Iowa Composers Forum 2019 Summer Festival of New Music

Just a couple of weeks after my return from Maine, this weekend I went to another new music festival, though this was on a much smaller basis. Each year, the Iowa Composers Forum hosts the Summer Festival of New Music at one of the colleges in Iowa. This year the event was held at Luther College in Decorah. My art song, "Hope is a Thing with Feathers," was selected for performance there. While they struggled to find a singer to sing my piece, Dakota Andersen kindly agreed to work up the piece again and travel with me to perform it in Decorah, and was accompanied by Luther's collaborative pianist, Dr. Nicholas Shaneyfelt.

It was a great weekend, and having not been to an ICF event before, I was amazed at the great music that had been written by the small organization and the composers based in Iowa. Outside of the night performances, Dakota and I enjoyed seeing the different sites in Decorah, from the falls to the eagles to the local breweries. Overall, it was a great way to end a great summer of music.