Category Archives: stirring up the music book

Tufts Composers: Memory Leaves – Pages Present and Past

From Tufts Music Events page:

A Concert Honoring Lois Anderson and TJ Anderson, Jr., Austin Fletcher Professor of Music, Emeritus took place on Friday, December 3, 2021 evening.

Tom Adams has sensed and appreciated Lois and TJ Anderson through the generous gesture of a donation to the Tufts Music Department directed toward supporting the new work of Tufts Composers. Memory Leaves celebrates Tom’s gift by featuring TJ’s newest works alongside music by young artists who are inspired by Anderson’s achievements. Tom understands that by mentoring and celebrating the achievements of aspiring artists/composers as part of this unique concert program, he is tapping into the lifeblood that nourishes Lois and TJ.

The Memory Leaves concert, inspired initially by the August publication of Memory Book, a collection of short TJ Anderson pieces sponsored by American Composers Alliance in honor of TJ’s 93rd birthday, will thus contain the premieres of Anderson’s 2021 pieces Serenade (solo cello; celebrating Lois Anderson’s 91st birthday with music for her favorite instrument); In Memoriam Randy Wilson (solo double bass, remembering this Canterbury Court Retirement Community friend), and Weightless (solo flute). Other related Anderson works to be performed will be In Memoriam Peter Gomes (solo viola), In Memoriam Lerone Bennett, Jr. (solo violin), and two renditions of the 1979 solo piano piece Play Me Something. Threaded through these performances will be substantial pieces by Tufts composers Jackson Carter and Alan Mackwell and Tufts alumnus Trevor Weston and Jeannette Chechile. Current students Matthew Diamond, Hunter Harville-Moxley, Katianna Nardone, and Phillip Wright will infiltrate the proceedings in solo appearances and in an “intermission manifestation” where they will be played simultaneously as an ensemble occurrence.

The celebration features faculty and student performers Emmanuel Feldman, cello; Anna Griffis, viola; Annie D. Kim, violin; Hunter Harville-Moxley, double bass; John McDonald, piano; Thomas Stumpf, piano; Samantha Tripp, flute; and Phillip Wright, clarinet.

This concert has been made possible by a gift to Tufts from Tom and Anita Adams

TJ Anderson’s 90th birthday Celebration!

I shall be travelling to Atlanta, GA, to celebrate
TJ Anderson’s  90th birthday with his friends and family.

The event is scheduled for August 17-18, 2018, and has been organized as a mini-symposium with a concert, composer session with TJ, and a banquet dinner.

The concert of works by TJ and his favorite composers is on Friday, August 17 at 7:30 pm at Canterbury Court Retirement Center in Atlanta. Artists include myself, Louise Toppin, and many others.

A mini-conference will be held on Saturday afternoon, Aug. 18, with a presentation of music by other residents of Canterbury Court, followed by a dinner/roast of TJ, hosted by the Anderson family, with Master of ceremonies Dwight Andrews and David Morrow of Morehouse Men’s Choir.

The celebration is hosted by Composers of Color Collective (CCC) and the Anderson Family.

Lecture and Demonstration by Professor John McDonald: “Stirring Up the Music: The Life and Works of Composer T.J. Anderson”

As Amherst College’s 2016-2017 Valentine Visiting Professor of Music, I was invited to present a talk on my in-progress biography on T.J. Anderson Jr. at the college’s Frost Library.

My talk partitioned and analyzed Anderson’s work and influence in five chronological phases.