News

February 6, 2024:   IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT! I’m super excited  to announce that you can now purchase the songbook of the  whole album at Universal Edition. Here is the link to get the solo piano score Works for Solo Pano songbook  at Universal Edition.

December 4, 2023: Review of the new album! Review of Works for Solo Piano by Steve Sheppard.

December 1, 2023: New review out on the new album! Review of Works for Solo Piano by Music Taste.

November 19, 2023: New review out on the new album! Review of Works for Solo Piano by Mike Mineo of Obscure Sounds.

November 8, 2023: The album is out. Let see what happens. The CD release party was fantastic on October 21, 2023. A good crowd showed up.  Waiting to find out whether the songbook will be approved or not with the publishing company. I’ve worked for six months preparing the scores of each 12 compositions on the new album with a music preparation company. It was a fantastic journey editing each score. 

October 15, 2023: The new album Works for Solo Piano will be released on October 18, 2023 on all digital streamings platforms, and is now available to pre-order to download on APPLE MUSIC.  The red preview button next to the album will let you play the first track on the album Place in Landscape (Baga Beach). And the first review of the album by Kathy Parsons is available at REVIEW OF WORKS FOR SOLO PIANO BY KATHY PARSONS. Also, you can purchase the new CD Album at my SHOP page hereto. And excited about having the Album Release party at KMFA 89.5 on October 21, 2023. Michelle Schumann will be there to perform some of the works! More info at the CD ALBUM RELEASE PARTY!

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September 13, 2023: Okay. It’s been awhile since I’ve last posted here, but now it’s a good time to give you an update. I’m done in finishing the content and artwork for my new CD Works for Solo Piano with the pianist Michelle Schumann! There are twelve tracks on this new album. Four tracks were recorded in June 2021, which were released as singles, see posts below, and eight new tracks were recorded on May 8 and 9, 2023 at the KMFA Recording studio. I’ve created a new record label for this album release under the label called Companionable Streams Music.   I came up with that name after reading the William B. Yeats poem The Wild Swans at Coole. Here is the link to the poem at https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43288/the-wild-swans-at-coole Link to new record label at https://companionablestreamsmusic.com/ The planned release date is now October 21, 2023. Here is  link to see a 3D animation of the upcoming CD! https://www.discmakers.com/MyAccount/Viewer/?p=VwPWlV%2fHg%2f5VWGpxeV0axvPh6zBY0SuznbuGM9Gzbj4%3d

I will also have a songbook for each solo piano compositions on this album! When it is ready, I’ll let you know where to purchase it.  There will be a CD release party at The Eric Chapelle Album Release Party at KMFA, 89.5  the Classical Music Radio Station on October 21, 2023 from 4 to 6 pm. Michelle will be there to perform a few tunes.  You are invited. Please come by!

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July 9, 2022:  I went to Bermuda for eight days and took some images of the island for future music videos. On the way back, I stopped in NYC and went to the concert on June 24th at Carnegie Hall to hear Anna Kislitsyna performed the new released album Piano Spectrums. More info of the album at https://www.navonarecords.com/catalog/nv6413/ 

It was great to hear the album performed live! Especially my composition Place in Landscape (Taormina).  I thought her performance of my work was better than the recording! She is so talented in interpreting new works on the piano! Grateful for the experience  of hearing the whole album performed, and to meet her and her husband Alex after the concert.

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June 5, 2022: Image taken of the dance performance that I attended on June 3, 2022 of the work RuneLight Dance, which premiered at the Dairy Arts Center in Boulder, Colorado. I wrote the music for most of the dances for flute, bassoon, cello and piano to Sumi Komo’s choreography. Loved working on this project! I hope to release some of the music soon! 

         

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May 5, 2022: Well, it sure has been busy lately. I’ve been working on a dance project and that’s been keeping me busy for several months.  I just now back to working on other projects. But first, I must state that my composition Place in Landscape (Taormina), performed by Anna Kislitsyna, was released by Navona Records of Parma Recordings in the solo piano compilation album Piano Spectrum on April 8th with nine other composers’ works on the album. More information at:   https://www.navonarecords.com/catalog/nv6413/#overview   Also, my composition will be performed at Carnegie Hall on June 24th by Anna Kislitsyna. 

I’m back to working on my solo piano album that I started last year when we recorded in July 2021. I’ve scheduled to go record again with Michelle Schumann, and with the recording engineer Thomas van der Brook at the end of May. More info at Thomas van der Brook’s newsletter at: :https://www.tonehaus.com/ns/2022/05/04/may-2022-news/

I’m working frantically to finishing my pieces before the recording session. Currently working on one called Fantasie (Sur Reflection).  Just love the process of composing for the piano. I’m doing it in various ways. Sometimes I improvise at the piano, and record it. Then listen to it, and when I find some phrases that I like, I use those into the composition. I got several notation programs, and I go back forth between them to create a finished quality engraved notation of the composition.  I will have a song book of each composition that will be on the album, and the songbook will will be released and available at the same time as the album. 

