Melting Point
Solo Percussion
Daniel Temkin
Centennial Commission
About
Melting Point (2022) is a solo percussion work for drums and metal plates. I wrote the piece while living in Berlin, and each day I’d walk, winding through the historic city on concrete, graffiti-laden, sidewalks. Patterned drumming from the rock band Thrice pumped through my headphones, and my piece began as an homage to their song “The Melting Point of Wax.”
But the idea of a melting point also quickly inspired other associations – cooking, for example, or chemical combustion points, for another. In turn, my piece began alternating into lighter playful episodes with different accents popping out high and low, and I kept asking myself: How, then, does something melt? Does it smoothly liquefy? Simmer? Boil? Pop? Smoke? Or does it gather heat to the point of explosive outburst?
Performance
| Daniel Temkin |
Melting Point |
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Duration
07:00 |
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Commissioning Year
2024 |
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Premiere
January 31, 2025 |
Artists
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Daniel Temkin Composition
Composer Daniel Temkin is known for works filled with rich detail and visceral beauty. He has been Composer-in-Residence with Music from Angel Fire, Chamber Music Northwest, and the Intimacy of Creativity Festival in Hong Kong, receiving support from ACF, New Music USA, Amphion, the Aaron Copland Fund, Earshot, the Presser Foundation, and many others. Daniel’s awards include the Indianapolis Symphony’s Glick Prize, two BMI Composer Awards, and Honorable Mention as MTNA’s Distinguished Composer of the Year.
Daniel’s orchestra music has been heard worldwide, with performances by the Hong Kong Philharmonic, Indianapolis Symphony, Russia’s St. Petersburg Chamber Philharmonic, Nashville Symphony, and the USC, Curtis, Aspen, and Brevard orchestras. Daniel has also worked with leading chamber groups, including PRISM Quartet, Mirror Visions Ensemble, and members of Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, CMS II, Ensemble Connect, Astral Artists, and Young Concert Artists.
Daniel directs the series DTM Concerts, presenting recent music of living composers, and he has previously worked in artistic positions with Thornton EDGE and the Melos Music collective. Daniel’s work has been heard on APM’s “”Performance Today,”” PBS Philadelphia’s “”WHYY,”” and recordings of the Naxos, Albany, and Navona labels.
Earning degrees from Rutgers (BM), NEC (MM), Curtis (AD), and USC (DMA), Daniel was a composition fellow at Aspen, Fontainebleau, and Brevard, as well as a percussionist at Aspen. He currently teaches as Assistant Professor of Music at Bucknell University.
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