Fifteen Minutes of Fame
Fifteen Minutes of Fame:
featuring Andrew Hosler
Hailed as "the ideal collaborator for new music" by Brutal New Music Review, and as a "new music virtuoso" by Leslie Tate - saxophonist and new music curator Drew Hosler (he/him/his) is an advocate for contemporary music. Drew's playing has been praised for its "beautiful tone and technique" by Brutal New Music Review and has been recognized for "his unwavering commitment to bringing fresh, contemporary compositions to the forefront." by Local 4. Drew has commissioned, premiered, and collaborated on over 200 pieces by award-winning composers such as Andrew Mead, Jamie Leigh Sampson, David Heinick, Marilyn Shrude, Matthew Kennedy, Quinn Mason, and Gregory Wanamaker. His debut solo album, delta waves, features thirteen world premiere recordings of 21st century works for the tenor saxophone. His 2020 EP Hope Will Carry Us featured thirteen new works for solo tenor saxophone. Additionally he has released recordings of works by Robert Lemay, Ehsan Saboohi, Robert Gross, along with others. Drew currently serves as the principal saxophonist of the Cleveland Winds and Cleveland Repertory Orchestra. He has performed with Canton Symphony Orchestra, Ohio Light Opera Orchestra, Lima Symphony Orchestra, Saginaw Eddy Concert Band, Black Voltron, Cleveland Uncommon Sound Project Improvisation Orchestra, and the Decho Ensemble.
Drew is an avid performer as a soloist. He premiered Griffin Candey's new tenor saxophone concerto, Double Aviaries, with Matthew Salvaggio and the Cleveland Repertory Orchestra during their 23/24 season. He also gave the world premiere of Josh Trentadue's tenor saxophone concerto, To fly and to fall, with conductor Kim Fleming and musicians at The University of Michigan. He can also be heard performing Robert Gross' Concerto for Tenor Saxophone and Nine Instruments on the album Penumbra from New Focus Records. Additionally, he has performed concerti by Walter Mays and William Albright with the Bowling Green Philharmonia and the BGSU Concert Band. He has also performed a variety of music for solo saxophone at Classical Revolution Cleveland, New Music Gathering, University of Kansas New Music Guild, 15-Minutes-of-Fame, New Music Mosaic, Boston New Music Initiative, Local 4's She Scores Festival, as well as various North American Saxophone Alliance Conferences. He has also been featured on WSMR Florida's Classical Music Station's Modern Notebook hosted by Tyler Kline.
Drew has been awarded prizes for numerous competitions including the American International Music Competition, Cambridge Music Competition, Bach Music Competition, Vivaldi International Music Competition, Charleston International Music Competition's Contemporary Music Competition, London Classical Music Competition, American International Music Competition, and the Bowling Green State University (BGSU) Competition in Music Performance.
As a chamber musician, Drew has performed at the IDAGIO's Global Concert Hall Arts@Future, Zagreb World Saxophone Congress, US Navy Band International Saxophone Symposium, District New Music Coalition, and various Bowling Green New Music and Art Festivals. As a member of the Tekhenu Quartet, he was awarded the Michigan Prize at the 2022 Briggs Chamber Music Competition for their performance of Griffin Candey's God Forbid. He was awarded first and second prize at the Douglas Wayland Chamber Music Competition with the Epsilon Saxophone Quartet and the Fifth Circle Reed Quintet respectively. These ensembles have been heard on WGTE and WCLV.
Drew is the saxophonist, co-founder, and artistic director for the new music ensemble, The _____ Experiment. To date, the ensemble has worked with composers to premiere over 30 works for mixed chamber ensemble. In March 2020, The _____ Experiment released their debut album, Conversations, which includes seven world premiere recordings from five different composers which was funded partially by the Running Start Competition through Michigan State University. The ensemble has performed across the country, including for New Music Chicago, Michigan State University, Potsdam Crane School of Music, the Flint Institute of Music, University of Florida, University of Miami, and Narloch Piano Studio in Chicago. In addition, the ensemble was awarded multiple prizes through the Charleston International Music Competition's 2021 Contemporary Music Competition.
