Dear Friends,
Thank you for the outpouring of support I received after the
publication of my last newsletter; I am more grateful to all of you
than I can say. Although things remain difficult for me personally, I'm
beginning to move ahead professionally. With this month's newsletter I
shall attempt to catch you up with what's been happening during the
past year through last month, and then in July I’ll have some exciting
new opportunities to announce!
I was thrilled last summer by the inclusion of my work in the soundtrack to the German film Ekkelins Knecht
by Peter Klewitz, for which I wrote the mediaeval-inspired piece 'Ausklang' (Ending). In March 2009, composer/keyboardist Glyn
Greenslade of Surbiton, England, produced an album entitled Heartstrings,
which included his orchestrations of ten of my piano solos in addition
to the title track that he wrote. Although Glyn had hoped that I would
be able to collaborate with him more closely, my personal situation at
the time made it impossible for me to do so. The CD is truly a
monumental effort by Glyn, and I am incredibly honoured and grateful
that he put so much time and effort into the work of another composer.
I hope to be able to announce plans for distribution of this CD in my
next newsletter.
Despite not being able to actively promote my work, I received word
that many of my compositions were being performed. Organist William
James Ross played 'Danse des Esprits' on May 11, 2008 at the First
Unitarian Universalist Church of San Antonio, TX. In his note to me he
said, "It is a beautiful piece and was received with great enthusiasm
by our congregation, most of whom remained seated to hear and stood to
applaud!" A cappella vocal group Quodlibet, directed by Marilyn
Alletzhauser, presented two previously commissioned works written with
Claire Roth, 'Sweet Seduction' and 'Dream Vacation', April 13 and
November 16, 2008, both at St Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church
in Albuquerque.
My heartfelt thanks goes to Wilma Gantz of Albuquerque who has
become an incredibly faithful performer of my piano compositions and
arrangements at various venues. Wilma wrote to let me know that last
summer she performed 'A Child's Heart' at Covenant Presbyterian Church
(June), La Vida Llena Life Care Center (June 24), and again at La Vida
Llena on September 2nd to honour the 100th birthday of a resident; in
November and December she played 'High King of Heaven', 'Be Still My
Soul', and 'Greensleeves' for La Vida Llena Healthcare; in January 2009
she performed 'In the Bleak Mid-winter' and 'The Eternal Rose'; and
finally in May, 'I'll Remember You'.
Scott Reeder, Irma Reeder, and Kimberly Newman sang my choral work 'A Debt of Love' in October; a quartet from the Albuquerque Accordion
Ensemble introduced the commissioned work 'Just For the Folk of It' in
December, under the direction of Dan Wright; and Bonnilyn Neyens of
Fort Madison, IA played my arrangement of 'Be Still My Soul' for church
services this past Memorial Day.
I've received several queries about my website, which I'll be the
first to admit has been sadly neglected. I will be updating the JEOW,
along with my pages on MySpace and FaceBook as soon as possible. I also
plan to resume blogging, and for those of you on Twitter, I will soon
be back there as well.
If, for any reason, you wish to stop receiving these newsletters,
simply reply to any mailing with the word "unsubscribe" written in the
subject line. Your wishes will be immediately respected. If this
newsletter has been forwarded to you, and you wish to join the monthly
mailing list, send an email to jane@janeellen.com with the word "subscribe" written in the subject line.
See you in July!
Follow your heart,
Jane