- Triptych of Gossips - soprano version (2009)
-
Linda Dusman
for soprano and violin
ca. 14'45"
Fifteen years ago, mixed in among mundane official forms and memos, I received in my campus mailbox Serena Hilsinger’s Triptych of Gossips. I recall that it was a “weak day of bad month,” and so this gesture of artistry was a great gift, a poem I have turned to many times since for inspiration. With the opportunity to compose a piece for the Chiu/LaBarbara Duo (who premiered the piece in 2010) I returned to it to explore its musical possibilities. After considering a number of different directions, I embarked on a path creating an homage to the 1970’s—combining the exuberance of second wave feminism with the playfulness and enthusiasm with which composers of that era explored the expressive potentials of extended techniques for instruments and voices. The piece is dedicated to Serena Hilsinger and Lois Brynes, great friends who never cease to inspire.
This piece was performed and recorded in 2018 by Duo della Luna (Susan Botti, soprano, and Airi Yoshioka, violin).
Click here to view the score and listen to the recording.
Click here to watch the performance video (YouTube).
- Elio: Visions of Light II (2007)
-
Linda Dusman
for soprano and optional hand drum
ca. 7'15"
Elio: Visions of Light II is a setting of fragments of poetry by the Greek lyric poet Sappho for soprano solo with optional hand drum. It was arranged from the original Elio: Visions of Light from 1985 by request from the Serbian soprano Ana Spasic.
A recording of this piece was made by Ana Spasic.
Click here to view the score and listen to the recording.
- Elio: Visions of Light (1985)
-
Linda Dusman
for soprano, flute, cello, piano, percussion
ca. 7'30"
Elio: Visions of Light is a setting of fragments of poetry by the Greek lyric poet Sappho for soprano, flute, cello, piano, and percussion. It reflects my memories of the light in Greece during my travels there.
A recording of this piece was made by Ana Spasic, soprano, and members of the Conservatorio "G. Nicolini" chamber music program in Piacenza, Italy.
Click here to view the score and listen to the recording.
- I Have Done With Phrases (2010)
-
Sofia Kamayianni
for soprano, bass, portative, hand gong, and electronics
Dedicated to Tobias Schlierf and Effie Minakoulis.
Performers in the recording:
Εffie Minakoulis, mezzo-soprano
Tobias Schlierf, bass and portatif
Dora Panagopoulou, hand gong
Click here to listen to a recording.
- Vides yia stravoxyla ("Cranky Pasta Recipe") (2006)
-
Sofia Kamayianni
for soprano, saxophone, tuba, cello, piano, and actress
ca. 10'30"
This piece is actually a cooking recipe, but one whose instructions are fantastical rather than realistic. It aims to trigger the listener’s imagination and alternative outlook through humor. The score is a graphic one with many ‘open’ elements that invite experiment and interpretation. This score was studied and realized cooperatively by the composer and the specific ensemble involved. The Storytelling Project was an eclectic mixture of contemporary music and narration – a musical performance featuring elements of theatre mixed with instruments, vocals, electronics, improvisation, original texts and movement.
Storytelling Project, Spiza Patras, European Capital of Culture, 9 Μay 2006
Sofia Kamayianni: composition, piano, percussion
Rania Kelaiditi: actress
Dina Mantzari: soprano
Irina Dimaki: violoncello
Dora Panagopoulou: composition, piano, percussion,
Joe Tornabene: composition, saxophone, actor
Tim Ward: composition, tuba, live electronics.
Click here to watch a video of the performance.
- Ano throsko ("Upward Gaze") (2009)
-
Sofia Kamayianni
for string orchestra and children's choir
ca. 5'30"
Click here to view the score and listen to the recording.
- Requiem (1977)
-
Ruth Lomon
for flute, B-flat clarinet/bass clarinet, bassoon, trumpets in C, trombone/bass trombone, solo soprano, and SATB chorus
Songs from a Requiem are inserts in the setting of a Requiem Mass which Ruth Lomon composed in 1977 and dedicated to the memory of her sister. The Mass proper is set for chorus (SATB) accompanied by trumpets and trombones. The songs, settings of poems she wrote between 1970 and 1972, are orchestrated for soprano, flute, clarinet, bass clarinet, and bassoon. The version for soprano with piano accompaniment was written in 1982.
The premiere of the entire Requiem took place in Boston, February 22, 1997, performed by Choro Allegro under the direction of David Hodgkins.