Drew currently serves on the Professional Development Committee for the North American Saxophone Alliance. Previously, he served as the Assistant Managing Director for the Cleveland Uncommon Sound Project, an intern for the Toledo Alliance for the Performing Arts, a beta tester for Silverstein Works, the Marketing and Media Assistant for the Alliance for the Arts in Research Universities, and an intern for the Akropolis Quintet. He also served as the Woodwind Sectional/Chamber Music Coach for the Cleveland Pride Band.
Drew currently serves as a Saxophone Instructor, Chamber Music Instructor, and Coordinator of Wind Studies for the Academy at the Cleveland Institute of Music as well as a Music Instructor (Saxophone and Clarinet Faculty) for the Music Institute at the University of Akron. Previously he served as a Lecturer at Case Western Reserve University's Department of Music.
Drew has participated in festivals such as the SPLICE Institute and the Frederick L. Hemke Institute at Snow Pond Music Festival. Additionally, he is a fellow for both the Cortona Sessions for New Music and The Next Festival of Emerging Artists. Drew holds a Master of Music in Saxophone Performance, a Master of Music in Chamber Music, and a Certificate in Arts Entrepreneurship & Leadership from the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre and Dance. He also holds a Bachelor of Music in Saxophone Performance from Bowling Green State University College of Music Arts. Prior to that, he studied at the Flint Institute of Music. His primary instructors have been Timothy McAllister, John Sampen, and Jeffrey Price.
Find more at https://andrewhosler.com/
Concert Dates
15 one-minute selections for Drew Hosler
Around the campfire
Nantenaina Andriamorasata
Nantenaina Andriamorasata is a music composer, songwriter, and performer based in Antananarivo, Madagascar.
His work for flute quintet ensemble is presented at the “Flute Sounds Festival 2024” in Pristina -Kosovo this December 2024.
And in November and December 2023, his SATB choral work was already presented at the “World New Music Days 2023” festival in Cape Town, South Africa. He has also received awards from the Merck Foundation.
Composer already selected for call from Organization or Musicians: Christopher Schoelen, TC4 Saxophone Quartet, Monica Chew, David Bohn, The Ikamva Music Ensemble, Beth Ratay, Castle of Our Skins, Slippery Rock University, and International Society for Contemporary Music, Vox Novus, Merck Foundation, European University Cyprus, PoppyHarp.
find more at: https://www.clippings.me/vakamiarina
This work expresses the friendly atmosphere around a campfire.
CRANK
Brian Awad
Brian Awad is a composer based in Miami, FL. Awad’s works have been performed and commissioned by The _____ Experiment, the NWSA Orchestra, MAGIC, and Moon Nite Productions. Awad is currently pursuing his master's in music composition at the University of Miami, where he also serves as a teaching assistant.
CRANK is a solo tenor saxophone work that musically represents the slang term “cranking”, which is another way to express a period of intense work during a short period of time. This piece was written for and dedicated to Drew Holser and completed in October of 2024.
Partita for Tenor Saxophone in D minor
E. Bugra Balci
Virtuoso Concert Pianist and Composer with the awards by NASA, IBM, Yamaha, AT&T, InVision Author of The Virtuoso Pianist and Art of Piano (10800 pages, 179 books of New Era Music) Yamaha grand piano endorser artist. www.ebugrabalci.com
There is no program note. Please feel free to play the composition as you feel the most comfortable about the phrases. You can play with the tempos or the dynamics. Just make it as possible as yours. Thank you.
Red's Howler
David Bohn
David Bohn received degrees in composition from the University of Wisconsin, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and the University of Illinois. He currently resides in West Allis, Wisconsin, and is the music coordinator at Peace Methodist Church in Brookfield. He is the President of the Wisconsin Alliance for Composers.
