THOMAS M. SLEEPER

NEWS

Paul Phillips conducted the premiere Sleeper's Symphony No.1 with the Meadows Symphony Orchestra in Dallas, Texas November 30 and December 2, 2007 at Caruth Auditorium..

Stefan de Lavel Jezierskil performed the Europen premiere of Sleeper's Concerto for Horn with the Sinfonie Orchester Schöenberg, Stanley Dodds conductor, November 10th in the Berlin Philharmonie.

Live performance of Sleeper's Trumpet Concerto on YouTube now. 2005 performance with Craig Morris and the CCOM Wind Ensemble in Beijing, composer conducting.

Leylie's Great Escape, a new 1 minute work for orchestra was premiered October 10th by the Frost Symphony in Gusman Hall in Miami. The work is a parody of the peculiar crawl exhibited by my 1 year old - Leyla Michelle.(see performance on YouTube)

Sleeper's Concerto for Trumpet (as recorded by Gary Green and the Frost Wind Ensemble - Craig Morris soloist) was released on the NAXOS Wind Band Classics label this October. The most recent performance was in April 2007 by XIAO XiaoHu in Beijing, PRC with the EOS orchestra, JING Jinyi, conducting.NAXOS Podcast with conductor Gary Green -: www.naxos.com/podcasts/gary_green_podcast.mp3

All Sleeper CD's recorded on the Albany Label are now available for download on itunes.

The Del Ray String Quartet performed the "Sacre" movement from Sleeper's second String Quartet February 24th on their series at the Colony Hotel in Del Ray Beach.

Sleeper's Opera "Last Minute" and excerpts from "Small Change" were performed by members the Frost Opera Theater under the direction of Alan Johnson in a program titled "Spotlight on American Opera" this past fall.

John Bannon conducted Sapphire Overture with the University of Tampa Wind Ensemble in Concert February 8th.

The completed score to "One Water" was recorded this June in Moscow with the Russian National Orchestra.

My fourth opera has just been completed."Last Minute" is an absurdly short "opera" for soprano, baritone, string quartet, four male props and 2 video screens.Lasting exactly one minute, the drama is set in a bus station and deals with existance, love and death. All distilled and presented with a surprise twist at the end. Premiere was Wednesday, February 15 in Miami which happened to be the day before my 50th birthday -- an appropriate "last Minute". Set banners provided by my wife, Sherri Tan Sleeper. Sofia Kraevska was the conductor, Stephanie Martinez, soprano and Eric Thomas, baritone. Domagoj and Melina Ivanlvic, Patricia Rudisill and Susan Moyer made the string quartet. ts

"One Water" was performed several times with live orchestras in 2006. The Frost Symphony Orchestra performed the work Saturday February 18, in Gusman Concert Hall in Coral Gables, Florida and the Florida Youth Orchestra performed the same work the 19th of February at the Amaturo Theater in Ft. Lauderdale with Huifang Chen, conductor. A chamber orchestra version performed at the Florida Room Documentary Festival on Miami Beach for thier opening night February 9 with members of the Frost Symphony.

"The Dreams of Giordano Bruno", a signed, very limited edition of 25 hardbound books containing three sets of seven miniatures: images, text and the music, is now available for sale. The images are the work of Sherri Tan Sleeper and the music is Sleeper's Seven Miniatures for Violin and Piano.

Seven Deadly Dwarfs for solo horn was performed by Guglielmo Manfredi Wednesday October 5th at the Uiversity of Miami School of Music. Sleeper's Seven Miniatures for violin and piano was premiered that evening as well with HuiFang Chen, violin and Sleeper, piano.

Sleeper's Trumpet Concerto was performed March 24th, 2005 for the opening night of the Beijing Contemporary Music Festival in Beijing, PRC. Craig Morris,for whom the concerto was written, appeared as soloist with the composer conducting.

The Florida Youth Orchestra performed Sleeper's score to the film "One Water" in a live production with HD video at the Millennium Stage in the John F. Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. March 23, 2005. Dr. Bryce Seliger was the conductor.

The Florida Atlantic University Orchestra, Dr. Bryce Seliger, conductor, performed Sleeper's Six Hemingway Songs for soprano and orchestra in Boca Raton November 4, 2004. (The song cycle was permiered at the Key West Music Festival and was recorded by Tenor David Crawford with the Key West Festival Orchestra on the Cane Record label.)

The USF Wind Ensemble under the direction of Dr. Michael Robinson performed Sleeper's Trumpet Concerto with Jay Coble of the Florida Orchestra in Tampa in October and December of 2004.

"Hana's Day Out"- Sleeper's orchestra version of "Sapphire Overture" for band was performed this May by the Flordia Youth Orchestra under the direction of Associate Conductor Dr. Bryce Seliger. The work was also performed by the Dade County All-County Orchestra.

Conductor Dan Belongia with Thomas Sleeper after the Florida premiere of Sapphire Overture which Dan conducted with the University of Miami Symphonic Winds.