- Testimony of Witnesses (2008)
-
Ruth Lomon
for flute, clarinet, oboe/english horn, bassoon, horn in F, timpani, percussion, harp, soprano, mezzo soprano, tenor, bass, baritone, violin, viola, cello, and bass
An oratorio for SATB chorus, SATB soloists, and chamber orchestra. There are 14 movements, any of which may be performed separately. The text for the oratorio is composed of poetry of victims and survivors of the Holocaust, sung in six languages.
The first chorus, a Hebrew supplication from the 2nd century gives a historical perspective to the Testimony of Witnesses Oratorio. The baritone solo The Survivor tells of the guilt of the survivor. Mes Yeux describes poignantly the roundup of Jews in Paris where the poet lived. Lokomotywa is a child's poem about a wonderous train rushing through the countryside - but where is it going?
The following four sections are all poems of children who were in the Terezin concentration camp and the poems move from hope and will to live, to fear, and resignation. The first half of the oratorio concludes with the Sachs poem "We orphans, Oh world, we accuse you!"
After intermission, the chorus Transport tells of forcing Jews into trains, children searching for their parents, arrival at the camp, as told in many voices. Poème Macabre describes the taunting and cruelty of a Kapo in a concentration camp. Gedale's Song speaks of hope for a new beginning in Israel 'where we shall be men among other men."
The last chorus Unite is a fragment of poem found in Terezin, a plea for a bright freedom.
- A Fantasy Journey into the Mind of a Machine (1985)
-
Ruth Lomon
for soprano and alto saxophone
ca. 14'30"
For soprano and alto saxophone with extended techniques. Settings of six poems drawn from the first book created by the Racter computer program. Fantasy Journey was commissioned for the University of Kansas Opus Three ‘Women in Music’ conference. Fantasy Journey was choreographed by Peggy Brightman and has also been performed as a theatre piece. The songs may be sung in any order and may be programmed individually.
- Songs of Remembrance (1996)
-
Ruth Lomon
for soprano, mezzo soprano, tenor and baritone accompanied by oboe/english horn and piano
ca. 1 hr 00'45"
Settings of poetry written by Holocaust victims and survivors. Composed in 1996 as a Fellow of the Bunting Institute/Harvard.
Poems in French, German and English. 10 songs.
Click here to listen to a recording.
- Three Poems by Nelly Sachs (1998 - 2022)
-
Anna Rubin
for soprano/mezzo soprano and piano
Night of Nights/Nacht der Nächte (composed in 1998, rev. 2020)
So Many Oceans (composed in 2021)
White Serpent/Weiss Schlange (composed in 2022)
German Jewish poet and Nobel laureate Nelly Sachs created a unique body of work commemorating the Holocaust. She and her mother managed to flee Germany on the last flight allowed out of Germany to Sweden and lived there for the rest of her life.
In Night of Nights/Nacht der Nächte, Sachs manages in a few lines to express an enormous depth of loss and desolation with the hope of eventual redemption. I have made my own translation of the poem and included some German from the poem because of the unique vividness of the poet’s language. The musical language of the piece veers towards and away tonality and exploits many pianistic colors. Julia Fox, soprano, and Sandrine Erdely-Sayo premiered Night of Nights at the Piano on the Rocks Festival, Sedona, in 2021.
White Serpent/Weisse Schlange contains a wild conflation of images – emptiness and the anger of a grenade, fire, and ice along with the strange images of a white snake and ice. All these images roll into the final image of time and eternity on the back of a snail. The relentless quality of that last image governs the pulse that governs the piece, against which brief melodies flare.
Click here to view the score for Night of Nights (English).
Click here to view the score for the Nacht der Nächte (German).
Click here to watch a YouTube video of the performance of Night of Nights.
Click here to view the score for So Many Oceans.
Click here to view the score for White Serpent (English).
Click here to view the score for Weisse Schlange (German).
Click here to download all performance materials.
- everything goes bee (2010, rev. 2018)
-
Anna Rubin
for soprano, violin, and fixed media
ca. 8'00"
This work is based on excerpts from Canadian poet Di Brandt’s poem, Interspecies Communication. The poem celebrates the life of bees with its lyrical language while pointing to the dangers pesticides pose to their survival. The musical setting of the poem emphasizes a playful and sensuous quality of the poem, both for voice and violin and the electronic evocation of swarms and honey-making.
Click here to view the score and listen to a recording.
Click here to download performance materials.
