THE MIDWEST CLINIC, DAY 1

This week, I'm in Chicago with hundreds of others attending this year's Midwest Clinic conference in Chicago. This is my first time ever attending this prestigious conference, and I'm thrilled to not only be here for it this year, but to also have the opportunity to exhibit with six other composers in the Millennium Composers Initiative, a new collective that started this year.

My first day was to get registered for the conference and set up the exhibition booth for MCI with my good pal Duncan Petersen-Jones. He's finishing up his Master's degree at the University of Michigan this year and is also a REALLY good bagpiper. McCormick Place (the venue for Midwest) is unbelievably gorgeous. There's a reason this conference has been hosted here for so long.

Today, I've had a chance to meet four of the seven composers (including myself) whom attendees will get to meet over the next few days at the conference. One of them, Harrison J. Collins, will be having his piece "O rose of May" premiered at the Stoneman Douglas HS Wind Symphony on Thursday (his piece was part of the same consortium I was involved in this year that included "The Great River Rapid Chase"). The other two I met were Kevin Day and Quinn Mason, whom I'm collaborating with on our new consortium we just opened up.

It's been a LONG time since I've been to Chicago - last time was many years ago when I was a kid - and I've completely forgotten how gorgeous this city is. And nothing beats a good deep-dish pizza right at the heart of it all.

I'm so excited to meet all of the attendees this year at Midwest! I'm excited to share more about MCI and what we do as a new initiative. And, I'm excited to see everything happening over the next few days at this conference.

If you're reading this and are attending Midwest Clinic this year, I'll be at Booth #1927. Be sure to stop by and check it out!!