Orchestral & New Music
Adams conducting Adams. A world premiere at Cincinnati Opera. Zappa's G-Spot Tornado next to Mozart's Haffner.
Guitar chairs in orchestral and new-music settings are won on reading. These are the dates that prove it.
John Adams conducting El Niño
Brandon performed John Adams’ El Niño under the composer’s own baton at the Cincinnati May Festival, Music Hall, May 20, 2022.
The world premiere of Fierce
Cincinnati Opera, July 2022: the world premiere of Fierce, an opera by Cincinnati composer William Menefield with a libretto by Sheila Williams, developed from more than a year of interviews with young women in Cincinnati. Menefield’s score draws on jazz, modern, and classical idioms.
Premiering an opera means reading music no one has played before.
Zappa and Mozart, August 29 2026
Guitar soloist for Summermusik’s final Mainstage with the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra: Zappa’s Revised Music for Guitar and Low-Budget Orchestra and G-Spot Tornado, alongside Mozart’s “Haffner” symphony. Eckart Preu conducts.
G-Spot Tornado is from The Yellow Shark. Zappa wrote it on the Synclavier believing no humans could play it.
Also
Ella-Miau, the opera by Juan Trigos · the JOY! (Live from Music Hall) recording with the Cincinnati Pops (2023) · performances with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Opera, Cincinnati Contemporary Jazz Orchestra, concert:nova, and the Kentucky Symphony Orchestra.
Dates
- Musical Renegades: Mozart and ZappaSchool for Creative & Performing Arts · Cincinnati, OH