2025 - A Year in Review!

Hey everyone, you've found my blog!

Over the past few months, I've been documenting some of the music that I have been listening to, but this month I wanted to do something different.

2025 has certainly been a transformative year for me, and I am extremely grateful for everyone that has joined me along this journey. It certainly hasn't been easy, but there have been many (arguably) random opportunities that have shaped my perspective and my young career as an artist.

Before I go month-by-month, I want to reiterate one more time that this year has a special place in my heart and I am deeply thankful for everyone who has been a part of my life in any capacity!

January

The turn of the new year in some ways was a continuation of 2024, but in many ways was a fresh start for 2025. Where in the previous year I spent a lot of time working on grad school applications and my senior recital (what a time...), but this time around I was focused on my last semester in Miami as well as the audition process for grad schools. Of course in January, I didn't know what the year would fully hold but it was the start of a grand exploration. Towards the beginning of the month I finished my first commission for the Tarpon Springs Leadership Conservatory for the Arts Wind Ensemble. This work was a huge honor to me, as Mr. Ford was one of my most influential educators and mentors throughout high school and beyond (more on this piece later). I of course also started course work for my last semester at Frost, full of interesting and challenging classes and ensembles. I think the obvious highlight for my January was my Indiana trip. Not only was this my first in person college audition (since I applied during COVID), it was my first time seeing snow!! I'm not even going to lie and say that it was absolutely magical flying into Indiana and finally getting to walk around in the freezing weather (you probably don't hear that too much). Bloomington was also fantastic and I thoroughly enjoyed checking out the Jacobs School of Music, but the first snow sighting will definitely be something I will remember for the rest of my life!

Picture of the Month: The snow at Indiana University

February

February kept the momentum going! I had a few more college interviews (on Zoom) to start the month but in February, the performances really started to pick up. I started rehearsing for the first few of many (gosh I don't know if I could keep count, but I think it was 4 in February) recitals. Though it was a lot of time, I was so honored to participate on everyone's creative projects and help bring their musical visions to life! I also participated in my second college trip this month where I visited Baltimore and Peabody for the first time. If you're reading this, then you likely know that I am currently pursuing my MM in Composition at the Peabody Conservatory and a lot of that has to do with my great experience in Baltimore. To finish out the month, I had the opportunity to work with the great Gonzalo Rubalcaba, a pianist who has inspired my ever since I heard him play Chelsea Bridge the very first day of my freshman year (that performance still blows my mind lol).

Picture of the Month: Me with Gonzalo after a performance

March

I'll be honest, the first memory from the month of March is a somewhat sobering and not something I recommend to anyone who reads this... After 22 years of youthful (and somewhat restful living), I finally had to pull my first all-nighter. Dorico was kicking my butt and the big band chart was due that day at noon, #procrastinationstation but I am thankful for the friends that procrastinated with me (made it a lot more enjoyable lol). Oh yeah, the next night I played on a recital which I somehow survived and didn't crash out... Speaking of "CRASH OUT!!!", I premiered a new piece alongside my good friends Adam Lord and Aidan McCarthy which was a fun process. March also brought along the quickest and most franetic Patio Jams performance I've ever been in due to a quick stroke of So-Flo storms with Cheesecake (more on this group later). Towards the end of the month, I also premiered my first choir work which was a lot of fun to write and collaborate. Outside of music, my parents got a new puppy which I met during the spring break, and the roof of my dorm's patio collapsed (picture below)...

Picture of the Month: The roof of the Mahoney/Pearson Patio... RIP...

April

April continued more of the same from March, lots of concerts/recording sessions and school had really started to heat up. Amongst the craziness in Miami, I was fortunate to tour UT Austin (P. Terry's is worth the hype) and my alma mater celebrated it's 100th Anniversary, which included an epic performance by Dr. Pat Metheny! This month truly felt packed but there's two concerts I figured I'd highlight. One of these was a very fun concert/jam session where we learned/transcribed compositions by Immanuel Wilkins and Joel Ross. Even though these names are pretty popular within the modern jazz scene, it was fun to really focus on their compositions and bringing them to life! The other concert was probably one of the wildest shows/concepts/events of all time... The Ben-sperience. This night of music will probably end up being my most memorable concert (besides my recital) from my time at Miami, certainly one of those concerts where you just had to be there.

Picture of the Month: Da' Club... got myself a nice $5.00 Sprite and a great waterfront view

May

Well, as I look back at May, I genuinely can't think of a crazier month in my life. This was partially expected with my last month in Miami, both with graduation and move-out but that certainly was not all. In the very first hours of May, I was finishing up my last project for Advanced Counterpoint (up until 4:00am) working outside Shalala which was certainly a memorable experience. Oh yeah, that next morning I had my last WDNA gig (on about 3 hours of sleep). It was the same group from the Joel/Immanuel concert in April but we wanted to play a different set (which ended up being unrehearsed) and most of us on limited (or no sleep). It was quite a situation but honestly, one of the most fun jazz gigs I've had and just a perfectly ironic and exciting start to the month.

