PERFORMANCE IN AVERY FISCHER HALL.
Curtis Bryant's "Fantasy on American Themes" will be
performed at the National
Orchestra Cup Festival held in New
York's Lincoln Center. The White Pine Middle School 8th Grade
Orchestra of Saginaw, Michigan, Directed by Iris Haynes will feature
Bryant's "Fantasy"
on their program at this prestigious event.
• February 23,
2008 – PLEASE NOTE CHANGE OF SCHEDULE!
– Bryant's Sonata for Violin and
Piano will be featured on the closing concert at the SCI
National Conference in Atlanta at Georgia State University School
of Music, Kopleff Recital Hall (8:00 PM). Violinist Christos
Galileas will be joined by pianist Brandt Fredriksen
in the performance of the three movement work.
• January 25, 2008
– Curtis Bryant's "Fantasy on American
Themes" was one of the featured works on a program at the 2008
Michigan Music Conference in Grand Rapids. The White Pine Middle
School 8th Grade String Orchestra of Saginaw, Michigan, directed by
Iris Haynes was guest performing group at the conference. The
young musicians will be giving a second performance of "Fantasy" on
March 1 in Avery Fischer Hall in New York at the National Orchestra Cup
Festival.
• January 13, 2008
– Bryant completed the musical score for a new short film "A Dark Gift" produced and
directed by Nicholas
Lance for the Georgia Tech Campus Movie Fest. The dark drama
features several arrangements of Bryant's Nocturne for piano. To
view this film and another short by Nick Lance click the
mini-projector: 
• April 24, 2007 –
The Department of Music at the University of
West Georgia performed
Curtis Bryant’s cantata "The Builders"
on a centennial choral concert at the Townsend Center for the
Performing Arts with the UWG Concert Choir & Chamber Singers and
the UWG Wind Symphony, directed by Kevin Hibbard.
Bryant’s setting of
"The Builders" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, was commissioned in 1989
for the dedication of the Performing Arts Center.
• ATLANTA PREMIERE: April
17, 2007 – The Atlanta
premiere of Curtis Bryant’s "The
Laughing Monkeys of Gravity,"
a song cycle based upon poems from the
collection by award winning Atlanta poet Stephen Bluestone was featured in
a piano and voice only performance on the neoPhonia
Concert Series at Georgia State
University.
The
cycle
is also scored for soprano with a chamber ensemble of flute, clarinet
&
alto sax, percussion, violin, cello and piano. Former GSU School
of
Music faculty member Chery Brendel
sang the challenging soprano
part in this cycle with Lisa Leong taking on the equally challenging
piano part. The text depicts some of the legendary film
comedians,
including Laurel and Hardy, Lou Costello, the Three Stooges and Charles
Chaplin. The program, directed by Dr. Nickitas Demos, was
performed in the Kopleff Recital Hall on the Music for Our Time series.
•
March 18, 2007 – Dr. Michael R.
Brown, trumpet joined organist John Coble in a performance of Curtis
Bryant's Introit and Recessional
for Trumpet and Organ in the 11:00 AM service at Covenant
Presbyterian Church in Atlanta. The team of Brown and Coble
performed the Georgia premiere of Bryant's Introit and Recessional last
year at the American Guild of Organists Members' Recital on March 14,
2006 at First Presbyterian Church, Marietta, Georgia. Dr. Brown is
head of the Department of Music Education and Professor of Music at The
Mississippi State University in Starkville, Mississippi. John
Coble is Organist and Director or Music at Covenant Presbyterian
Church in Atlanta.
• Feb 18, 2007 – Feature Article in Atlanta
Journal-Constitution on Atlanta composers (including Curtis Bryant)
by Pierre Ruhe.
• November 30,
2006 – Dr. Tom Gibson led members of the GSU Pep Band and
GSU Brass and Jazz ensembles in a recording of a new basketball theme
song by School of Music part-time instructor Curtis Bryant.
Bryant
composed the song, entitled "Go
Panthers!"
for use as title and credits music for upcoming game broadcasts.
The
song is scored for live performances by the Pep Band at Panthers
games. Digital audio editing was completed by GSU School of Music
student Michael Reddick in the Center for Audio Recording Arts
facilities. It is anticipated that Bryant's new theme song will
be
used for the 2007-2008 season broadcasts on CSS (Comcast Sports South),
produced by Chris Davis.
• OPERA NEWS:
"The Anarchists"
November 17,
2006 – A new scene from Curtis Bryant’s opera-in-progress
"The Anarchists"
received a performance by students of Georgia State University School
of Music on the Fall
Opera Scenes showcase in Kopleff Recital
Hall.
Soloists included Katie Baughman,
Maria McDaniel and Melanie
Czaykowsky. The scene was directed by W. Dwight Coleman,
coordinator
of voice and opera studies, and Peter Marshall provided musical
direction. The libretto, by New York forensic psychiatrist Allen
Reichman, is based upon the 1907 novel “The Secret Agent” by Joseph
Conrad. Two additional
scenes from "The Anarchists"
received staged performances at the Harrower Summer Opera Workshop,
June, 2005 and in the Opera Scenes Recital at Georgia State University,
November, 18, 2005, directed by W.
Dwight Coleman. Click here
for a sample aria "Stevie, My
Darling," sung by soprano Sindhu Chandrasekaran with pianist Peter
Marshall. More samples can be heard on the Opera Page.
• PREMIERE OF "In a Dream"
March 26, 2006 – Curtis
Bryant's "In a
Dream" for chorus SSA(B), band and orchestra received a world premiere
at Ridgeview Middle School located in
Sandy Springs, Georgia. The
6-minute
composition was commissioned for the celebration of the school's 20th
anniversary. The work is a setting
of an original text by Bryant highlighting the school's strengths in
its diversity.
• "A Peasant's Hope" at
WYSIWYG Film Fest
Bryant scored
this medieval tale produced by Pet Project Films
with an ensemble of Atlanta based musicians. It was recently
featured in a San Francisco film festival.
•
CURTIS BRYANT RECEIVES 7th EMMY
NOMINATION
Atlanta, Georgia - May 6, 2005 - "Briars
in the Cottonpatch" received
two
regional EMMY nominations as part of the annual Southeast EMMY
competition. The nominations were announced in May by the Southeast
Chapter of NATAS (National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences).
"Briars" received nominations in two individual categories:
• WRITING -
Michael Booth
• MUSIC
COMPOSITION – Curtis Bryant
"Briars" also aired nationally on
PBS in February, 2005 as part of Black History Month.
(To see a schedule of national listings click
here.)
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