[No Program Note]
PHANTOM COURSERS
ERIK BRANCH
ERIK BRANCH is a native of New York City, and received a BA and MA in Music (Composition) from Hunter College. He lives near Orlando, Florida, where he is active as a pianist, musical director, composer/arranger, operatic tenor, and actor on stage and screen.
This piece’s rhythms, particularly its prominent use of triplets, suggested to me the image of ghostly horses swiftly galloping through the skies on a dark, mysterious night. The phrase “phantom coursers” [swift horses], originally, it turns out, from Rawlins’ 1850 Oxford Prize Poem, came to my mind as a title.
China Rose
Ross James Carey
Ross James Carey is a foreign professor at Sias University, Henan, China. From Aotearoa/New Zealand, his work combines quotation and cross-genre elements whilst looking at questions of place and identity. Recent works include Pendopo Dreaming for wind quintet, and a song cycle Chang’an Dreaming (poems by Margaret T. South).
China Rose for tenor saxophone was composed in May 2024 after attending the Beijing Modern Music Festival. Whilst there, I was struck by the multitude of gorgeous roses lining roadsides, walkways and parks. The slight melancholy of the piece speaks perhaps of my feelings of leaving roses and friends behind.
Duo
Joshua Paul Daniels
Joshua P. Daniels (he/him/his) is a composer based in the Northalsted community of Chicago, Il. He won Spring Arbor University's 2018 Christmas Carol Composition Competition and won an honorable mention in Central Michigan University's 2020 Large Ensemble Composition Competition. You can reach him on Instagram @joshuapdanielsmusic or at joshuapdanielsmusic@gmail.com
Duo combines compound melody with complex harmonic structure. The piece moves between the two whole tone collections like common practice music moves between chords—creating music moves toward the next whole tone collection, all while including multiple melodies that combine to make one wholistic piece.
in memoriam Les
Eric Delgado
Originally from California, Eric Delgado currently lives in Madison, Wisconsin. He recently completed his Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison under the guidance of Les Thimmig.
This work is dedicated to my late doctoral advisor, Leslie Thimmig, professor of saxophone and composition at UW-Madison. He taught me to trust myself as a composer and the music will follow.
String Theory III
Jan Willem van Dormolen
Jan Willem van Dormolen was born in 1956 in Den Haag, Netherlands. He studied clarinet, saxophone and composition at the Utrecht Conservatory and worked as a teacher for those instruments for 3 years. He then made a career switch to freelance translator. In the past few years, he's taken up composing again.
String Theory III is basically a string of repeting low d's. Every occurrence there is a (ever growing) chance the note is "pushed" up a bit (or a lot), the actual chance being governed by the Poisson distribution. Dynamics and phrasing are basically determined by the same chance operations.
Memory Bed
Brian Ellis
Brian Ellis is a creative coder, composer, and multi-instrumentalist. His artistic drive lies in using code to democratize creative expression. He founded the Brooklyn Motion Capture Dance Ensemble to explore this concept through the medium of dance, writes participatory chamber music to explore it through concert music settings.
This is a process piece about recording gear, capturing a memory, ideas fading, trying and failing to hold on to things that are special to you, and the new special things that come in to fill their place.
Ebb Now, Cruel River
Neal Endicott
Neal Endicott (b. 1990) is a composer, educator, scholar, and saxophonist. His music is rooted in his experiences, personal history, and extramusical passions and is directed outward to the world from that perspective. His work frequently engages with jazz harmonic and melodic language, with the asymmetric metrical language of Eastern-European folk music, and makes use of varied orchestral color and texture as principal structural forces. His humor, love of literature, and passions for travel, food, wine, and spirits often inspire his work, as does his engagement with politics and activism.