In the next few days, the year end celebrations were joyous and melancholic with both of my "work families", HRL and the Box Office team. In between these celebrations and my graduation (which was about 3 days), I drove back up to Tampa to hear the TSLCA Wind Ensemble rehearse my wind ensemble work. They sounded fantastic and it was an honor working with all of the students. Unfortunately, I could not make the actual premiere (as I graduated college that night) but the recording sounded incredible! Post graduation, I kept myself busy preparing music for a recording session that would take place 4 days later. The music and musicians all sounded incredible and I can't wait for the record to be released soon (keep your eye out for it!). Oh yeah, during this recording process, I had to pack up my dorm and fully move out of Miami. As I said goodbye to Miami, I looked forward to the "reset" that the summer would hopefully provide.

Capping off the month, I traveled up to Kutztown Pennsylvania (never heard of the city, don't worry neither had I). Reason being, I participated in the Vibraphone Project's 2025 Spring Vibefest. It was a wonderful event where I met some amazing vibraphonists and enjoyed playing on some truly unique percussion instruments (I performed on a 3 1/2 octave vibraphone for the first time and didn't want to go back to 3 octaves lol). Alright, that is enough with May; I'm tired writing this lol.

Picture of the Month: The 3 1/2 Octave beauty in Kutztown

June

June was finally time to take a break and enjoy summer... well kind of.... Towards the beginning of the month, I did what any central-Floridian does in the summer (before it gets too muggy and crowded) and visited a theme park, which was certainly a nice break (non-music related). After this trip though, was the main trip of the month. As I hinted at earlier in this blog, I was in a Funk-Fusion group called "Cheesecake" (check out our music on-streaming if you haven't already :). For my last 2-3 years in Miami, we played and recorded a lot in the Miami area but since a few of our members were from Boston, we took our talents to the Boston Harbor and pArked the cAr in the HAvArd YArd (please read in a thick Boston accent). This group is just tons of fun to play with, and this trip is no different. We did a quick recording session at a nice studio in Boston followed by a live show in Marlborough followed by a gig in Cantab Lounge (Cambridge, MA). Like I said, it is always fun playing with these guys and the Boston shows were awesome, certainly a great first time in Boston (and first "tour"). Unfortunately, coming back from this trip, I got a bad stomach bug (didn't know what hit me until 6 months later lol) from Raising Canes at 11:30pm... lesson learned!

Picture of the Month: CHEESECAKE in Cantab Lounge (with lots of echo)

July

Alright... this month I finally slowed down. I started moving into my apartment in Baltimore which was exciting, but otherwise the month was pretty chill. This blog has been pretty positive so far but something I dealt with this summer was a pretty sharp writer's block. Any creative reading this knows the feeling and truthfully, I think I had been moving so fast through undergrad and keeping myself busy, that I couldn't have a writer's block even if I wanted to. I would say this feeling started in June as well, but I was doing enough playing (and traveling) to not think about it too much. Sometimes though, a hard reset is good for us, even if it can drive us just as crazy. Looking back, this reset was necessary for my music and growth as an artist. It really made me appreciate the joy and gift we have of creating art, and how (quite frankly) quickly we could lose it whether personally or politically. Coming out of July, I recorded a short voice memo of a piano idea, and thankfully this idea finally sprouted a new work which I now consider to be one of the first works with my new graduate student perspective (not that me or my philosophy have changed, but if you knew my music before + after, you would certainly notice a difference in maturity). Technically the end of this month started my new adventure but I will save that story for August.

Picture of the Month: I was driving to Tampa, and this truck with portapotties crashed in the middle of the road. If anyone knows the Courtney Campbell Causeway, they know that this is the main road from Clearwater to Tampa and this road sure got backed up a bit... (pun kind of intended).

August

ASPEN!!!!!!!! I will start by saying, if you are a collegiate jazz musician, you better apply to this program, it's truly life-changing. To get to Aspen, I did have to fly to LAX and then to Aspen, but the long day of travel was well worth it for the two weeks that ensued. Living in Florida my whole life, I had never appreciated the mountains and just the actual environment of Aspen changed my life. The music and people were also just as stellar (if not more)! It was two weeks of creating, exploring, and learning about Afro-Caribbean music and jazz business in one of the prettiest cities in America. Here, I went hiking for the first time with all of my friends and it was such a fun (and extremely taxing) journey. As many classical musicians know, the Aspen Music Festival is also extraordinary and I was fortunate to see two concerts at the festival (including the premiere of Christopher Theofanidis's opera). I also met one of the coolest jazz pianists in Monty Alexander, and also met a moose and bear in the wild (don't worry I kept my distance). Yeah there's just too many great things to say about this journey and Aspen will always have a special place in my heart.

