Welcome!

This blog documents the creative processes of composers Craig Biondi, Alphonse Izzo and Aleksander Sternfeld-Dunn as they compose new works for a concert funded in part through Meet The Composer's Met Life Creative Connections Program in association with the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Since the posts here chronicle a linear progression of a piece's creation, it is suggested that new readers scroll to the bottom of the blog and work their way forward. Enjoy!

About the Performers

We would like to thank all of the performers involved in this project, it's truly an honor to be able to work with such talented and committed musicians.

Grant Dalton, Percussion:

Grant Dalton is the Instructor of Percussion Studies at Samford University where he directs the Samford Percussion Ensemble and Samford Steel, the university’s steel drum band. He is also the Assistant Athletic Band Director and teaches several academic courses. He is an extra percussionist with the Alabama Symphony Orchestra, and the Tuscaloosa Symphony Orchestra, and he is the percussionist for the Birmingham Broadway Series and Broadway Across America. Before moving to Alabama he regularly performed with the Springfield (OH) Symphony, the Westerville (OH) Symphony, and the Dayton Philharmonic. He is a graduate of Lipscomb University, where he earned the degree Bachelor of Science in Instrumental Music Education, and of The Ohio State University, where he earned the degrees Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts in percussion performance.

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Kathryn Fouse, Piano:

Kathryn Fouse serves on the faculty of Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama where she is Associate Professor and Coordinator of Piano Pedagogy and Class Piano. In addition to her commitment to education, she continues to maintain an active career as a virtuoso pianist and a professional accompanist. She graduated cum laude from Baylor University with the Bachelor of Music degree in Piano Performance and received the Master of Music degree in Piano from Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville. She earned the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Piano Performance at the University of North Texas. Her major teachers include Eugenia O'Reilly, Dr. David Albee, and Dr. Ruth Slenczynska.
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Denise Gainey, Clarinet:

Denise A. Gainey is Associate Professor of Clarinet and Instrumental Music Education and Coordinator of Graduate Studies in Music at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She is a Leblanc Artist/Clinican and an Educational Recording Artist for Carl Fischer Music. Gainey is the State Representative of Alabama for the International Clarinet Association, and serves as the State Chair Coordinator for the ICA. She comes to UAB from a nine-year tenure as Assistant Professor of Clarinet and Coordinator of Music Education at Mars Hill College in Mars Hill, North Carolina, where she was a member of the Asheville, Kingsport, and Hendersonville Symphonies. She was a member of the Missouri Chamber Orchestra in Columbia, Missouri, from 1993-1997. Gainey is an active clinician and recitalist throughout the United States and performs regularly with the Alabama Symphony.

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Erica Howard, Oboe:


Erica Howard is an active freelance oboist and English hornist in the Atlanta and Birmingham metropolitan areas. Erica earned her Bachelor of Music degree from Indiana University, where she performed with the IU Philharmonic and Chamber Orchestras. She has also attended such prestigious summer festivals as the National Orchestra Institute and the Kent/Blossom Music Festival.  Since completing school, Erica has performed regularly with the Alabama Symphony Orchestra and Atlanta Opera Orchestra and has also played with the Atlanta, Cobb, Columbus, Dekalb, and Huntsville Symphony Orchestras and the Atlanta Ballet Orchestra.

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Craig Hultgren, Cello:

Cellist Craig Hultgren is an activist for new music, the newly creative arts, and the avant-garde. Possessing a broad range of instrumental techniques from traditional to radical, he has commissioned over fifty new works for the cello. Through his collaborations with living composers, he is changing the way people write for and listen to the instrument. Besides playing written compositions, Hultgren also performs his own spontaneous, free-style improvisations. He presents programs of new music throughout the country and abroad. His performances have been broadcast on National Public Radio's Performance Today, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and European radio. The Birmingham News said of him, "Hultgren...pushes the limits of his instrument brilliantly by using extended techniques in fascinating ways."

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Kristine Hurst-Wajszczuk, Soprano:

Soprano Kristine Hurst debuted with the Boulder Bach Festival in 2004, and her repertoire includes rarely-performed cantatas of Handel and Elisabeth-Claude Jacquet de la Guerre. Her solo oratorio repertoire ranges from Bach to Barber. A specialist in the lute songs of John Dowland, her solo CD of lute songs was released by Centaur in January 2008. Additionally, she has lectured on the socio-political connotations of the songs and performed at regional, national, and international conferences, including the College Music Society, Colorado State Music Teachers Association, National Association of Teachers of Singing, and the International Congress of Voice Teachers.



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