Ebb Now, Cruel River was written as a response to the devastation that Hurricane Helene wrought on the Appalachian region of eastern Tennessee and western North Carolina. I was lucky enough to avoid the active path of destruction, if only by a few miles, but have been witness to the struggles of many friends to dig themselves out of the mire left behind. This piece is a simple one: a gesture of compassion and hope in a moment that needs those things more than ever.
Accarezzevole
Joshua Haugen
Joshua Haugen (b. 1998) is a composer, saxophonist, and educator based in Lansing, Michigan, specializing in the performance, creation, and promotion of new music. Joshua is a professional music educator, currently employed in Lansing teaching K-8 music and private lessons. Joshua graduated from Michigan State University with a Master of Music in Composition, studying with David Biedenbender and Alexis Bacon. Prior, he graduated from Western Michigan University in 2021 with dual Bachelor of Music degrees in Composition and Saxophone Performance.
"Accarezzevole" is a short miniature for solo tenor saxophone, adapted from my piano piece of the same name. The piece is dedicated to Drew Hosler and written for 2024 Fifteen-Minutes-of-Fame Call for Scores. Originally written in the midst of 2020, the piece is meant as an in-your-face, aggressive concert opener/closer, the work exploring many different elements of my musical language.
The Saxophonist
Stanley M. Hoffman
Stanley M. Hoffman (b. 1959, Cleveland, Ohio) holds degrees in Music Composition from Brandeis University (PhD), New England Conservatory of Music (MM) and Boston Conservatory (BM). His music is published by ECS Publishing, Oxford University Press, and Fatrock Ink. Senior Editor at ECS Publishing Group 1998–2021. Freelance editor, composer.
“The Saxophonist” is a tone portrait of a busy performer. It’s marked “Mercurial” referring to the swift Roman “messenger of the gods.” I led a different sort of life, so I don’t know how performers like Drew maintain their teaching and performing duties while managing to have a personal life.
Effluxion
Chris Hung
Dr Chris Hung's diverse oeuvre includes an array of about 70 works from instrumental solo to orchestral music, Hung’s scores are published by Universal Edition (Austria), BabelScores (France)etc. Dr Hung’s works have been performed and broadcasted throughout Europe, as well as USA and Asian countries in various leading festivals, such as Beijing Modern Music Festival (China), ISCM World Music Days (Slovenia), Sibelius 150th Anniversary Celebration (Finland), Music Biennale Zagreb (Croatia) etc. He was composer-fellows in CoMA New Music Residency (UK), Singapore Chinese Orchestra Workshop and composer-in-residence of Nexus Ensemble.
The image of "effluxion" inspires me to compose this solo work. Music, as a trajectory in life, could be a means to depicting gestures of ups and downs; like flowing of water backwards and forwards in a multi-dimensional space. Spontaneous section provides some elasticity to the stream of time... Many irregular rhythmic gestures are used to expression an abstract form of expression, interpreted at contextualized meaning as in language....
Quasi-Improvising
George Kontogiorgos
Born in Lamia, he studied theory with Alexandros Ainian. His compositions include works for solo instruments, string quartets, instrumental ensembles and symphony orchestra. His compositions have been performed in many countries in Europe, and North and South America. His works are released on CD by NAXOS, SARTON and PHASMA MUSIC.
Quasi-improvising is a one-minute-long miniature for solo Tenor Saxophone. Saxophone players always think about improvising. Certainly, this task requires excellent knowledge of the instrument, skills and imagination. Here, the saxophonist will find a programmed improvisation, which in addition to the written notation, allows more experimental endeavors.
Rendez-Vous
Hoyong Lee
Hoyong Lee (Seoul, South Korea, Master of Music) is a composer, sound artist and essayist. He was an Award of Distinction Winner in Matera Intermedia Festival 2016 in Italy and the first-place winner in XRAY.FM Radio (Portland, USA) Storytelling Contest Prize (2017) as an experimental sound storyteller. His pieces have been presented at world-renowned electroacoustic music conferences & festivals in USA, Europe,Canada and over 15 countries. Executing diverse intermedia projects, he has been collaborated with Gwangju national science museum in Art-Science Festival since 2021 as a composer and contents planner.