Of course because it's August, the month isn't over yet.... I did my first road trip, driving from Tampa to Baltimore in two days to officially get ready for the school year. I finally moved everything into the apartment and started my graduate studies at Peabody. I'll save the Peabody stuff for upcoming months as it was pretty much my life for the rest of the year.

Picture of the Month: Top of the Ute Rock Trail in Aspen (1,085 ft elevation)

September

To September, I owe the prospect of a new routine. With a pretty dynamic life change, it was time to start discovering new routines. For one, my school schedule went from packed to now being weirdly free in grad school. Anyone that knows me, knows that I love to stay busy and quite frankly, it's a flaw with my composition/practice as I struggle with focusing for a long period of time (I'm kind of jealous of people who can just compose four hours in a row lol). For a majority of my undergraduate degree, I had no kitchen so even the prospect of cooking for myself was somewhat daunting (even though I'm improving my cooking chops). With time though, I started to discover a routine but not only that, but began to discover the joy and opportunities through this new journey. Though I really miss my colleagues from Frost, it was awesome meeting so many incredible composers at Peabody who continually inspire me to continue my craft. The two highlights of this month were probably my first Peabody performance, which was a second performance of my piece "Flujo Textural" (which the performers did an awesome job with!). The second highlight was taking my first day trip to NYC which even though the trip was for "business", the trip was also quite fun (Amtrak is the best!).

Picture of the Month: NYC!!

October

October was another not particularly glorious month, but certainly needed! As artists, there has to be ebb and flow in order to create and even though there weren't a lot of performances or major events, it was a great time to focus on my writing and studies. This month, I did finish a work for trio (piano, electric guitar, and accordion) and also finished up my piano trio which was great to tie up loose ends. This month I also had my first lecture opportunity under Dr. Khannanov's tutelage (whom I am a TA for) for his Theory 5 class. It was a wonderful experience going through the process of preparing lecture material and seeing how it translates with the students in the class. On a non-musical note, I also rediscovered running (I hate running lol). I am certainly not the fastest runner out there and it most certainly isn't always enjoyable but it is something that has helped my mental health as a balance school, professional responsibilities, and life. My runs along the Inner Harbor have become on of my favorite parts of the week, as not only I'm getting exercise, seeing the history and distinct neighborhoods of Baltimore is truly beautiful and fun.

Picture of the Month: Mid-run @Fells Point

November

November was another fun month (asides from the cold......). Towards the beginning of the month, I had my second lecture with a discussion and introduction of Minimalism. This month, I also had two performances with Peabody's Composer's Ensemble. This was a fun ensemble to be a part of, as everyone in the group (around 18 of us if I remember correctly) is a composer/performer and we all had the chance to workshop/perform each other's works! Especially for a new graduate student, this was a wonderful way to meaningfully connect with my colleagues and lots of fun as well. Aside from the end of school craziness, I also made it back to Florida in time for the Turkey Trot (a Thanksgiving staple) and was able to reset for the final push in December!

Picture of the Month: Finally tried oysters for the first time. They weren't half bad!

December

Well here we are, the end of the year and all of its festivities! The start of the month was a beautiful and fun local celebration as the Washington Monument was lit for Christmas (thank goodness I didn't have to drive that night). Being in the cold for the Christmas season for the first time was quite fun, even if dealing with frigid temperatures is not my strong suit. I also worked through the end of semester activities at Peabody including a few final projects and activities. This month, I also finished two exciting works which will be premiered in the spring! One of these pieces was written for ~Nois saxophone quartet, and the other for my friend Cherri Chen's graduate recital (a work for solo multipercussion). I also got a day of snow in Baltimore and saw some snow in Virginia driving back which is really fun (especially when I don't need to deal with it lol). The end of December also brought about some fun playing opportunities. Every year (with the exception of Dec. 2022 for some reason) since Dec. of 2020, a few high school friends and I get together to play music. Originally this tradition sprouted out of Covid where our early 2020 gigs were suddenly cancelled due to Covid (we were planning to travel to Savannah and NYC for Essentially Ellington that year). Nonetheless, it is always fun making music with friends and we did that again this year. My very last 2025 event was the Al Downing Monday Night Hang (which happened last night as I am writing this). It was great reconnecting with some of the local St. Petersburg scene and it was fun playing some music.

Picture of the Month: The Washington Monument all decked out for Christmas!

Final Thoughts

If you happen to still be reading, thank you for following and supporting my career! Each person that has joined me on this journey, not just those from this past year, means the world to me. Though I look back on 2025 with some fond memories, I am incredibly excited for the new year ahead and looking forward to seeing what music will come alive!

With love and gratitude,

Ben Dunham