Because of the uncertainty that is the pandemic-stricken performing arts world, I have been largely silent about upcoming projects, dates, and bookings, simply because everything is so up in the air. But, now that some things are beginning to come into focus (though not nearly as many as I’d like!), I thought I would share some upcoming engagements and what’s been going on behind the scenes.
Viewing entries by
Cameron Leach
As I mentioned in my update on March 2nd, I recently served as artist-in-residence at Denison University’s TUTTI Festival, alongside an incredible cast of musicians from all across the country. Little did I know, this would be my final gig before the COVID-19 pandemic shut the world down, so this performance ended up being even more special than I thought.
Towards the end of April, I had the opportunity to put together a virtual concert for the Culture in the Time of Corona Series, presented by the Johnstone Fund for New Music and Streetlight Guild, both local organizations here in Columbus, Ohio. Jack and Zoe Johnstone, the founders of the Johnstone Fund, have been my two biggest supporters of creative projects over the last three years.
Today marks the release of a new video collaboration with Mark Reynolds, National Sales Director/School Music Division from SABIAN Cymbals. We were able to first sit down for an interview portion, followed by some performances in my basement studio, and finally closing out with some demos and discussion of SABIAN’s special FX cymbals.
I was excited to find out that host Fred Child is featuring my performance of Jennifer Higdon’s Percussion Concerto with the Dallas Winds (Jerry Junkin conducting) on today’s program of Performance Today, alongside artists Joshua Bell, Bella Hristova, and others.
As it has now become widespread and commonplace, I wanted to provide an update regarding performance/event cancellations stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic.
This week marks the beginning of a week-long artist residency at Denison University’s TUTTI Festival, where I’ll be performing a free improv with other guests artist in a museum exhibit, a concert with the university’s wind ensemble, and most notably, a solo program comprised of four new works from festival composers (chosen from a call-for-scores). This solo show will mix these four new works with four established works in my repertoire, making for an interesting, one-of-a-kind performance specifically for this festival.
Tomorrow I’ll be teaming up with Colleen Bernstein for an evening of percussion music at the Van Fleet Theater in the Columbus Performing Arts Center (7pm). Thanks to Jennifer Hambrick at Classical 101/WOSU Public Media for having us in the studio yesterday for a live-streamed mini-performance and interview. We hope to see Columbus natives at the show tomorrow!
Still, Leach said he has a knack for theatrical percussion that goes back to his experience in drumline and drum corps. “That helped me a lot with expression — facial expression, bodily expression,” he said. ” But even when I do perform ‘regular’ percussion pieces, I’m always involving some level of extra-musical, visual performance because of the fact that it’s percussion and we’re hitting things. And I don’t think we need to be so stoic. ... In classical music and new music concerts, the audience tends to be observational. And while there won’t be necessarily audience participation [in ‘Seven Short Stories’], I think the comedic moments in the pieces will feel more like a standup show than a recital. And I think that’s more inviting for the audience.”
This past week, Colin Currie was in town for a performance of Helen Grime’s new Percussion Concerto with the ProMusica Chamber Orchestra. I was able to stop by for a full rehearsal, as well as the run-through during the dress rehearsal, but was unable to attend either of the shows (I had a date with The Nutcracker at the exact same times!). On top of that, Colin came to my percussion studio to get in a few hours of practice…
At the end of September, I was fortunate enough to make a trip to the Black Swamp Percussion factory in Holland, Michigan. In addition to touring the factory and meeting even more people behind the wonderful products at BSP, I was able to record a live performance of Vera Stanojevic’s Broken Mirrors, a newly commissioned solo for snare drum and electronic playback.
Very happy to share the end result of many months of hard work in post-production — the final recording from the world premiere of Dave Maric’s SPIEL, a new concerto for solo percussion, electronics, and wind ensemble.
After a (somewhat) relaxing summer, I’m back at it for the 2019-2020 season. This past week, I opened my season at the 2019 Rochester Fringe Festival at the Eastman School of Music, and then traveled to Ohio University as a featured artist on the CLICK Series for electroacoustic music.
Well, it finally happened: the dreaded quarter-life crisis! So naturally, I started a podcast. All jokes aside, I’ve been thinking about starting a podcast for quite awhile, and today is the day that it finally becomes a reality. The goal of the podcast is to talk to both musicians and non-musicians, and to be as candid as possible when it comes to topics that may be hard to discuss.
I’ve just wrapped up a wonderful week at the Space City New Music Festival, full of great times, great (and challenging!) music, and wonderful Houstonian food. I was able to sit down with Sarek Gutierrez for an audio-only interview towards the end of the week, and would like to share with you all the Soundcloud link for that interview. We discuss some of my thoughts on being a soloist, life on the road, collaborations, entrepreneurship, and more.
Here is a preview for the 2019 Space City New Music Festival, which will feature myself and HUB New Music (an incredible Boston-based mixed quartet) as guest artists. We will premiere loads of new works by festival composers, as well as a multimedia chamber opera by guest composer Shih-Hui Chen. I’m looking forward to experiencing Houston for the first time, and meeting some wonderful new collaborators.
I’m happy to announce next season’s concerto debut with the Longmont Symphony Orchestra (CO) with Maestro Elliot Moore, with a performance of Jennifer Higdon’s Percussion Concerto (one of my absolute favorites) to close out the LSO’s season. The concert will take place on April 4, 2020, and Jennifer’s work will be sharing the bill with Copland’s Symphony No. 3 and Gwyneth Walker’s Open the Door.
Just in a nick of time, a preview article for tonight’s world premiere of Spiel, Dave Maric’s brand new concerto for wind ensemble + electronics. Many thanks to Jennifer Hambrick for doing the write-up, especially on such short notice.
Thanks to Renée-Paule Gautier for having me on her podcast to discuss some practice challenges facing percussionists, as well as some unexpected discussions regarding on topics I’ve recently been wrestling with—namely, intentional and empathetic performance. This is something I hope to flesh out a bit more, and write on later. Give it a listen at one of the links below (57 min runtime), and enjoy!
Happy and honored to be featured here in a spotlight article from the Eastman School of Music’s Institute for Music Leadership. Both the school and this department gave me so many wonderful opportunities, and I’m very grateful to have had the chance to share my thoughts here on my career, the development of ELISION, personal branding, the crossover skills between solo and chamber performances, and my experience with Eastman’s Arts Leadership Program.