Asheville, NC: March 16-18, 2017 - On Goes the River

My fame continues to spread.  Of course, I already declared myself world famous last June, so I just don't know how much farther up there is to go!

That's enough of the self-aggrandizement.  Except for the rest of this whole post, in a way.

Got commissioned by a group in Asheville, NC - the Asheville Choral Society, as a matter of fact - and they had me down for a few days for the premiere and other doodads.

For context, I got back from Minneapolis on a Sunday, drove to Charlotte to visit my parents for spring break on Monday, then came partway back along the route to Louisville that Thursday.  So it was a busy schedule!  Felt like being a real, in-demand composer.  Yes yes, I'll be at ACDA of course, then a stop by here, then a premiere there, busy busy, let me through.

Got in late morning so as to meet with the...executive director?  I believe was her official title?  And the artistic director, Melodie Galloway.  You may recognize that name from the other excursion I made to hear a work performed.  Repeat business!  A good sign I'd say.  Anyway, we were supposed to do a radio interview for NPR, but Melodie was sick, so instead it was the choir president Jeff and me, with Laurel (the Exec Direc) sitting to the side.

Here's me pointing at the station's call letters:

  
And here's in the studio itself, moments before broadcast:

That's Dick Kowal, who did the interview.  It was only about 10 minutes, but I had a blast!  Never been on a radio interview before.  And live to boot!  Here's the audio in full, for your perusing pleasure:

http://bpr.org/post/asheville-amadeus-asheville-choral-society-mozart-march-madness

Witness me: speak frantically, make odd jokes, and trail off the subject!  Fortunately Dick is a tremendously good interviewer.  See how he nudges me back to something straightforward when needed!

Here's me stoked to be talked to and about:

After the interview we went to a lil' sandwich place for lunch, then over to the church where the performance would be happening:

They had to set up for that night's rehearsal, and they refused to let me help, so I sat around and put photos on instagram.  Later, the people who were putting me up for the couple-day stay took me over to their condo and let me put my stuff down.  They had a very good dog:

Went back to the church to find Melodie in tip-top shape, ready to lead the rehearsal.  I sat while she worked through the rest of the concert, then went up to work with the group on my piece when it was time.  Had a blast doing it.  It was a choir of nearly 100, by far the biggest group that's ever performed my music.

After the rehearsal, a small group went to have a quick drink at the local cool place, then we went back to the condo and I went to sleep.

I had very little to do for the morning and early afternoon the next day - there were no more events planned, and everyone was more or less prepping for the concert that night.  So I went out by myself and found a nice park to wander around in:

Since my piece was called On Goes the River, it seemed appropriate to visit a park of and around a river.  It was nice.

Got back, had plans to eat with my family at a place called Wicked Weed:

We got there at 5:45, thinking that would be enough time before a 7:30 concert.  By 6:30, we still weren't seated, and I was worried I'd miss my own premiere.  We spotted a grocery store across the street, so two of us went, figuring I could grab something to wolf down just in case.  When we returned form the grocery store, we were stopped by the bouncer, who explained no one else could be let in.  We explained our party was already in, and may have been seated by now, but he reiterated: they were at fire-code capacity, and no one else could be let in.  I asked if we would be able to get in if indeed our party had been seated - y'know, maybe instead of people not seated who were just standing and waiting - but it didn't seem to get through.  Frustrated, I left and went back to the condo to change, then made my way to the church.

The concert went well, and people seemed to like my piece.  I'm very happy with how it turned out, both in terms of their performance and the piece itself.  I am not usually taken by my own works, but there's something special about this one, at least to me.  

Sorry, you're right.  I did say the self-aggrandizement was over.

After, we journeyed to some swanky art gallery for the post-concert meet-and-greet and panel discussion with myself and, at last, Melodie.  That was a hoot!  I got to answer audience questions and be the center of attention.  Again, like in Lake Junaluska, it wasn't anything like real fame, just a dose of it, to try out.  

The panel ended, the event died down, and the free cans of beer began to dwindle.  One of the younger members of the choir asked if those of us left would like to move on to a bar that her friend or partner or something along those lines co-owned or managed, and we all agreed that we would.  So she led the half-dozen or so of us down the road, back to - you guessed it - Wicked Weed.

The person she knew set us up with free drinks and put us outside under the heat lamp, which was unbearably hot - I mean it was like an oven broiler.  I didn't understand how it was possible for something that high above us to radiate that much heat.  I moved to the very edge of the picnic table where the heat was less oppressive and talked to some group throwing what I believe was a bachelorette party.  They were of course monumentally impressed with my self-professed fame and professional accomplishments.

