artist-in-residence at the Mishima Contemporary Music Days

Until just recently, I always had a negative take on the common saying "Jack of all trades, master of none" thinking that applied to me and my multiple fields of endeavor. Ever since I started working professionally about 40 years ago, I have always thought I would be better off if I could just concentrate on one thing: Just compose, just conduct, or just play instead of dividing my energies among them. Even though, I always preached to my students, that if you put your talents together, then success is more likely. But still, I didn't accept that myself until I finally heard the rest of the saying:

"Jack of all trades and master of none is often times better than a master of one."

At the Mishima Contemporary Music Day in Mishima Japan, I am looking forward to applying all three skills as artist-in-residence there. Besides conducting the premieres of two new versions of my Violin Concerto and Snare Drum Concert for sextet, I will also be conducting Gerald Grisey's Talea with the Mishima Contemporary Festival Ensemble. As a trombonist, I will contribute some of my Concert Etudes, play with the ensemble my arrangement of Bach canons from his Musical Offering and perform Michal Nyman's snazzy quartet A neat slice of Sarabande. Yes, now I am even grateful for the opportunity to put my different "trades" together on stage