Timeline:
9/18/09 – I commissioned my good friend Michael Ward-Bergeman to arrange his solo accordion piece “Barbeich” for solo trumpet and ensemble – to be performed by Beta Collide on 11/16/09 at Instrumenta Oaxaca – a contemporary music festival in Oaxaca Mexico.
06/25/10 – Beta Collide (with me on solo trumpet) and Michael recorded his Barbeich arrangement. It can be heard here (note: this is a rough recording from the session):
9/1/11 – Tom Manoff, then NPR music critic and audio engineer, agreed to mix and master the recording (which I had delayed for inclusion in a Beta Collide record that, because of the scandal, never made it out). His first mix you can hear here:
2/16/12 – Tom Manoff and I went to a concert with the Eugene Symphony. I invited him to the show shortly after his brother died and I thought it would be good for him to have company. My good friend Andrew Balio was also playing the Haydn Trumpet Concerto with the orchestra that night but I had no idea what else was on the program. We went to the show, and the first piece on the program was “Sidereus” by Osvaldo Golijov. I could hardly believe it, but “Sidereus” by Golijov was virtually the same as “Barbeich” by my friend Michael Ward-Bergeman. During the piece, I became extremely concerned (I remember that my head was in my hands the whole time) that, no matter WHAT the reason for this was, my friend could likely get hurt (the classical music caste system favors those at the top and Golijov is way at the top).
Shortly after the piece finished, Tom turned to me and said “I’m sorry, but this story is bigger than our friendship” and he left, presumably to make a couple calls to the press.
In the lobby, I happened to run into Bob Keefer, then-reporter for the Eugene Register Guard. I was in a daze. I had been trying to reach Michael to no avail. Bob asked me what I thought of the Golijov and, forgetting for the moment that he was with the press, I said the first thing that came to mind: “oh my god, it was like….verbatim.” That quote, appeared on the cover of the RG two days later.
2/17/20 Press starts calling me. I don’t answer.
2/18/20 Eugene critics say new symphony sounds like a rip-off – Register Guard (reprinted here by Ashland Gazette), Bob Keefer
2/20/12 From pastiche to appropriation: Golijov and “Siderus” – The Washington Post, Anne Midgette
2/21/12 THE GOLIJOV ISSUE: BORROWED MUSIC, OR STOLEN? – The New Yorker, Alex Ross
2/23/12 Musical plagiarism in Eugene? It’s complicated – Oregon Arts Watch, James McQuillen
2/23/12 Down the Rabbit Hole of “Sidereus” – Sequenza 21, Garrett Schumann
2/24/12 A Real Mess – New Music Box, Rob Deemer
2/28/12 Truth and Consequences – New Music Box, David Smooke
2/28/12 Osvaldo Golijov treads a fine line between collaboration and plagiarism – Orpheus Complex, Gavin Dixon
3/1/12 Outraged over composer’s ‘stealing’ or just feeling duped? – The Washington Post, Anne Midgette
3/6/12 A Composer is Accused of ‘Theft.’ But Did Originality Ever Really Exist? – WQXR NY Public Radio
3/7/12 New York Times, Musical Borrowing Under Scrutiny
3/17/12 Longwood gets its turn with ‘Sidereus’ – Co-commissioned Golijov piece comes as a tribute – and with controversy – The Boston Globe, David Weininger