Got up and had a nice breakfast the next morning at some cool little hip breakfast spot in town, then hit the road.  Again, I leave wondering whether this is just me indulging a fantasy, or the early trappings of my eventual career, but I had a great time nonetheless.

Here's to more work like this!

Lake Junaluska, NC: June 24-25, 2016 - World Famous

It's official: I am now truly World Famous Composer Matt Wetmore.

A while back, I emailed Dr. Melodie Galloway, choir director at UNC Asheville, to send her some of my choral pieces and ask if she would be interested in performing them.  Her response was far more than I ever expected: not only did she want to perform my O Nata Lux, she wanted to take it on tour with a group called The Lake Junaluska Singers, and she wanted me to come to Lake Junaluska to attend a rehearsal and concert.  This, incidentally, is the sort of thing I want to do with my life.  If I could pick any career to just suddenly have, I would pick travelling across the world to work with groups performing my music.  So, obviously, I accepted her invitation.

The Lake Junaluska Singers are a chamber choir made up of 16 people, generally college-aged, from all over the southeastern U.S.  They participate in an few weeks of intensive rehearsal before embarking on a tour, beginning with a number of concerts at Lake Junaluska itself.  They had sung what I believe was their kickoff concert on Monday, at their auditorium, but still had a concert on Friday at the on-site chapel of mostly a cappella works, which is when their first performance of O Nata Lux was.

I drove down Friday morning, arriving right around 3:00 in the afternoon, and called Melodie to guide me to the chapel, where the group was already mid-rehearsal.  

As I walked into the building, the space around me was suddenly permeated with the most resonant perfect fifth I think I have ever heard.  It was soon joined by a pure soprano voice moving meticulously within it.  I had arrived exactly at the beginning of my own piece.

Here are the singers, in a candid shot I furtively grabbed:

The soloist is the girl whose face is cut off by the right edge of the photo.

Anyway, Melodie turned around as I walked forward and introduced me to the group.  She then offered me the podium to run a bit of a rehearsal.  This is when I learned that the Singers had memorized my piece - another first.  It's an interesting feeling, knowing the notes I wrote were committed to memory by a group of people I had never met.  A sort-of intimacy that I think would be hard to manufacture any other way.  Anyway, I ran through the piece, though there was not much to fix - the group is very good.  Exquisite tuning, and an ability to produce a lot of sound for only 16 people.  Guess that's what you get when your choir is made up of the 16 best singers in the entire southeast.

With the rehearsal done, Melodie set me up with the group's manager to get my hotel room squared away, which was at this place:

It was a fancy hotel called Lambuth, at a high point within the surrounding mountains.  Just at the edge of the parking lot was this, which I assume is the main lookout point on the campus:

Quite a view.

I had a few hours to kill until dinner, so I drove and walked around the lake a bit to catch as many of the sights as I possibly could:

Saw the auditorium next to the chapel:

Which had a statue of the Lake's namesake:

Cool.

Also saw the welcome center and two of the entrances to the property:

That was about all I could squeeze in to my free time.  I went back to the hotel and had dinner there, which was included with the room.  A couple of the singers joined me, and I got to know a bit about them and a bit about the group as a whole.  Then it was time to get changed for the evening concert.

I didn't take any photos or videos of the concert itself, since I didn't wanna be that guy holding up his iPhone at a choir concert, although I certainly had the justification to do so if anybody did.  Melodie sort of hyped my piece to the audience, telling them a few in advance that the composer was in the room and that they should listen for depictions of light.  I appreciated that.  Then they performed it, and did a heck of a job.  Especially considering they had only first seen the music that week, and only memorized it the day before.

After the concert, the Singers, Melodie, and I stood outside to shake hands with the concert goers.  I said the phrase "thank you so much!" so many times that it did that thing where it stops sounding like words.  Once the crowd had dispersed, I returned to my hotel room, stopping by the lookout once more to get a few more photos:

The cross lights up at night!

Had a quiet morning the next day.  Packed up and departed at my own pace.  The trip was a little surreal, if I'm honest.  I've dreamt of doing something like this for a long time, and then suddenly it happened in a flash.  I wondered, on the drive back, if I would one day look back on this as the first of many such trips, or if this would simply be the one time I got to play this role I'd been wanting to play.  Hopefully it's the former, but even if it's the latter, it was excellent to have done it at all.