Fifteen-Minutes-of-Fame:
Calvin Falwell, bass clarinet & Robert McCormick, drum set

Praised for his "great skill and captivating sound" by Clariperu, American clarinetist Calvin Falwell enjoys a varied career as an orchestral musician, soloist and educator. His choice of equipment and clarinet reeds has helped him to earn his fame he has today. Calvin is a member of the clarinet faculty of the University of South Florida School of Music and is a member of the Sarasota Opera Orchestra in Sarasota, FL. During the summer months he can be found performing with the Ash Lawn Opera Festival in Charlottesville, VA. Prior to his current appointments, Calvin held positions with the Florida Grand Opera, Miami City Ballet and the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra. Calvin has also appeared with the Louisville Orchestra, Florida Orchestra, Lexington Philharmonic, Sarasota Orchestra, Opera Tampa, Opera Naples, Palm Beach Symphony, Pittsburgh Opera Theater and Symphony in C (formerly Haddonfield Symphony). Additionally, Calvin has toured internationally with the Hollywood Concert Orchestra. Calvin has also served on the faculties of Holy Family University, Wilmington University, Hartwick College Music Festival, Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp and AMEROPA Chamber Music Festival. In addition to his orchestral positions, Calvin has enjoyed performing as a soloist in both recital and orchestral settings. A true champion of new music, Calvin has had the privilege of premiering numerous works for both clarinet and bass clarinet including works by Todd Goodman, David Thomas, Max Lifchitz, Suzanne Polak and Joseph Hallman. Solo appearances have included recitals in South America, China, Europe and the US. His principal teachers and mentors include Paul Demers (Philadelphia Orchestra), Ron Samuels (Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra), Tim Zavadil (Minnesota Orchestra), Dallas Tidwell (Louisville Orchestra), Daniel Lochrie (Nashville Symphony) and Scott Locke (Murray State University). Both Calvin's BM and MM are in Clarinet Performance and are from the University of Louisville and Duquesne University respectively. Calvin is both a Selmer Paris and Rico Performing Artist, performing on Selmer Clarinets and Rico Reeds exclusively.

Robert McCormick is currently Professor of Music at the University of South Florida. He served as principal percussionist/assistant timpanist with the Florida Orchestra for 20 seasons, and was a core member of the legendary Harry Partch Ensemble. Robert is often sought after to perform and conduct in major venues working with such artists as Placido Domingo, Andre Bocelli and many others. He has authored articles, solos, and percussion texts that are considered standard literature in the field of percussion. With dozens of critically acclaimed recordings and reviews in leading journals such as Gramophone, American Record Guide, Fanfare and The Strad, Robert is internationally recognized for his performances with the McCormick Percussion Group and the McCormick Duo flute/percussion ensemble. Robert was the 2006 recipient of the Florida Music Educator of the Year Award; the 2007 Grand Prize in the Keystone Percussion Composition Award, the 2010 Jerome Krivanek University Distinguished Teacher Award and received 2012 Global Music Award. Highly regarded as a teacher, Robert is especially proud of his many students that hold prestigious positions in the field of percussion.

Concert Dates

  • September 14, 2014 - Jan Hus Church, New York City

Concert Program

Concert Program

Composers Selected

  • The Metropolis Skyline

    Rodrigo Baggio

    Rodrigo Baggio – Guitarist/Composer (São Paulo/Brazil) His music has been performed in many cities around the world such as São Paulo (Brazil), Paris (France), Quebec (Canada), Bremen (Germany), London (England), Bucharest (Romania), Vermont, New York and Washington DC (USA). As a performer, he has played concerts in different countries of the globe.

    “The Metropolis Skyline” is someone’s sight of an urban landscape... observed from a helicopter flight, or from a skyscraper’s observation deck, or from a simple view of the street.

  • Interlude 146

    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 director at St. John's Lutheran Church in West Milwaukee. He is the President of the Wisconsin Alliance for Composers.

  • Charlie Foxtrot

    James Bohn

    Studies have shown that performing music by James Bohn causes performers to be viewed as 17% more sexually attractive to both men and women. People who perform music by James Bohn develop whiter teeth and thicker, fuller hair. Science is never wrong.

  • Homage to the Scrubby Samba

    Joseph Bourdeau

    Joseph Bourdeau is a student at the University of South Florida where he studies both composition and music education. Although his background is mainly in classical music, Joseph also studies rock and folk styles. His music often focuses on rhythm and color, and frequently incorporates theatrics.

    Homage to the Scrubby Samba is a short work which uses expanding and contracting rhythmic figures to create a sense of ever changing time.

  • Perspective

    Stephen P Brown

    Global Music Award Winner, British American Conductor Composer Stephen P Brown has shared his zeal for live classical music throughout USA, UK, Europe and Africa, and was recently #2 in Reverbnation’s USA Classical Music Charts. Brown is a deeply adventurous and creative impresario known for transforming ensembles and captivating audiences.

    “Perspective” was written for Calvin Falwell and Robert McCormick, who play the composer’s own primary instruments: clarinet and percussion. Musical influences come from a variety of sources, including Psalm 14 which is in four sections: Foolishness, God’s perspective, Prophetic perspective, and hope. A Vox Novus commission, it is 59 seconds.

