This Wednesday The Quintet of the Americas will perform my arrangement of “3 American Folk Songs” for woodwind quintet at the Queens Botanical Garden. The quintet is run, in part, by their French Horn player, Barbara Oldham. She and I met back in 2013 when we both served on a panel reviewing applicants for funding from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. We agreed closely on every application and talked for awhile at the end of the day. Later that Summer, when I decided to apply for an individual artist grant from the Queens Council on the Arts, my application included a work that Barb and I had thought about. My proposal was accepted, but in March of 2014, I suffered a cardiac arrest that left me in a coma. I’ve discussed this heree previously. After 6 years of recovery, I finally felt well enough to compose again.

I returned to the piece that Barb and I discussed. After a successful premiere, I wrote 3 more movements! A few years later, I couldn’t stop thinking about great my experience was with the Quintet, so I really wanted to work with them again. One of the great things about the QotA is there willingness to add other musicians to their core 5. I had an idea for arranging a silly tune I’d sung as a teenager called, “I Bought Me A Cat”,for a long time, and I thought, “Oh! This could be a perfect opportunity!”

I Decided to add two more well-known folk songs. They have performed it multiple times, but this Wednesday, June 11, they’ll present it at the Queens Botanical Garden, near Flushing. Please join us!