For the second year in a row I will be in residence at the Alexadria Guitar Festival (July 2008), this year with a new piece for guitarist Nathan Fischer, a former colleague from Eastman whom I have wanted to compose something for for some time (see his bio below). The project has been a long time coming and is graciously funded by the Reva and David Logan Foundation of Chicago, IL as well as the Institute for American Music and was requested to be based on current and/or historical Alexandria, a city only minutes from my birthplace in Fairfax, VA.

Last year's festival was enlightening and interesting with an enthusiastic response to my piece, Roses Don't Need Perfume, performed by Ken Meyer.

NATHAN FISCHER has built a unique career as a performer, teacher, and an entrepreneur. Currently, Nathan is guitar faculty with the University of Nevada in Las Vegas and is President of the International Guitar Institute, an organization committed to the advancement of guitar in the world of music.

As a concert artist, Nathan’s performances have been described as having “a wide range of color and covering passages of sensitive emotion to fiery passion”—The Washington Guitar Society. His concert appearances have included venues throughout the United States as well as Yugoslavia, Italy, and Spain. As an advocate for new music, Nathan has received grant commissions to promote the performance of new works by organizations such as the Reva and David Logan Foundation, The Howard Hanson Institute for New Music at the Eastman School of Music, and the Fromm Foundation at Harvard. Nathan's recording, Images, was released in the year 2000 and he is currently working to release a subsequent CD to include the complete solo works of Joaquín Turina, Manuel de Falla, and others by Joaquín Rodrigo.