As I head into my 12th month here in New York I am continuing to have many exciting, diverse musical experiences. I am writing several songs for The Puppetry Arts Theatre for a production on April 20th in New York. This has been a great challenge and I am quite excited about the project. The second installment of the musical I am writing with lyricist Sonya Sobieski will be performed in April. To see a great performance of the first scene we wrote, called "Monster Boyfriend," click here. I am also developing music with percussionist Matt Crane for our duo The Golden Crackers. We plan to record some material in the coming weeks. The second performance of my ensemble String Power will occur in April. Also in April is the premiere of a composition I wrote for the Tufts University New Music Ensemble entitled "Bad Old Songs" and based on a Robert Schumann song. In the next few months I will be performing with rock bands, improvisation ensembles, new music ensembles, jazz groups and all kinds of interesting, talented artists. For more information go to the "tour" section. Also, check out my blog which I have resolved to update on a regular basis.

11/23/07

I have had a productive first Fall here in New York. On September 28th my ensemble, String Power, had a successful debut at the Tea Lounge in Brooklyn. Our next performance will take place in early 2008. I have completed a short piece for woodwind quintet called "Times Square Shuffle," which references a particular traffic routing procedure that anyone who has driven in New York has experienced. I have written two film scores. One, called "Adam and Eve" is in a 1920's silent movie style, and the other one, "Room Service" is a thriller that takes place in New York City during the holiday season. I am beginning work on a one act musical called Monster Boyfriend with author Sonya Sobieski. We will have a reading of a scene from it at the Big Little Theatre in Manhattan on January 7th. I recorded piano parts and assisted with music preparation for the terrific singer and composer Sherry Boone's one act show, which premiers at the Zipper Theatre on November 30th. I also recorded violin parts for the band Numbers and Letters, who will be releasing their CD in the Spring. I will be performing with the Alan Ferber Nonet on December 16th at the Brooklyn Lyceum, who will add a 10 piece string section for this performance.

9/12/07

First of all, a huge thanks to my friend Tony Greaves who built this site. Without his efforts and talents you would not be looking at this.

I was the head of the music department this summer at Buck's Rock Creative Arts Camp in New Milford, Connecticut. It was my second year there and the first as music head. It was a challenging and rewarding experience, to say the least. I had a good time and now I'm happy to be back in New York and ready to start working on my own music.

I have two projects in the works for the fall. The first will be on September 28 at the Tea Lounge in Brooklyn. It music for strings that will feature many of the talented string players in the New York area. Not only are these players excellent readers, they are stylistically flexible and terrific improvisers as well. My intention with this project is to showcase the often overlooked expressive capabities of strings, which are too often relegated to playing smooth and pretty notes in the background. Go to the "tour" section for more information. The other project is to write a set of tunes for myself and drummer Matt Crane and an as yet undermined bass player. Matt and I formed The Golden Crackers in Seattle and one of my primary reasons for relocating to New York is to continue this collaboration. -Tom Swafford