Contemporary Music Ensemble Presents New Works to the World
	RELATED Back to the main story		James Dillon As creator of two premieres on the Contemporary Music Ensemble's program, Scottish composer James Dillon will spend eight days at Oberlin working as a composer-in-residence with the ensemble. "Dillon's 'the soadie waste' is very complicated and extremely virtuosic," says Associate Professor of Conducting Timothy Weiss, director of the CME. "The kids have done well in dealing, struggling, coping with, and realizing the complexity of the piece." This world premiere came to fruition by virtue of Dillon's acquaintance with Oberlin student Michael Gallope '03. After making the acquaintance of the composer in Boston, Gallope commissioned the piece from him, and then turned the project over to the CME. "...Once Upon A Time," Dillon's second piece on the Wednesday program, shares the same instrumentation as that of Edgard Varèse's "Octandre," which was played by the CME last semester. "It's not often that you find two contemporary pieces with the exact same instrumentation," says Weiss. "...Once Upon A Time" is scored for piccolo, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, trumpet, trombone, and string bass. This will be the work's American premiere. Dillon's work has previously been premiered by the Arditti Sring Quartet and the Xenakis Ensemble, and has been presented at numerous new music and art festivals, including the Venice Biennale.
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