The music outside my window is all Varied Thrush and Chickadee these days; I guess the birds are back in town. And while the leaves aren’t quite coming out yet, the moss around here is plenty green. But my favourite thing about this season is the lengthening of the days. Light out later and later. This is the time when we start to save up all the extra daylight for the dark times.

The music inside my window sounds like a different world, or at least a different part of the world. I’ve been hard at work on a new commission for the Vancouver Chinese Music Ensemble, and my head is deep into the pipa, sheng, erhu, ruan, and zheng.

Spring also gets me thinking about festival season coming up. I’m scheduled to be at the Elevate Arts Festival on Vancouver Island in June, and there are more plans in the works, so keep your eyes on the EVENTS page for the latest details. As a warm-up, I’m headed out to the Manchester New Music Festival later this month.  Plus, I’m just finishing up mixing my new album with Andy Schichter at OSW Studios this week. It’s officially got a title now — “Old Paint” — and you can expect to see it out this summer. Stay tuned for a few bonus preview tracks in the coming weeks. In the meantime, sit back and smell the salmonberry blossoms…