July 8, 2010 - Jim Scully, Lecturer in the Music Department at California State University, Bakersfield has been awarded a Subito Grant from American Composers Forum to travel to Boston and have his two most recent compositions recorded by the artists who commissioned the works. The grant will help pay for Scully to travel to Boston, record the works in a pair of world-class studios in the Boston metro area and produce a concert of his work at the Lilypad in Cambridge, Massachusetts on August 7, 2010.

In the fall of 2009, Scully composed Duplicitous Encounter at the request of Bostonians Rachel Arnold (cello) and Ashley Addington (flute). The duet - a theme and variations of sorts - was premiered on January 28, 2010 in Boston and has since received a handful of performances in Massachusetts.

In September of 2009, Scully and his colleague Roger Allen Cope brought a handful of students to the La Guitarra Festival in Santa Maria. Upon returning to Bakersfield after that extraordinary event, Scully connected with his long-time friend and Julliard/USC graduate Dr. Keith Calmes, and they discussed the parameters for a large-scale work for solo guitar. Scully began work on his Sonata for Guitar in October of 2009 and finished the piece in January of 2010. Dr. Calmes traveled to California in February to premier the work at a recital at CSU Bakersfield.

The recordings will take place at two famous studios in Boston. Duplicitous Encounter will be recorded at Fraser Recording Studio and Sonata for Guitar will be recorded at Futura Productions Studios.

Scully was beaming when talking about the project, "I am very excited to get to travel to Boston and work with these phenomenal players. To be able to record my works in world-class studios is just a great privilege. I am so thankful to the individual players and American Composers' Forum for this opportunity. This is a competitive grant application - they chose my project for funding. I won't forget the faith they showed in me."

Scully is a composer and jazz guitarist who is best known locally for his jazz compositions and arrangements that have been featured at the Bakersfield Jazz Festival on many occasions. At CSUB, Scully teaches courses in Music Theory, Jazz Studies and Music Technology and has been a member of the faculty since 2003.