Agency: Google Creative Lab

Agency: RPA Los Angeles

With editor Jay Sterrenberg, director Shaul Schwarz, and editor Bryan Chang at the Sundance Film Festival

It has been a tornado of activity lately and short of giving myself a Moto Guzzi for Christmas, I had to pretty much say bah humbug to the holidays. But I’ve been very fortunate to be involved with some really exciting projects these past few weeks. If Marty McFly traveled back in time to tell a teenage Jeremy what I had to look forward to as 2012 wrapped up, my head would’ve exploded. Of course I wouldn’t have known who the Dirty Projectors were at that point because they didn’t yet exist, but now that they do, I was really happy to join them on The Late Show with David Letterman back in November. It’s always fun to get back into the Ed Sullivan theatre for some frigid music making (yes the temp is as cold as they say) and the band was in great shape having just played the Hollywood Bowl a few nights before.

A few days later as I was composing music for a documentary entitled Narco Cultura, we received word that the film would have it’s world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival. Much of the score is made up of electronically manipulated sounds and samples, but there is a piano trio that consistently reappears throughout the film and a particular violin theme that represents the most prominent part of the score. Lucky for me I happen to be friends with Tim Fain (if you’ve not seen his Portals Project you must). Even luckier for me, he had a gap in his schedule after a recital with Philip Glass in Italy and was able to fly in for the sessions. The guy absolutely ruled it in the studio and had people in the control room in tears.

As if I didn’t have enough to be excited about, the night before we recorded the score I got to play on Saturday Night Live with Paul McCartney. It was the Christmas special and they pulled out all the stops. Martin Short hosted, Nirvana showed up, and some of us got caught on camera in the opening monologue as Martin sang and danced his way through the hallways past Tom Hanks, Tina Fey, Samuel L Jackson, and me and a llama (don’t ask). Unfortunately I had to leave early to get back to the studio and prepare for the Narco sessions. Skipping an SNL after party is never a good idea (especially when Dave Grohl is on the scene) but duty called. Bah humbug!

Next up was the score to another film, A Birder’s Guide to Everything starring Ben Kingsley. Though I wrote a few songs for the movie, the majority of the score was written for a small chamber ensemble and a drummer. Some of my favorite musicians, yMusic and drummer Dave Burnett, were on hand and we were able to record in a gorgeous studio in Brooklyn.

The Bunker Studio is owned and operated by my friends John Davis and Aaron Nevezie and they’ve really built a gem of a place. In a day when most big recording studios are closing, these guys are doing the exact opposite and have returned to the glory days of recording music the right way. Analog boards, tape machines, terrific sounding rooms, vintage outboard gear, etc. The Bunker is my new favorite place to record, hands down. 

After spending all day in the studio with yMusic on Thursday, the following evening I got to hear the group in concert as they made their debut at Carnegie Hall. I’ve performed and attended many concerts there over the years, but this night was different for two reasons. One, the pride I felt seeing my friends walk out on stage and perform beautifully was a joy. And secondly, they played The Bear and the Squirrel, a piece that I wrote for them. To hear my music in one of the great halls of the world, and performed by good friends no less, was easily one of the highlights of my career. This time I actually did make the after party, but couldn’t stay long because….you guessed it, we had to get back in the studio the next morning to mix the score to Birders.

Now it’s Sunday and I’m on a plane somewhere over the Rocky Mountains, catching up on some much needed sleep. I’m on my way to play some concerts with the Seattle Chamber Music Society and then catching the final weekend of Sundance. There are a few things on my mind though: 1) Will I remember how to play the cello? 2) Will I have time to make it to Din Tai Fung for soup dumplings? 3) This has been one hell of a month.

A song to close out the year…

Accompanying the lovely and talented Evan Rachel Wood in Los Angeles, Oct 27, 2012

Agency: Google Creative Lab, Director: Henry Lu

Montage scene from Harry Grows Up, directed by Mark Nickelsburg. The score was written for Brooklyn Rider and Anthony McGill

There are times in life when one starts to hear a certain hum. It begins as a faint buzz that can occasionally be tuned out, but then crescendoes to a point where it no longer can. At a young age I was extremely fortunate to win a position in one of the great ensembles of the world, the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. My life was instantly transformed; artistically, socially, financially. I got to perform masterpieces on a regular basis; Otello with Domingo, Tosca with Pavarotti, and Die Rosenkavalier with Fleming. We toured the world in charter planes and stayed in luxury hotels. My good friend James Ehnes and I moved into a bachelor pad in the sky where we grilled on a terrace overlooking the Hudson, threw multiple parties, and each kept cars in the garage. Life was grand for the first few years as a working musician in New York. And then I started to hear the hum.  That little sound that tugs on your heart, on your mind, and lets you know that there is a missing piece to your puzzle. That there is a need for change.

To turn down the hum, I looked down some rabbit holes and barked up some trees. Traded in the uptown high rise for a downtown artist loft (artist loft = crooked floors, no dishwasher, and plenty of vermin), I started a band and recorded an album, and took a year off and moved to New Zealand. But these were all temporary fixes and like a boomerang, I kept returning to the Met. My musical life was becoming like the film Groundhog Day (with a better soundtrack). Sure, I could squeeze in the occasional performance and recording with a band, or play a chamber music concert on a rare day off, but my time and energy was being owned by the opera. With my soul running on fumes, I was quickly becoming that thing I despised most as a young cellist, a jaded and crotchety orchestral musician.

So I began to write music. I didn’t call myself a composer at first because that word seemed far too serious. Mozart was a composer, I was merely writing music. In the beginning it was just for some commercials and a few short films, and then the opportunities started to open up. Before I knew it I was working around the clock, pulling all nighters at my studio and making compositional edits on a laptop during intermissions of performances. I was beginning to turn down projects that I really wanted to take on, but simply couldn’t due to the double life that I was leading. Composer by day, cellist by night. The good news was that as my creativity started to expand, the hum started to fade.  The bad news was that I couldn’t keep the pace up any longer. I found myself at a crossroads and it was time to make a change….

After 14 seasons with the Met orchestra, I ended up playing my final performance in Tokyo on June 19th, 2011. The opera was La Boheme (one of my favorites) and after the last note sounded, something unique occurred. The entire company gathered on stage to wave goodbye to the Japanese audience.  There was confetti falling from the ceiling and I was surrounded by all of my colleagues; stage crew guys, singers, dancers, and of course my many close friends in the orchestra.  I thought to myself “man, if there was ever a way to go out, this is it!”.  I took a leave of absence later that summer and began composing full time.

To give up a tenured position in one of the great orchestras of the world was a big step (my Dad and my accountant were skeptical) but to feel an inner voice being silenced by the hum of repetition was something I couldn’t live with.  It’s now been almost a year since I’ve sat in a symphony orchestra and I’m still getting used to the adjustments. For instance, having my evenings free (so many bars, so little time!) However, my new musical life has many more variations, unexpected twists, and challenges to it. In this past month alone I’ve been lucky enough to have orchestrations performed by Orpheus Chamber Orchestra on Live from Lincoln Center, a new chamber music piece performed at BAM by yMusic Ensemble, and the premiere of a film that features a score I wrote for Brooklyn Rider and Anthony McGill. Next month I’ll be playing my first cello recital in over 10 years and this summer will be putting the finishing touches on an EP with my friend Abe Seiferth.  Things are busy, things are good, and most importantly, that hum is gone.  For now.

British GQ Comedy Issue (cover of the iPad edition)
Directed by Gavin Bond, Edited by Owen O’Neill