Sometimes we face unexpected encounters, challenges or events every day. With its upbeat Tenor saxophone, this piece "Rendez-Vous" is a humorous take on the state of mind that comes with the 'unforeseen' rendezvous and encounters of everyday life.
Fractured pulse
Eileen Mc Loughlin
Eileen Mc Loughlin is a music tutor, composer and artist from Dublin, Ireland.
'Fractured pulse' is a short energetic and percussive solo piece for tenor saxophone. It explores the juxtaposition between steady minimalist type repetition and the unpredictability of alternative rock rhythms with syncopation and time signature shifts.
On Leaving The Station
Dominic McGonigal
Dominic McGonigal read music at Cambridgehoyong and combined a career in the music business with performing and conducting, and now as a composer. Ave Maris Stella Takes Flight, was recorded by Canterbury Cathedral Choir with Sam Corkin (sax) and released on Signum Classics. The London Medical Orchestra commissioned and premiered his Cathedral Symphony (7 July 2024). Other recent projects include Chazal (premiere, Tallinn, April 2024) and song cycle Dialogues With Ancestors (premiere, Cologne, 4 October 2024). Dominic McGonigal’s work has been described as "beautiful music" and “great textures and a perfect sense of spacing and pace."
As the Eurostar pulled out of Gare du Midi, Brussels, it's the start of a journey, a routine that still has excitement and anticipation. The phrases gather pace and settle in a momentum. The end is left to our imagination but we know where it's going.
Nīvaraṇa III
Eduardo Luís Patriarca
Born in the city of Porto, Portugal, in April 1970. He studied piano and composition. He attended a Masters and PhD in Composition at the University of Aveiro. His writing linked to Buddhism, reminiscent of the Spectral School, uses fractal construction and the inclusion of patterns close to mantras.
Nīvaraṇa III (Sloth and Torpor) is the third from the nīvaraṇa cycle. Each piece corresponds to one of the five hindrances that become obstacles on the Buddhist meditation. Sloth and torpor refers to that heaviness of body and dullness of mind which drag one down into disabling inertia and thick depression.
Como una brisa ...
Rafael de Rioja
Rafael de Rioja (Huelva, 1998) graduated in Composition at the "Manuel Castillo" Music Conservatory of Seville. Young and restless for knowledge, he completes his training through courses and congresses such as: International Composition Course of Villafranca del Bierzo; International University Course “Música en Compostela”; Contemporary Music Composition 2021 SGAE Foundation; etc.
The transience expressed in a minute. As can be seen in the title of the piece, a breeze transformed into sounds.
Palindromes for a Rainy Day
Edward Ruchalski
Ruchalski’s compositions have been performed at the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, MASS MoCA, Symphony Space on Broadway, the Festival of Miami and elsewhere. His compositions have been performed by the Bang on a Can All-Stars, Helen Boatwright, Stephen Porter, Robert Black, Shiau-uen Ding, Detroit Chamber Winds and Strings, and others.
Palindromes for a Rainy Day was composed specifically for this concert and performer. The opening phrase came to me as I listened to the rain and thunder in the early morning of the last day of August. It is dedicated to Drew Hosler.
...better forgotten...
Farzan Salsabili
Farzan Salsabili is an Iranian acoustic/electronic composer and pianist. He has won several international and national competitions in Kazakhstan, Italy, South Korea, USA, Iran, etc. His music has been performed and broadcast in various countries, such as Australia, Canada, Iran, Ireland, Italy, Kazakhstan, the Netherlands, Turkey, and the USA.
The piece is based on a haiku by Japanese poet, Tsurayuki: Out in the marsh reeds, a bird cries out in sorrow, as though it had recalled, something better forgotten.
