Fantastic news, my dears: Anton Estaniel and Elyse Weakley, members of the piano trio, Trio Pomello (as well as The Hurd Ensemble), will be performing my piece The 30 Leaves as part of their concert at the San Mateo Library this Sunday Sept. 14th. Joined by cellist Justin Cheng and pianist Leonard Pon, they’ll be playing it alongside the music of Beethoven, Bach and Shostakovich. The piece, for cello and piano (as well as for viola and piano), was a gift to Philippos Ioannis Triantafyllou, or Φίλιππος Ιωάννης Τριανταφύλλου, the first son of my girlfriend’s sister on the day he was born almost two years ago. His last name is translated from Greek to mean “30 leaves,” referring to the 30 leaves of the rose. Like any good musician who’s worth his salt, I wrote him a piece of music that strives to describe his transition from the darkness of birth to white-hot brightness of life through a shifting array of keys all based on traditional Greek scales. Hopefully one day he’ll appreciate it. For now all he cares about are trains and erasers.

The program will include Shostakovich’s 1st Cello Sonata, Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 1 and some select movements from the 1st and 3rd Bach Cello Suites. Good times indeed. Many thanks to Anton and Elyse for once again helping my music see the light of day.

Sun, September 14th – 3PM