A Collaboration with Ensemble Télémaque
Sounds, Tears & Skins brings together Ensemble Télémaque and four American composers for a new set of commissioned works inspired by twentieth‑century writers whose lives bridged Marseille and the United States. Read more about the music and premiere dates.
Cannes World Film Festival Interview
Fresh off winning Best Musical Film at the World Film Festival in Cannes for Oblivion, John sits down to talk about the surreal, the philosophical, and the forces shaping his work.
MacDowell Dispatch #3: Listening
A different kind of listening opens up when we set aside the program notes and let the music meet us on its own terms.
Enigma Opera workshops Oblivion at Goethe Institute - Boston.
Enigma Chamber Opera brought the first three scenes of Oblivion to life at the Goethe Institute on Nov. 8, with a brilliant interpretation led by resident director Kirsten Cairns - a magical collaboration realized in record time.
Oblivion wins best musical film at Cannes
An amazing event to begin Oblivion’s journey on the art film circuit.
Dispatches from MacDowell
Every time I’ve returned to MacDowell, it has marked a turning point- an unexpected clearing where my artistic life shifts in ways I couldn’t have predicted. I have found many new friends over the weeks here and am intent on finishing a second work for the Boston Modern Orchestra Project.
New England Public Media Airs Oblivion and Angelus
Two worlds, one broadcast—Oblivion and Angelus air on NEPM, tracing afterlife and exile through music.
Premiere by Boston Modern Orchestra Project
Eternal Return: premiered by the Boston Modern Orchestra, this impressionistic elegy bends time, grief, and orchestral color into a meditation on afterlife and artistic lineage.
Chute, premiered by Ensemble Court Circuit
Chute (2022) is a nine‑minute chamber work scored for a vivid, mixed ensemble:
flute/piccolo, clarinet/bass clarinet, horn, trombone, piano, percussion, violin, viola, and cello. It was commissioned by Ensemble Court‑Circuit for their 2022 U.S. tour, and they premiered and recorded it during that season.
Departure Duo Releases Tiergarten on Upcoming Album
The Departure Duo brings luminous clarity and emotional nuance to Tiergarten, transforming the work into an intimate yet expansive sound world. Their distinctive pairing of soprano and double bass shapes the piece into a landscape of breath, resonance, and finely sculpted gesture, revealing its quiet radiance and architectural stillness.
Don Berman performs Flux, Ripple Flutter
Don Berman brings a poised, fluid touch to Flux, Ripple, Flutter, shaping its quicksilver shifts and shimmering textures with clarity and expressive ease.