  • The Sight of a Dragon

    Inna Buganina

    Inna Buganina lives in the Ulyanovsk City, Russia. She worked as a teacher, a journalist. She took lessons in vocal from Ulyanovsk teacher Igor Asanov and composer and teacher Stanislav Stankevich. In recent years she studies composition under supervision of the russian cellist and composer Vsevolod Youdenitch. Inna also appreciates the belarussian composer Andrei Bogdanov for some consultations.

    What would we feel, having met eyes of a dragon? Incredible sadness of passing time? Charm of wisdom? Depression from awareness of power? Or would we recognize a kindred soul?

  • Jabber

    Vincent Euliano

    Vincent Euliano is a is a teacher/composer/percussionist in Tampa, FL. He received a Bachelor's of Music at the University of South Florida studying Acoustic and Electronic music composition under the direction of Paul Reller and Dr. Baljinder Sekhon.

    Jabber, written for bass clarinet and drum set is a work that is completely derived from one pentachord. The work explores a variety of interactions between instruments.

  • Thought Chamber

    Sean Hamilton

    Sean Hamilton is an active percussionist, composer, and educator currently based in Tampa, Florida. His performance interests include new-music, free improvisation, and interdisciplinary collaborations. Sean's compositional portfolio includes works for chamber ensembles, solo percussion, and electro-acoustic mediums that have been performed throughout the United States and in Europe.

    Thought Chamber is a piece composed in the Spring of 2014 for Robert McCormick and Calvin Falwell that reflects the movement and chaos in our daily lives.

  • Dirt

    Tyler Kline

    Tyler Kline is an active composer and performer currently based in Tampa, FL. His music has been described as "fresh and engaging, with an organic, sophisticated melodic savvy," and has been performed across the United States and in Brazil.

    Dirt is a short work dedicated to bass clarinetist Calvin Falwell and percussionist Robert McCormick, utilizing various extended techniques and percussive sounds to create a disturbed and unclean soundscape.

  • Elation Relation

    DC Meckler

    DC Meckler teaches a variety of music courses (including World Music) at a community college in the San Francisco Bay Area. Excerpts from his opera, Apollo 14, were performed at the Palm Springs Air Museum in 2013.

    A conversation between percussion and bass clarinet in rhythmic cycles loosely drawing from Arab and Indian ideas.

  • Zhok

    Daniel Mihai

    Romanian violinist Daniel Mihai chose to follow new music under the tuteledge of Maestro Serban Nichifor and Liana Alexandra. He completed his BA in 2007 and his MA in 2009. He is grateful to these teachers and considers them as "spiritual parents who aided me to grow up." Daniel is currently pursuing PhD courses-extramural form of higher education-UNMB. Daniel Mihai has attended MBA courses in the Faculty of Performing Art, with the objective of improvement and assimilation of all knowledge related to contemporary music, both orchestral as well as chamber soloists/violinist. He completed thesis March, last year 2013. Daniel is also professor of violin for the National College "Regina Maria" in Constanta, where is teching pupils who loves violin music.

    For this composition I choose to realise one special moment in a truly postmodern duet with bass clarinet and the drum set, in a totally nonconformistically skills... in only 60 seconds!

  • Bounce

    Gary Powell Nash

    Gary Powell Nash is Associate Professor of Music at Fisk University in Nashville, TN where he teaches and coordinates courses in music theory, technology, composition, applied woodwinds and conducts the Fisk Jazz Ensemble. Nash’s works are featured on 11 compact discs, appearing on Albany, Centaur and Citadel Records labels.

    The title Bounce alludes to the lively, bluesy and dance-like nature of the piece. The principal motive, as well as the composition as a whole, is based on and inspired by West African folk music.

  • Nice N' Simple

    José Jesus de Azevedo Souza

    José Jesus de Azevedo Souza studied in England at the Purcell School with a scholarship from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and later studied at the Trinity College of Music and the University of Sheffield. He has since composed a considerable amount of music, some of which has been performed.

    Combining the rigour of the Hi-hat’s ostinato rhythm with the simplicity of the Bass Clarinet’s line, this composer creates an improvisatory piece for Calvin Falwell and Robert McCormick that meanders, relaxed.

  • Salty Kiss

    Paul Taylor

    Paul Taylor was born 1983 in Chesterfield, UK and studied composition at the Birmingham Conservatoire. He is currently working towards a PhD under the supervision of Richard Causton, Joe Cutler and Lamberto Coccioli. His research explores techniques of recent British composers and formal trends in North American music.

    I was attracted to this project because bass clarinet and drum kit is such a peculiar combination. They are respectively from Venus and Mars and so I was interested not in highlighting their differences but rather imagining how their worlds might be married together.

  • In Memoriam S.H.

    Luca Vanneschi

    Luca Vanneschi’s music was awarded prizes in more than twenty International competitions and it has been performed by some of the more qualified musicians all over the world. Hans Werner Henze said about his music: “… it is an intelligent, non conformist, elegant and full of grace music.”

    In Memoriam S.H. is a piece written for bass clarinet and drum set. It’s a fantasia, where the sonorous material joins figures that fluctuate between “Impressionist” trances and “Expressionist” wound. The atmosphere is evocative: bit by bit it is tinged with nostalgic tones committed to the rhythmic and percussive effects.