New Internet eCard service added. Now you can send Free eCards with various images (including many from the Florida Everglades taken for Sleeper's multimedia project "Dreaming in Sound and Color") and your own text.Some cute new songs improvised by Angela, his 6 year old daughter are an audio option!

The Greensboro Symphony Orchestra performed Sleeper's Prometheus et Psyche for as series of children's concerts with Resident Conductor Bruce Kiesling this fall. Sleeper recently appeared as Guest Conductor with the Greensboro Symphony in a concert of American music including works by Schuman and Copland in a multimedia presentation with phototchoreographer James Westwater.

 

Gary Green and The University of Miami Wind Ensemble gave the world premiere of Sleeper's Concerto for Trumpet with Craig Morris, soloist October 13, 2003 as part of the Festival Miami. The performance was broadcast live over the internet. A rehearsal video clip is now available.

Conductor Gary Green has recorded Sleeper's Concerto for Piano and Wind Ensemble for Albany records. Craig Morris is Professor of Trumpet at UM and the former Principal Trumpet of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Download pdf version of the full score or listen to excerpts now.

 

Concerto for Horn and Orchestra has been released by Albany records.

"The high point of Saturday's Festival Miami opener was the world premiere of his concerto for French Horn and Orchestra...accessible, effective, amiable...a melodious vehicle...first movement sets up a pulsing aura of mystery...Prokofiev-like swagger...Overall effect of the 20 minute concerto is simply that of a tightly constructed, sophisticatedly crafted...score...echoes not only of sardonic Prokofiev, but also Shostakovich and Mahler...yet the concerto is not much less identifiably Sleeper's than, say, Barber's music is Barber's.""[It recreates] old [worlds] nostalgically and eloquently..." Miami Herald (James Roos) 9/19/00

Sleeper was commissioned by a consortium of 20 college, community and high school bands to write a new work which will premiere in October 2003. The nine minute rollicking overture for Symphonic Band is titled "Sapphire Overture" Midi realization available now.

Sleeper's music for "One Water", a documentary film about water as a limited resource in collaboration with colleagues at the University of Miami was recorded by the Greensboro Symphony Orchestra (North Carolina).

Suite "Bergonzi" for Orchestra was performed by the Florida Youth Orchestra. Jillian Bloom was the cello soloist. The work was recorded by Cane Records which also recorded his "Jungle Harp".

Aceldama, Sleeper's first opera, was released by Albany Records January 1, 2003. The recording features soprano Sandra Lopez, baritone Tom Barrett, tenors David Crawford and Russell Thomas with the Shanghai Broadcasting Symphony and UM Chorale. The work has been performed as a suite in Europe, Asia and the North America.

Gramophone Magazine in July 2003 states: "Thomas Sleeper: a gifted composer writing in a rigorous yet attractive tonal idiom...showing Sleeper's gift for string writing that is attractive while avoiding soupiness."

Thomas Sleeper's "La Noche en la Isla" was performed in Houston, Texas by the Florida Chamber Players for the regional NATS convention. Jana Young, soprano; Russell Young, piano; Margaret Donaghue, clarinet.

String Quartet No. 2 - “Bergonzi”, was premiered at Festival Miami this past fall by the Bergonzi String Quartet. The ensemble recently returned from a succesful tour the east coast with the new quartet this October.

Concerto for Piano and Wind Ensemble was performed by Gary Green and the University of Miami Wind Ensemble with Yamilka Silvestrini as soloist in October on Festival Miami. Silvestrini and Green recorded the concerto in November. The recording has been released by Albany Records TROY525. The recording is also available through Uroboros Music.

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The University of Miami Opera Theater premiered Sleeper’s third opera, “Small Change” in February and March with Dr. Russell Young, Stage Director and John Bannon, Conductor.

 

 

The Youth Orchestra of Florida gave the premier of Sleeper’s “Nubia ala Bergonzi” in New York’s Carnegie Hall in April with Dr. Lynn Luce conducting. The work was part of a larger suite which Dr. Luce conducted with the Florida Youth Orchestra in Ft. Lauderdale in May featuring Jillian Bloom, cellist. Sleeper's Suite ala Bergonzi was recorded and is available from Cane Records.

 

Dreaming in Sound and Color: Sleeper’s multimedia presentation on the Everglades which incorporates digital photography, film and original music was shown in public performances in and around Miami in September and October.

A smaller version (121 MB) of Dreaming in Sound and Color remains available as a free download from the University of Miami School of Music Web site. DOWNLOAD

 

 

 

The Jungle Harp Suite was performed by the Florida All-State 9th and 10th Grade Orchestra at the Florida Music Educator’s Convention in Tampa. The complete Jungle Harp with Narrator was performed by the Youth Orchestra of Florida at Gusman Theater for the Temple Beth Am Series with the late Bob Weaver as narrator. The Jungle Harp was recorded by the Youth Orchestra of Florida and is available from Cane Records.