2007 Highlights
January – returned to Japan for a week of concerts at the Amakusa ISLAND MAGIC 2007 festival with marimbist, Mika Yoshida, clarinetist Richard Stoltzman, bassist Eddie Gomez, and pianist Peter John Stoltzman. The ensemble performed in New York at Carnegie Hall the following week.
February – workshops presented at the University of Kansas (Lawrence, KS), Wichita State University and the University of Missouri – Kansas City. The workshops were in conjunction with performances by NEXUS with the Kansas City Symphony Orchestra.
March – guest ‘evaluator’ at the Music For All and Bands of America National Percussion Festival in Indianapolis.
April – soloist at the Pratt Institute (Brooklyn, NY) in his own silent film accompaniment to “A PAGE OF MADNESS,” the pioneering (1926) Japanese film classic directed by Tienosuke Kinugasa.
May – presenting a student concert based on west African Drumming at the conclusion of a 5- week residency by at the Norman Howard School in Rochester, NY.
June – performances with Pacific Symphony and at the Ojai Festival in California, including a public screening of “A PAGE OF MADNESS” and a “Creative Music Making” workshop.
July – visiting faculty lecturer at the Eastman School of Music for a week of “Creative Music Making” workshops (baased on his book of the same title published by Routledge).
August – Bill was in Toronto for a week of NEXUS workshops and concerts at the Toronto Summer Music & Arts Festival.
September – NEXUS performed in Barrie (Ontario) and at Bard College (NY state) presenting the U.S. premiere of John Cage’s “Dance Music for Elfrid Ide,” composed in 1940 but lost in a music pile until recently being found.
October – Bill performed in Columbus, Ohio at the 2007 Percussive Arts Society International Conference on a program featuring marimbist, Mika Yoshida, with Richard Stoltzman, Eddie Gomez and Peter John Stoltzman.
November – Bill conducted the Toronto Symphony Orchestra in three education concerts with NEXUS about percussion instruments.
December – Bill returned to Showa Academy in Japan for two weeks of private percussion lessons, ensemble rehearsals, and concerts, including the Japanese premiere of his new piece, “Where Sirens Dwell” for trumpet and one percussionist with prerecorded CD.
