Nico
Muhly,

Another quick update. First, some exciting news.

At long last, my album Speaks Volumes is available on the iTunes store in the USA. Click here to buy it ““ even if you have a ghetto copy I burnt for you months ago or a promo copy, I urge you to pick it up online, or wait another few weeks for a physical copy, or both. The notes attendant to the physical version are worth the extra wait, but the immediate portability of the iTunes version is also, I hope, attractive. Show the love, click the button.

I am just returning from two weeks in Iceland, where I performed at the Iceland Airwaves Festival in an evening of music organized by my label, Bedroom Community. It was a great night ““ five hours of amazing music (by Egill Sæbjörnsson, Sam Amidon, Valgeir Sigurðsson, and Ben Frost), and we all played for each other. A highlight of the evening for me was when Nadia (who came with me from New York), Ben, Valgeir and I all accompanied Sam Amidon on five of his songs, and then later, when two sweaty Icelandic guitarists rolled in, fresh off of their own show as the band Reykjavík!, and played an hour-long set of Ben Frost’s savage but beautiful music alongside me, Sam, Hildur Ingveldardóttir Guðnadóttir, Nadia Doctorbobsdóttir, and Una Sveinbjarnardóttir ““ overall, a triumphant evening for the community of people that makes the Bedroom Community label such a great time.

The other exciting thing that happened was that we got a wonderful review of the album in Morgunblaðið, (colloquially, the Ice York Times), about which everybody involved in the album is intensely pleased. They gave us five stars (out of five), and had really nice things to say about the players on the album, the program notes by Program Notes Danný, as well as the label and Valgeir himself. The original Icelandic is here, and the English, expertly translated by the wise Árni Heimir Ingólfsson, is here. The original Icelandic is amazing for a bunch of reasons, not the least of which all the Ethz and Thornz ““ there is one colloquialism that no Icelandic person was able to render into English that as far as we can tell translates to “Hicksville” or “North Bumblef**k” ““ see if you can find it. In any case, all my warmest thanks to everybody who played on this record; it was such a pleasure to make.

Before I resort to List Mode, I urge you all, if you live in or near New York, to lap up as much Steve Reich as you can. Anybody who goes to see The Cave wins a million points plus a pony; I am really upset that I can’t go, although conducting rival agèd minimalism in Paris is a pretty legitimate excuse. Get ready for Philip2007, y’all. It’s going to be on.

Other upcoming events:

1. Sunday, October 22. Bright Mass with Canons at the Saint Thomas Church Fifth Avenue. 53rd and 5th. 11 AM.
2. November 10, 11, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18. I’m conducting Amoveo (from Einstein on the Beach) by Philip Glass, with choreography by Benjamin Millepied at the Opéra Garnier, Paris. Information, tickets, pastry: here.
3. January 17, 2007. Composer Portrait at the Whitney. 7 PM. This will include a world premiere of a new work, Period Instrument, for Nadia. Deetz here.
4. March 16, 2007. Show at Zankel. What’s hatninnin? At the very least, a world premiere for Sam Amidon and electronics, working title: The Two Sisters. What else? We’ll figure it out, but buy your tickets now.