Lawrence Dillon@Sequenza21.com

"There are no two points so distant from one another that they cannot be connected by a single straight line -- and an infinite number of curves."

Composer Lawrence Dillon has produced an extensive body of work, from brief solo pieces to a full-length opera. Three disks of his music are due out in 2010 on the Bridge, Albany and Naxos labels. In the past year, he has had commissions from the Emerson String Quartet, the Cassatt String Quartet, the Mansfield Symphony, the Boise Philharmonic, the Salt Lake City Symphony, the Ravinia Festival, the Daedalus String Quartet, the Kenan Institute for the Arts, the University of Utah and the Idyllwild Symphony Orchestra.

Although he lost 50% of his hearing in a childhood illness, Dillon began composing as soon as he started piano lessons at the age of seven. In 1985, he became the youngest composer to earn a doctorate at The Juilliard School, and was shortly thereafter appointed to the Juilliard faculty. Dillon is now Composer in Residence at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, where he has served as Music Director of the Contemporary Ensemble, Assistant Dean of Performance, and Interim Dean of the School of Music. He was the Featured American Composer in the February 2006 issue of Chamber Music magazine.


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Thursday, January 29, 2009
Pre-travel weariness

Some wonderful performances to look forward to, but a brutal travel itinerary this weekend. Over the course of three days, I’ll be boarding a plane on an average of every eight hours.
Part one: a two-day residency in Odessa and Midland Texas, where the Cassatt Quartet will be premiering my Blossom, a triple string quartet, with two local high school quartets on Saturday.

Part two: a visit with old friend and long-time accomplice Bob Yekovich in Houston.

Part three: an all-Dillon concert at the Colburn School of Music in Los Angeles on Sunday afternoon. This one comes courtesy of violinist Danielle Belen – she’ll be playing six of my works with pianist David Fung and violist Juan Miguel Hernandez. I think the audience will be required to show a special geek ID in order to gain entrance – I’m pretty sure the definition of “geek” includes a clause about attending concert of my music during the Super Bowl.
Sixty-four hours, eight flights. As enthusiastic as I am about all of these wonderful musicians playing my music, I’m a bit of a travel-wimp. I’ll probably be screaming in psychic exhaustion as I listen to the eighth flight attendant explain how to buckle a seatbelt.