San Jose Symphonic Choir Performs Cycle Of Friends By San Francisco-Based Composer Michael Kaulkin

San Jose Choir Is Joined By The Mission Chamber Orchestra For This Peace And Friendship Concert on March 6, 2004

SAN FRANCISCO, CA (PRWEB) February 1, 2004 --The San Jose Symphonic Choir will perform the opening movement of Michael Kaulkin's Cycle of Friends for chorus, orchestra and soprano solo. Conductor Leroy Kromm will use this performance to introduce Mr. Kaulkin's work to his audience and entice them to hear the entirety of this beautiful twenty-five minute work in the future.

This work was commissioned and first performed on May 1996 by the Music Group of Philadelphia, Seán Deibler conducting. The San Jose performance will be the work's West Coast premiere. Cycle of Friends is a highly lyrical and emotional work incorporating texts from known writers throughout the world of varying periods of history. The texts include Sappho, Emily Dickinson, Tang Dynasty poets Li Po and Meng Hao Jan and an Aztec folk poem.

Performances of Mr. Kaulkin's works are becoming prevalent on both the East and West Coasts. In addition to his live performances, a recording of Cycle of Friends and other orchestral and large chamber works is currently under development with KOCH International Classics, the Port Washington, NY-based label. Susan Delgiorno the General Manager for KOCH Classics has said of Kaulkin's Cycle of Friends-- "...I get many scores each day and must decide among hundreds of projects. Michael's work, Cycle of Friends, has moved me deeply. His writing is full of harmonic imagination and skillful orchestration that is reminiscent of Ravel. I am eager to add his music to my catalogue".

In the past year Michael Kaulkin's Misterium Tremendum for orchestra was chosen by conductor Vakhtang Jordania as a representative American work for his annual New Conductor's Competition. Additionally, Mr. Kaulkin heard the West Coast premiere of Misterium Tremendum by the Oakland East Bay Symphony. A musical profile on Kaulkin was recently published on Sequeza21.com, a preferred internet site for new music, recordings and profiles of contemporary composers.

A native of Washington, D.C., Kaulkin earned his Bachelor of Music in Composition at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, during which time he served as Music Director for the Philadelphia Area Repertory Theatre, where he composed incidental music for numerous productions, including a ballet score which was danced by members of the Pennsylvania Ballet.

Kaulkin later went on to further study at Liszt Academy in Budapest, Hungary, where he remained for three years, studying composition and choral conducting. After returning from Budapest, he enrolled in the San Francisco Conservatory, where he studied composition with Conrad Susa and received the Master of Music degree in 1996.

For more information about Michael Kaulkin please contact Tony Scafide at Generation Media at 917 217-3584.

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