The title pretty much says it all. According to bandworld.org, Turkey in the Straw has been listed as one of the top 100 concert band pieces published in 2009. Hooray for TITS!

A few days ago, I received a new CD of the Rutgers Wind Ensemble under the direction of William Berz called Outberzt. Among the titles listed on the CD is Shadow Rituals (woo hoo!). I’m not exactly sure when or where the CD will become officially and commercially available, but certainly keep your eyes and ears out for it.

Also on the CD are:

1. Outburst - David Sampson
2. Aegean Festival Overture - Andreas Makris/arr. Albert Bader
3. Shadow Rituals - Michael Markowski
4. Elsa’s Procession to the Cathedral from Lohengrin - Richard Wagner/arr. Lucien Cailliet

Suite for Band - Alan Hovhaness
5. I. Aria
6. II. Processional
7. III. Aria
8. IV. Canzona
9. V. Aria
10. VI. Processional

11. To the Heroes of the Patriotic War - Aram Khachaturian/arr. William Berz
12. Marc, Op. 99 - Sergei Prokofieff/ed. Paul Yoder
13. Prelude No. 3 - Roger Nixon

Elegy and Fanfare-March - Roger Nixon
14. Elegy
15. Fanfare-March

I know what you’re thinking (probably something along the lines of “WTF”). What on Earth has Markowski done now? Well, you will find out soon…

Wow. Friday will bring the five-year marker when, on January 8th 2005, the Phoenix Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of my friend Maestro Robert Moody (now with the Winston Salem Orchestra), performed a work I wrote for my friend Kevin R. Phipp’s first feature film, Malediction. I always get a little nostalgic this time of year, but it usually only ends up with me getting excited about the new year. So, I thought I’d share this video with some of you who perhaps haven’t seen it. The video, unfortunately, is the only remaining memento I have of this amazing experience by an amazing professional orchestra… thanks to orchestra unions and forgetful audio engineers. Luckily, the Phoenix educational channel, Know 99, was there to put together a small news piece on the event. Enjoy watching fat high school Mike make a fool of himself in front of 2,000-ish people!

“Bill and Ted” summon Dobson High School senior Michael Markowski from a magical telephone booth to have the Phoenix Symphony Orchestra perform his work entitled “Suite from Malediction” in January 2005 at the Dodge Theatre in Phoenix, Arizona.