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December 27, 2021: New single Contemplation from a Distance was released today. You can read a review of this single by Kathy Parsons at Review of Contemplation from a Distance. You can hear this new release on Spotify at:

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November 16, 2021: New single Dusk to Dawn was released today. You can you can hear it on Spotify at:

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October 15, 2021: New single Nocturne No. 1 from my upcoming album Works for Solo Piano. Here is a link to hear a high quality Apple Digital Master audio file of the pianist Michelle Schumann performing this composition.

https://music.apple.com/us/album/works-for-solo-piano-nocturne-no-1/1590043668?i=1590043669

And on Spotify:

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September 22, 2021: New single Reflection No. 1 was released today. You can you can hear it on Spotify at:

Review of single by Steve Sheppard  and Kathy Parsons.

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July 9, 2021: Many things have happened within the last few months. I’m in the process of doing a solo piano album and I’m recording with Michelle Schumann, a pianist known here in Austin, Texas. Profile link at: http://hr.umhb.edu/profile/Schumann/Michelle

We recorded on June 14, 2021, where Michelle performed four of my new solo piano compositions. This recording will go on my solo piano album. I plan to release some of the recordings as singles in the next few months. It was a fantastic experience! I was transfixed and mesmerize in hearing Michelle’s interpretations of my pieces!  We will do another recording session soon!

And on July 2, 2021, I participated in a Zoom session with Parma Recordings https://www.parmarecordings.com/

and with Anna Kislitsyna, the pianist, profile link at: https://www.kislitsyna.com/

where Anna performed one of my solo piano compositions Place in Landscape (Taormina) that will go on a solo piano compilation album that Parma Recordings is producing and will release this fall. This was recorded in Rockport, Massachusetts, at the Shalin Liu Performance Center. Below is a picture taken of the stage at the SLPC with a view of the Atlantic ocean taken on the day of the recording session.  I was told that they plan to book Carnegie Hall to have Anna perform the various compositions including my composition that was recorded on that day for a concert performance. I heard a mix of the recording and it sounded awesome! Anna did an incredible job interpreting the composition.

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July 1, 2021: My new single Transition was released today.  To hear  on Spotify:

 New reviews of my new single Transition from Steve Sheppard and Kathy Parsons.

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December 19, 2020: Third entry of my latest release that was released today. This is my first arrangement of a Christmas carol, Lo,How a Rose E’er Blooming Again. I used the orchestra as a template to create the music. Also written out in Finale first, then exported the midi file into Digital Performer for more fine tuning the articulations. Here to stream on Spotify:

December 19, 2020: Second entry is my next release Haze on the Mountain. This piece was first written in Finale, the notation program, and then I exported the midi file onto my DAW, Digital Performer, for fine tuning the articulations of the instruments in the orchestra. I used Vienna Ensemble Pro Server to park all my sound libraries, which I used in both Finale and Digital Performer to create a mockup of what the performance would sound like. The pandemic stresses me out like everyone else, and I gravitated one towards expressing a relaxing inward journey as a musical expression. Using the orchestra as a template has always been my favorite approach in designing a soundscape in expressing a musical story.

Review of Haze on the Mountain by Kathy Parsons.

December 19, 2020: Adding a new entry here. First,  I released the single Paper Flags and the Wind, which is the music that I did for a music video years back. I remixed it in my DAW, Digital Performer, and some minor edits here and there. You can hear it on Spotify at:

https://open.spotify.com/track/320BehA2nyDiQPKQ3qyAzC?si=01c3139783df437c

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August 7, 2020: Today my new single was released. Here is a link to hear it on Spotify:

Review of Embrace of the Infinite by Kathy Parsons. 

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July 4, 2020: A couple recent reviews of my new solo piano single Not Forgotten by Kathy Parsons, and Steve Sheppard. I’m also giving away the piano score of Not Forgotten.

You can download the Music sheet PDF file of Not Forgotten at Piano Score of Not Forgotten.

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April 6, 2020: Well, it’s a rough ride for everyone with this pandemic affecting all of us. I was in Galway, Ireland for the last several months this year. I was going to stay until the end of May, but then Covid-19 came about and disrupted all our plans. I headed back as fast as I could back home. I’m here now and safe. While in Galway, I did write some music. One of the pieces that I composed while in Galway is called Floating Lakes. It was officially released on April 3, 2020 on Apple Music, Spotify and other musical digital formats. A review of the composition was reviewed by Kathy Parsons, and you can read it at Kathy Parsons’ Review of Floating Lakes.

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November 26, 2019: I just uploaded a new mix of my composition At the Center for mezzo soprano and orchestra. I did the editing and mixing in Digital Performer in Midi. I’ve used the Vienna Symphonic Library for the samples of the orchestra. It took a while to edit each measure for each instrument, but it well worth it. There’s 432 measures in this piece. The file that you can stream is a high quality file. It’s best to hear this with headphones. You can stream this file at At the Center for mezzo soprano and orchestra. Looking forward to my next projects that I’m working on.

