Kevin Day: VORTEX (World Premiere at IDRS 2025)

What happens when a composer you’ve admired for years finally writes you the piece of your dreams?

On June 12, 2025, at the International Double Reed Society Conference in Indianapolis, I premiered VORTEX: a brand-new, virtuosic showpiece by composer Kevin Day, with the composer at the piano.

I had commissioned the work the previous summer at the 2024 IDRS Conference in Flagstaff, AZ, after years of teaching alongside Kevin at Wilfrid Laurier University and hoping he would write something for me.

When Kevin sent me the score, it had no title. But as I played through it, the tempestuous, swirling figures pulled me in. VORTEX instantly felt right.

The premiere took place at the Chamber Gala Concert, made possible through the IDRS 50 for 50 Commissioning Initiative and the generosity of consortium co-commissioners Keith Sorrels and Jennet Ingle. This collaboration has been a true joy and now the world gets to hear it!

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