it has been a year!
I was fortunate to spend a wonderful summer in Central City working primarily with the outstanding young artists of the Opera, culminating in a main stage performance of the Pirates of Penzance. I was lucky to visit the Colorado Music Festival while there, and to hear a wonderful rehearsal led by Peter Oundjian. I was also privileged to catch up with the great guitarist Jonathan Leathwood, professor of guitar at Denver University.
Earlier in the season, I had the great pleasure to play for the Speaker of Parliament Sir Lindsay Hoyle, in the Speaker’s Apartment. The green room perhaps pips even the Castello Aragonese: I was fortunate to warm-up in the State Bedroom, and to be received warmly by members of Parliament as well as guests from the US Senate and House of Representatives.
Other highlights of the season include visits to Virginia Tech where I enjoyed playing with tenor Brian Thorsett (our third time working together, but interestingly the first time as a guitarist–previously I had conducted the Nelson Mass and David Conte’s American Death Ballads with Brian singing) and conducting the excellent student orchestra whose music director is Mathias Elmer and SUNY Binghamton, where I played a recital of new compositions written by some very talented young composers who study with Prof. Daniel Thomas Davis.
Finally I performed my first full-length ballet with the Philadelphia-based company BalletX, Siete, choreographed by Matthew Neenan to music that I wrote and arranged for solo guitar. We nearly sold out thirteen shows at the Wilma Theatre and it was wonderful to play on stage with such a distinguished ensemble.
I am also lucky to have five albums in the pipeline at various stages of completion–four on the guitar and one as conductor: two solo, one with flautist Emi Ferguson, one with baritone Federico di Michelis, and one with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
Michael Poll 