Dedicated to the American guitarist, composer and educator Jon Damian, this composition gains its title from Damian’s hobby of bird-watching. (In the U.S.A. the term “birder” is used to designate a “twitcher” which is the British simile for a type of bird watcher who is dedicated to the observation of birds and who might travel extensively to seek out exotic varieties.) This composition offers my respect to Damian, his teaching and music, in that it grants the guitarist a featured position in the ensemble, with musical inspiration in the composition derived from the calls of a selection of Australian birds. My goal was to develop material from a small number of themes, through various styles, tempi and forms that would be familiar to an accomplished jazz guitarist like Damian, supported by a hybrid "Third Stream" ensemble that combines classical and jazz instruments and approaches. I sought to achieve the following features in the composition:

Thematic unity;
A sense of growth/development that would take the listener on a journey;
A juxtaposition of genres such as Brazilian (e.g. bossa nova), Jazz (e.g. swing), Afro-Cuban, North African and Indian;
Pan-tonality;
Guitar feature (with passages to feature all of the other instruments also).
"Birder" is a 24-minute composition that frames improvisation within a journey that reflects Damian's playfulness & spontaneity.

I hope you enjoy this composition. For those birders out there, deep in the composition are elements derived from the songs of the following birds:
• Eudynamys scolopacea (Asian koel);
• Vanellus miles (Masked lapwing);
• Pycnonotus jocosus (Red-whiskered bulbul).