The North American Saxophone Alliance Region 8 Conference
Penn State University
State College, PA
Saturday March 29, 9 am
Program
Mindful Drones (2020)
I. Humming
II. Aspiring
III. Ruminating
Mindful Drones is an exploration of resonances and meditative stasis. Like Crystal Canyons, it was composed during the pandemic as a part of an audio-only recording project. When I began to put this concert together I added the video component.
The video was created by experimenting with motion techniques in Adobe Premiere. Each individual layer of video is automated in isolation, which produces an almost random interaction between the various shapes.
Lux Stellarum (Meditations after Hildegard) (2024)
Lux Stellarum is a loose adaptation of Hildegard’s work of the same title. The chant style of the original is set with organ pedals, shiny, bell-like effects, and a great deal of open resonance. The image used in the video is of the cathedral at Rouen–the one Monet painted.
Timeless (2024)
Timeless is a work of guided improvisation over pedal points and other spatial effects. The video is a highly-blurred scene of wind blowing through a tree in spring.
Crystal Canyons (2020)
I. smoothly, with energy
II. lyrically, with longing
II. lightly, with energy
Crystal Canyons is a work for alto saxophone and time-synced digital delay. My goal was to build chordal textures out of the delay trails of the continually moving saxophone lines. There are various kinds of digital delays used in the piece–they can be very closely connected to the saxophone part or more ambient and antiphonal.
Improvisations after Kandinsky
The final piece on the concert is an attempt to consider how Kandinsky, a synesthete and friend of Schoenberg, might have heard his own pantings. The piece is a series of short variations that while improvisatory in style are actually composed. The language is serial, and I used the same row that Schoenberg used in his famous Klavierstucke op. 33a.
Special thanks to my father, Brian O’Riordan, who is a serious amateur photographer: he did the Photoshop work on the Kandinsky painting that made the video possible.
Kirk O’Riordan
In 2009 Dr. O’Riordan joined the faculty of Lafayette College where he serves as Associate Professor of Music and Director of Bands, teaching courses in music theory, and composition and teaching lessons in saxophone, conducting, and composition. In addition, conducts the Lafayette College Concert Band and Contemporary Music Ensemble. He holds the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Arizona State University; the Certificate of Performance in Saxophone from Northwestern University; and three Master of Music degrees. His saxophone teachers include Frederick Hemke, Eugene Rousseau, and John Sampen; he has studied composition with Rodney Rogers, James DeMars, Randall Shinn, Marilyn Shrude, and Burton Beerman. Apart from his active teaching and composing schedule, Kirk is an avid fan of obstacle course racing.
Contact me at oriordak@lafayette.edu for information on purchasing scores, commissioning new works, or scheduling performances. Or to just say hi!
Music for Saxophone
Solo Saxophone / Saxophone and Orchestra
Sacred Spaces (2020) (alto saxophone and wind ensemble)
Ductus figuratus (2009) (alto saxophone and chamber ensemble)
Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Chamber Orchestra (1998)
Chamber Music
Sonata (2025, in progress) (soprano saxophone and piano)
[ask me about joining the consortium for this piece!]
Variations on a Ground Bass (2024) (alto saxophone and piano)
Prayer Stones (2017, arr. 2024) (alto saxophone and piano)
Sonata (2019) (alto saxophone and piano)
Time Lapses (2015) for Chamber Ensemble (flute, clarinet, alto saxophone, bassoon, horn, trumpet, 2 marimbas)
Leonardo’s Sketchbook (2011) (alto saxophone and flute)
Moments, Once Remembered (2009) (sopranino or soprano saxophone and guitar)
Quintet for Reeds (2009) (oboe, clarinet, alto saxophone, bass clarinet, and bassoon)
Ostinati (2009) (soprano saxophone, violin, and piano)
Canticles (1996) (saxophone quartet-SATB)
Cathedral (1994) (alto saxophone and organ)
www.kirkoriordan.com