Waitamminet!
Luca Staffiere
Luca Staffiere is a Berlin based composer, multi-instrumentalist and performer. His music is inspired by mechanical rhythms and sounds that resemble the workings of a machine, while exploring new harmonies through microtonality, never abandoning a certain playfulness.
"Waitamminet!" is an extroverted display of virtuosity with a touch of humour.
Beryllium
Jason A. Taurins
Jason Taurins (b. 1991, he/him/his) is a music educator, composer/arranger, and clinician. He has lived in Arizona since 2015. He holds a Bachelor of Music in Education degree from Western Michigan University, where he studied composition with Lisa Coons and Richard Adams. He has been commissioned and performed by performers and ensembles from around the United States, Europe, Asia, and Australia. He is a Brother of Kappa Kappa Psi, and holds membership in Pi Kappa Lambda, Alpha Lambda Delta, the Society of Composers, Inc., and the National Association for Music Education. Learn more at www.jasontaurins.com
"Beryllium" uses musical cryptography based on the properties of Beryllium. The fourth element on the periodic table, it is blue-green in color and has been known since ancient times. It is used in physics and the aerospace industry.
Goldilocks
Jaz Thomasian
Jaz Thomasian (they/them) is a Cleveland-based composer, improviser, and sound artist whose artistic output spans a range of aesthetics, with each piece forming around a core question, musical object, or collaborative relationship. Jaz is finishing their PhD at Northwestern University.
Goldilocks went upstairs. She lay down on the big bed and said, “This bed is too hard!” She lay on the medium bed and said, “This bed is too soft!” She lay down on the small bed and said, “This bed is just right.” She fell asleep.
Nix
Danilo Valadão
Dr. Danilo Valadão is a Brazilian composer currently working as a music professor in a Arts Education course at the Federal University of Paraná, in Brazil. His research was based on the metaphorical relationship between music and physical motion. He's awarded nationally and internationally in the composition field.
The piece is called Nix, because of the nocturnal mood it can inspire. It has a peculiar metric, written as irregular rhythmic structures and time signature and unpredictability. It has a melodic style and presents some extended technique.
Promenade imaginaire
Anna Vriend
Anna Vriend won third prize in the VIII International Composition Competition Opus Ignotum. Her works for bass clarinet solo and reed quintet respectively have been published by Alea Publishing. Several of her pieces for various instruments have been performed on Fifteen Minutes of Fame recently.
This short piece describes a short leisurely walk.
Worms
Willyn Whiting
Willyn Whiting is an award-winning composer of acoustic, electronic and mixed music. His works have been performed/presented in Canada, the US, the UK, Germany, Italy and Taiwan. He is a graduate of the University of North Texas, University of Western Ontario and University of Toronto.
This miniature is made up of several small ascending figures which resemble worms when written on the page. Dedicated to Drew Hosler.
Minute Mechanism
Andrew M. Wilson
Andrew M. Wilson was born in 1960 and studied at London University. He is the Vice Principal of London’s National College of Music, and lives in Devon. His works are recorded, published and broadcast worldwide. He has won many international awards including an honorary doctorate from the Pestalozzi University, Florida.
“Minute Mechanism” is a musical picture of a tiny but complex device as its assemblage of gears, springs, levers and rods revolve, tick and oscillate to no obvious purpose but decisively and with more and more rapidity until its unfathomable task is successfully completed.
Rut
YU Zhuen
YU Zhuen is a contemporary music composer currently studying at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music in China. His compositions are dedicated to exploring the possibilities of sound and combining philosophical thinking with emotional dramatic conflicts. He has won the first prize of the 19th SUN RIVER PRIZES (ISCM. Chairman of the jury Jo Kondo), honorable mention of the ICA composition competition, etc.
This work is based on the multiple meanings of "rut" and expresses a response to the phenomenon that contemporary fast food culture erodes and overdraws the nation's future. Details in the score.