Abstraction’s Year-in-Review (2024-2025)

Written By David Stevens

Access PDF of Newsletter Here: AMG Summer 2025 Newsletter

Hello friends,

I wanted to share the many exciting projects that my clients have done this year and the artistic creations we supported and made together. Excitingly, I welcomed Pamela Madsen to our roster this year! Pam, who is a wonderful composer who was a personal mentor to me at Cal State Fullerton. I’m excited for our next steps (albums, commissions, promotion) together.

In addition to our roster of composers, we had an exciting year of concert production and one-off projects.

Concert Production & AMG Projects

Concert Production and Staffing:

  1. October 12 2024: Boston Etudes Album Release Concert with Jihye Chang (Front-of-House staffing)

  2. October 26 2024: Di Fayerdike Libe Portrait Concert with Derek David, violist Jesse Morrison, and Semiosis Quartet (Full production)

  3. December 10 2024: Stratis Minakakis Portrait Concert at Lilypad (program, marketing staffing)

  4. March 3 2025: Breath in Music at Goethe Institut with Annie Jacobs-Perkins and Katelyn Vahala (program, marketing, staffing)

  5. March 10 2025: Davide Ianni & Nima Janmohammadi Faculty Recital (marketing)

  6. June 16 2025: Bunker Hill 250 Concert (slide projections)

Arranger:

I contributed three arrangements for the two Bunker Hill Monument concerts in a re-creation of the 1825 ceremony of laying of the cornerstone to the monument. The three arrangements were Columbia Land of Liberty, James Flint’s Ode, and Dawes Ode.

Engraver:

  1. Postcards from Native America for Wind Quintet by Charles Shadle (August 2024)

  2. Grace for choir and chamber orchestra by Charles Shadle (MIT Office of the Arts, October 2024)

  3. Chahta Tuffa for harpsichord and baroque orchestra by Charles Shadle (November 2024)

  4. Overture for Piano by Malcolm Peyton (February 2025, New England Conservatory)

  5. A Choctaw Sonata for trombone and piano by Charles Shadle (May 2025)

Archivist:

I completed the physical archives and complete catalog of composer Malcolm Peyton, who passed away January 26, 2025. I am very grate for Malcolm and his family for entrusting me to preserve his compositions, legacy, and make his music accessible to future generations.

Visa Petitioner:

In November 2024, Chicago-based Greek composer Niki Harlafti became an O-1B Visa recipient. It was a difficult and extensive process to act as her legal petitioner, but greatly rewarding and a big learning experience.

Album Projects:

In October 2024, we released Jihye Chang’s album Boston Etudes on New Focus Recordings, helping raise funds ($5,000!), market the release, and help out with PR campaign. Reviews from the arts fuse, Fanfare, and Infodad.

Released the single Fresh Air for Trumpet and Marimba by Micah Levy on Abstract Boston Records

Consulting:

I provided consultation for composers Brooks Clarke, Kenneth Lieberson, Brian Morales, and Nima Janmohammadi, and created a website for young composer Emerson Kimble.

News from Robert Honstein

Highlights:

  1. A Hong Kong Residency & Portrait Concert with The Up:Strike Project and Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts (launched the project with Matthew Lau)

  2. Conduit II. Pulse programmed by Orlando Ballet (negotiated Grand Rights contract)

  3. UT Austin CLUTCH Residency with The Living Earth Show

  4. Continuous Interior performance with Colin Currie and London Philharmonic Orchestra members (marketing)

Commissions:

  1. The Ramble for String Quartet (editor)

  2. Music to Hear for voice, guitar, and percussion

  3. Yet in my Sad Heart for percussion quartet (editor and contract drafter)

News from Derek David

Highlights:

  1. Del Sol Quartet performed String Quartet No. 4 “Kaddish” twice and was released as a produced video by 3232 Music (marketing)

  2. At-capacity Di Fayerdike Libe Portrait Concert (funding, production, marketing)

  3. Byrdcliffe Artist Guild Residency (June-July 2025) (applied for)

  4. Yiddish world: Two lectures at Lehrhaus Somerville on Yiddish Music, Yiddish New York chorus director, directed A Besere Velt with Levyosn.

  5. Attended Partimento Conference in Vienna (received MIT Faculty Travel Fund)

Commissions:

  1. Partita for Solo Viola for Jesse Morrison (contract created and project managed)

New From Pamela Madsen

Highlights:

  1. My newest client, I overhauled her website.

  2. Copland House Residency (2025) & MacDowell Colony Fellow Residency (2025)

  3. Performances in Greece (Trio ACG), Europe (NoExit New Music), and NYC (The Orchestra of League of Composers) (marketing)

  4. Presentations at UC Riverside and Boulanger Institute

Commissions/Premieres:

  1. Ghosts of Laguna, Part 1 for two vocalists and piano

  2. What the Thunder Said for saxophone and percussion

  3. Melting Away: Gravity (new version for chamber orchestra)

New From Stratis Minakakis

Highlights:

  1. Portrait Concert at Lilypad, presented by Point01Percent, featuring Aggeloi III, Lowell Etudes, Cassandra Fragments, Phone Avras Leptis

  2. Don-Paul Kahl performs and presents on For Felipe M. for his PhD dissertation defense

  3. Phone Avras Leptis performed at Goethe Institut (Annie Jacobs-Perkins, Katelyn Vahala)

  4. Phone Avras Leptis performed at Jordan Hall (TJ Borden, Jihye Chang)

  5. Lowell Etudes performed at BoCo and released on Boston Etudes album (Jihye Chang)

News from Micah Levy

Highlights:

  1. American Prize in Composition-Orchestra for Death Valley Kangaru

  2. Fresh Air for trumpet and marimba recorded by Jay Villella and Robert Rocheteau and released on Abstract Boston Records

  3. Death Valley Kangaru performed twice in San Diego

  4. The Probably Untrue Story of Mary (who) had a Little Lamb by Micah Levy performed in Kamuela, Hawaii

Commission/Premiere:

  1. Let Every Breath Praise for choir and chamber ensemble in Smyrna, Florida

New From Dan VanHassel

Highlights:

  1. Fracture performed by Joseph Van Hassel and Matt Sharrrock

  2. Aftershock performed by Angela Kim

  3. Keuris Quartet performs Schizoid Devices in the Netherlands

  4. Bassoonification is performed and presented at the International Double Reed Society Conference.

Commissions/Premieres:

  1. Dystopia for trumpet, drum set, piano, and electronics by the SPLICE Ensemble

  2. Collective Effervescence for reed quintet by Splinter Reeds

  3. Sonata for violin and piano for 48 St. Stephen

  4. Status Quo for BoCo Faculty Wind Quintet

New From Davide Ianni

Highlights:

  1. Faculty Recital featuring [Ni] for electric guitar and Dedalo Nero for contrabass clarinet

  2. E se for chamber ensemble performed and recorded on the NEC Composers Series

  3. Presentation at International Clarinet Association Conference with Jean-Francois Charles

Commissions/Premieres:

  1. Impromptu nel Vuoto for fixed media (Giuseppe Desiato, saxophone; Davide Ianni, live-electronics) premiered in 2024 and was presented twice last year

Thanks for reaching and please reach out if you would like our help. Stay tuned for our next steps this year, including the launch of a music publisher, Abstract Boston, album releases, and strengthening relationships with performers, ensembles and the New Music community in Greater Boston and across the globe.

David Stevens
Abstraction Music Group
email: abstraction.musicgroup@gmail.com

David Stevens
Next

Madsen’s Melting Away: Gravity