January through early March, 2012 are proving to be a busy time for me. The year began with the official kickoff of the Atlas New Music series and kicks into overdrive on Friday, January 20 and Saturday, January 21, 2012 with two concerts conducting Great Noise Ensemble at the 2012 New Voices Festival at the Catholic University of America.

Sunday, January 29 see the premiere of a brief setting of Langston Hughes’ “Harlem” by Words and Music and the Boston-based Wordsong project at the Lyseum in Alexandria, Virginia.

On February 12 I will be in Eugene, Oregon for the first preview performance of my third symphony, Symphony: Savage Howls with the University of Oregon Wind Ensemble and its director, Robert Ponto. Savage Howls was commissioned by a consortium of bands led by the University of Oregon and this will be the first of several performances of the work during the 2011-12 and 2012-13 seasons. Stay tuned for details on future performances of this piece.

On March 2, 2012, I will be conducting Great Noise Ensemble at the 2012 Intersections New American Art festival at the Atlas Performing Arts Center in Washington. The program includes works by Rob Paterson, D.J. Sparr and Marc Mellits as well as my first symphony, Chamber Symphony: Illusory Airs. The program will be recorded for GNE’s upcoming debut CD.

Orfei Mors, Armando’s 2009 cello concerto, will be presented twice in 2011.  First by the Columbia Civic Orchestra, under the direction of Music Director Stefan Freund, on February 26, 2011 in Columbia, Missouri.  A little over a week later, on March 5, 2011 Great Noise Ensemble, under Armando’s direction, will present the Washington, D.C. premiere of Orfei Mors as part of their “Homespun Tales” program featuring music by GNE associated composers.  Both performances feature cellist Philip von Maltzahn, for whom the work was written.

Armando conducts the Washington, D.C. premiere of Louis Andriessen’s monumental music theater work, De Materie (1984-88) with Shane Hurst, tenor, Tracy Cowart, soprano, Alexandra Philips, speaker (”De Stijl”) and Pamela Witcher, actress (”Marie Currie”), with the Peabody De Materie Chorus and Great Noise Ensemble.  This is the first professional performance by an American ensemble of this work, and is an event not to be missed!  Sunday, October 24, 6:30 p.m. at the National Gallery of Art.

Armando Bayolo and cellist Philip von Maltzahnn will join the Society for New Music in Syracuse, New York, for the first of two world premiere performances of Orfei Mors, Bayolo’s cello concerto written for von Maltzahnn and co-commissioned by the Society for New Music and the Western Piedmont Symphony.  The performance, part of the Society’s “Trendsetters” concert, will take place on Thursday, March 11, 2010 at 8:00 p.m. in Setnor Auditorium on the campus of Syracuse University.  For more information and tickets please visit http://www.societyfornewmusic.org/concerts.cfm

Armando Bayolo and Great Noise Ensemble return to the National Gallery of Art on Sunday, January 31, 2010 at 6:00 p.m. for the premiere of his cantata in memory of Russian American artist Mark Rothko, Kaddish:Passio:Rothko.  Commissioned by the Music Department of the National Gallery of Art, Kaddish:Passio:Rothko is inspired by Rothko’s Harvard murals and the events leading up to the artist’s death.  Great Noise Ensemble is joined by mezzo-soprano Tracy Cowart, the Orchestra of the National Gallery of Art and the National Gallery of Art Vocal Arts Ensemble, Rosa LaMoreaux, Director for this event, which also features the premiere of the Motets from Carlos Carrillo’s Vespers inspired by Monteverdi’s Vespers of the Blessed Virgin of 1610.  For information and tickets visit http://www.greatnoiseensemble.com/wordpress/category/calendar/

Armando conducts Great Noise Ensemble in the second concert of their fifth season, Twilight Music. For more information visit http://www.greatnoiseensemble.com.

On September 25, Armando returns to conduct Great Noise Ensemble in the opening concert of their fifth season, Urban Saloon. For more information, visit http://www.greatnoiseensemble.com.

Great Noise Ensemble, Jameson Cooper, violin soloist, present “Musica Concertata”, conducted by Armando Bayolo.

Conducting Great Noise Ensemble, “Tiffany Windows”: Music of Arlene Sierra, David Dzubay, Stephen Paulus, Libby Larsen and Jacob Cooper.

Conducting Great Noise Ensemble, “Machines, Love and Evolution”: works by Sparr, Bermel, Mellits and Don Freund.