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September 21, 2018: Fall is here. I love this season. I tend to write more during this season. I’ve started several projects. One big project for voice and orchestra and the text is from a poem called Parallel Keys. It’s about animals and dreams from a series of poems by Helene Cardona. The composition is dreamy and surreal. Helene wrote it in English and translated into French. Also started a series of compositions for cello and piano. Piece No. 1 is in A flat Major and has an interesting time signature in 15/8 for the first two measures. I’m writing this for a cello player in Europe who will be on tour this fall in Europe and China. So far, what I’ve written is quite interesting. I did release my a music video this summer called  Journey Home, the soundtrack is available on Apple Music, iTunes, Spotify and other digitals music media streamers. Link for music video at Journey Home

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June 17, 2018: I just got back from a trip to Europe. I went to the Netherland and went to Amsterdam, Deventer and Middelburg. All these places are related to promoting my current composition At the Center for mezzo soprano and orchestra. Below is a link to hear the mockup version of the conductor’s score. It was very moving to visit these places where Etty Hillesum lived. The text to the composition is an entry from Etty Hillesum’s diary, specifically entered on November 15, 1941, a prayer for guidance.
At the Center for mezzo soprano and orchestra

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Here are a couple comments about my album Across the Water  posted at Amazon. Link below

on June 17, 2015
Poignant and ethereal, Across the Water is very contemplative and reflective, a peaceful space for collecting yourself and focusing your emotions and intention. The playing, arrangements and production qualities are all sublime. Quiet music for fast times. Slow down – relax – breathe.
 
and
 
 

While water is one natural element necessary to sustain life, music is one non essential we can certainly live without but then again, fluid and tranquil music can be a calming neutralizer to a more harmonious life, especially when one is caught in a hurricane of stormy life challenges.

Eric Chapelle is a composing pianist from Austin Texas whose original music scores conceivably calm the waters in several ways. Born in France, Eric is also an avid photographer who has lived in several countries around the world and his piano music retains the essential element for relaxing music by the calm buoyancy in sound that finds neutral ground with the pounding waves heard in some music today.

Across The Water is his Contemporary Instrumental 2010 release that impart 16 songs in ambient expression and creative imagination. Eric has performed his original compositions in concerts across the U.S. for over a decade, plus movie soundtracks in television, film, and commercials have been the scores that yielded wider recognition in addition to the 2 albums to his credit. Our Time was his 1998 album admired by many and had justifiably earned Eric a place alongside more esteemed pianists after his opening debut.

Eric Chapelle’s contributions in The Heart Aid Project has inspired me to tell you more about the story behind his dedicated efforts in a tribute CD in memorandum of the fateful World Trade Center events on 9 / 11. In addition to Eric who conceived and produced the project, he and review publicist Kathy Parsons had corresponded with 16 additional well respected pianists and everyone compiled the tribute CD without royalties. Simply put, their time and virtuous work on this 9 / 11 remembrance album is to be commended, in addition their efforts have also reaffirmed my current knowledge that the 17 contributors response is very much representative of the caliber of people who comprise the New Age genre today.

Across The Water is another fine illustration of the resourcefulness put into every composition. Julia Cory is a cellist from Texas joining Eric on songs Every Wish & Soft Landing then guitarist John Inmon & cellist Dawn Biega offer their contributing instrumentals on Across The Water ( Title Track ) Their level of performance and musical drama they offer expressively impart gentle movement into the picture and is well suited to the principal ideals this album represents.

This album retains yet one more harmonious notation since some of the 16 songs on Across The Water were recorded at the 150 acre Norton Island Retreat residency program created by the Easter Frontier Educational Foundation in Maine. Eric has characterized the island as an inspiring destination of solitude where writers and musicians like him can compose in peaceful moments of relaxing clarity.

Norton Island is one song where the natural environment of the retreat is evenly transferred then shown like a scenic picture of captured images. The comparatively timed piano solos, casual in ambient recollections like heard in Tide Pool wonderfully convey an impression of calm by the fluid detailing in chord phrasing and lighter melodies that offer subtle reflections using even handed moderation, much attune to Wild Iris in the mellow point of view it brings.

Remembrance is another beautiful song that carries a wonderful Cinematic overtone with every measure, and although the song on the surface is light the well placed notes engrave a deep feel of melancholy, in nicely placed emotional content I found quite moving. Contrasting soprano chorals evenly trace the piano melody while outlining lower octaves then model into more dramatic posturing and boldly crescendo as if gentle waves were moving across the shoreline.

While Across The Water from Eric Chapelle is not essential to daily living, his inspired by nature album is a solid collection of calming ambience that provides a wealth of relaxing harmony for the listener, smoothing out the rough edges of today while remaining anchored in a state of readiness for the next enduring wave of life challenges that are sure to arise.

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June 7, 2017:

My composition Hume’s Thoughts in Flight for baritone voice and music ensemble was performed on May 4, 2017 at Spencer Reichman’s Master’s Graduate Recital at Loyola University at Roussel Hall in New Orleans. I have made a short clip of the performance that’s about 3 minutes long of the beginning section of Part 5 This Constant Conjunction Here is the link to see the video.

Hume’s Thoughts in Flight – segment of Part 5 This Constant Conjunction

Here is a link of a PDF file of all the words being sung in this composition. There are six divided parts.

Hume’s Thoughts in Flight text


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