Do you live on the East Coast?
Or the Pacific North-West?
Or NYC?

Come hear some music!

Click to listen to the premiere of Come, My Tan-Faced Children (lyrics by Walt Whitman), commissioned by Lyric Fest and performed brilliantly by Raehann Bryce-Davis, Laura Ward, Min-Young Kim and Tim Ressler at the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia last month.

This month has been, frankly, bananas. Good bananas. In addition to designing sound for Hansol Jung's Among the Dead at Theatre Exile in Philadelphia (runs though May 26), my compositions have been racking up so many performances I can barely keep track. May I brag at you? Let me brag at you.

Special shout-out to O Oriens, which received three (!) performances in the Philadelphia area just last week from three very different ensembles: Wissahickon High School Chamber Singers, Philadelphia Voices of Pride, and Ensemble Companio. So proud! It's not even Advent season!

A work I wrote for the Saint Louis Chamber Chorus, Alpha and Omega, was sung across the pond by the St. Pancras Church choir as part of the London Festival of Contemporary Church Music.

American DREAMers was performed in full by both the Temple University Singers (click here to watch the video) and the Southern Connecticut State University Choir, and excerpts were performed by several church choirs.

It's strange about stars... was given its Australian premiere by the Melbourne Women's Chorus, which of course is a huge deal for me because although I'm from Australia, I didn't start composing seriously until I came to America, and having my music make it all the way back home is the kind of thing that could really go to my head if I'm not careful.

But this coming weekend takes the cake: seven (!) performances of four different works in four different cities spread out over the continental USA. Tomorrow I'm flying to Kansas City, and if you're nearby I'd love to see you this Sunday. But I'm heartbroken to be simultaneously missing performances in Seattle, Portland, and Brooklyn (the first time my work has been performed at BAM).

This is where you come in. If you can make it to any of these concerts to hear my music and support these amazing organizations, or you can help me get the word out to friends who live in these cities, I will love you forever! (I already do, but for the purpose of this e-mail, let's pretend my undying love is something you have yet to earn.) Links to all of this weekend's performances below:

BROOKLYN: Mezzo Linda Collazo will perform my song cycle Hervararkviða (The Incantation of Hervor) with the Brooklyn Metro Chamber Orchestra at BAM on Saturday, May 18.

SEATTLE: The Esoterics will be performing a program which includes my choral work Together in the Seattle area in three concerts over the weekend.

PORTLAND: Resonance Ensemble commissioned LISTEN from me earlier this year; the work sets testimony from Anita Hill and Christine Blasey Ford, and it enjoyed a sold-out premiere in February. This is the repeat performance of that program and ... well look at that, it is sold out again. WOW. I'm told that if you show up at the venue on the day, you might be able to grab a seat if there are any no-shows or cancellations, but no guarantees. You could also throw some bucks at the Kickstarter they recently launched for the album recording.

KANSAS CITY: And last but not least, Musica Vocale are performing American DREAMers this weekend in Kansas City, and I'll be in attendance to give a pre-concert talk on Sunday. There's also a performance of the same program on Monday night in Lawrence, KS.

Oh yeah, I'm still doing amateur archaeology and a podcast.

Have you listened to The Boghouse yet? The story is ongoing; as of this e-mail, my home is once again covered in privy dirt from a new dig. Subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, or Google Play. We are averaging 6,000 to 8,000 downloads per episode at the moment and regularly charting on Apple Podcasts, which is pretty amazing for such an indie production (it's literally just Matt and I doing everything in our home). All credit to our listeners and fans who have been spreading the word.

Next month, Matt and I will be at the National Puppetry Conference at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center in Connecticut, and after that I'll be attending Dish Camp (an archaeology workshop) in Historic Eastfield, and I am splitting a booth with fellow composer Kala Pierson at the Chorus America National Conference in Philadelphia, so it's going to be somehow even busier? Do not ask me how that's possible, I'm trying not to think about it.

Did I mention I'm slightly exhausted? But this is the most fortunate problem for a freelancer to have, so I'm not complaining. Well OK, that is a lie, I am complaining some, but not too much.

Thanks for following along with this wild ride and for all of your support!

Melissa Dunphy