- De Nacht: Lament for Malcolm X (1983)
-
Anna Rubin
for soprano, flute, oboe, Bb clarinet, bassoon, horn in F, piano, violin, viola, violoncello, and contrabass
De Nacht was written while I was studying in Amsterdam with Ton de Leeuw in 1983. I composed it for a competion run by the Delta Ensemble and was awarded first prize. I assembled the text, which is an impressionistic collage drawn from several sources including Near Eastern mythology and Malcolm’s X’s own life. Words from several languages are used. I was very influenced by the mythological works of Joseph Campbell and his concept of the hero’s journey. The piece is in two broad sections. Melodic fragments are set against fast, pizzicato and staccato accompanimental figures in the first part. It builds to a dramatic climax and is followed by a serene closing section which is a setting of a Hawaaian creation song.
At a time when the earth was hot,
At a time when the heavens turned about,
At a time when the sun was darkened to cause the moon to shine,
The slime, the source of the earth, the source of the night, that made the night,
Intense darkness! The deep darkness, the darkness of the sun, darkness of the night, the night gives birth.
The piece premiered at The Icebreaker (Het Ijsbreker), Amsterdam, in 1983 was performed several times after by the ensemble.
- Ice Song: Fantasy on an Inuit Poem (1993)
-
Anna Rubin
for soprano and percussion
ca. 15'00"
Ice Song (1993) is scored for soprano or mezzo and percussion (vibraphone and several small drums, rattles, and metal instruments). I created the text after reading a haunting Inuit story describing one Inuit community’s struggle for food in the dead of winter. The song is sung as the story of one woman’s terrible dilemma as she gives birth while the hunters of the village are away trying to get food for their starving families. The vocal line is melismatic; the musical language atonal and the percussion used for timbral variety and intensification. Isabelle Ganz premiered the work at MusicAlaskaMusic Conference in Fairbanks in 1993; it was most recently performed in Germany in 2005 by contralto Wiebke Hoogklimmer.
Click here to view the score and listen to a recording.
- Pendulum Clocks (2014)
-
Rahilia Hasanova
for soprano, baritone, percussion, bass clarinet, and clarinet in A, Bb, and Eb
ca. 56'16"
A kitchen lives by its own life even when nobody is home. It breathes, smells, yawns, flinches, claps, and snaps...and listens to... If only you are in your kitchen you are not alone. Your kitchen always has an encrypted dialog with you. If only two of you in the kitchen you are three of you, not two because your kitchen accompanies all your conversations. And keep in mind that your kitchen, where you usually have all your vitally important discussions is not your friend at some point. The kitchen likes a justice. If you are going to tell something to somebody start your conversation from far away. Choose any topic that would not relates to a subject of your previously planned conversation. For example, a long analysis about the history of the evolution of clocks... pendulum clocks! Magnetize! Make a magic! Win! Note that at 40.30 - 41.50 the stage suddenly darkened. Unfortunately the video cannot gives the real sparkling motions that accompany this scene on the stage during live performance.
Opera for two performers, Pendulum Clocks was premiered at the UMBC festival of contemporary music LIVEWIRE-10 on October 26, 2019.
Libretto by Rahilia Hasanova
Performers: Susan Botti, soprano and Gleb Kanasevich, clarinets
Recording engineer: Alan Wonneberger
Click here to watch to a video of the performance on YouTube.
Click here to view the libretto.
- Sajda (2006)
-
Rahilia Hasanova
for chamber orchestra, soprano, and tenor
ca. 35'00"
- Marseaya (1993)
-
Rahilia Hasanova
for flute, oboe, clarinet in Bb, bassoon, string quartet, piano, and chorus
ca. 15'35"
- Javidi-Dastgah (2001)
-
Rahilia Hasanova
for flute, bass clarinet, percussion, chorus
ca. 60'00"
- I Hear (2010)
-
Rahilia Hasanova
for choir and chamber orchestra
ca. 7'00"
This music was inspired by a poem by Jamila Asgar:
The snow is painting white on gray,
The sky brings angels out to pray;
The snow is painting white on brown,
The sky is gently falling down.
I hear the whispers in the play,
I hear the sweetest ever sound,
As sky is falling gently down,
The snow brings angels' prayers today.
- On Thin Air (2018)
-
Rahilia Hasanova
for soprano and violin
ca. 22'00"
On thin Air is a little drama for soprano and violin. I believe that many of us might have experienced something that is unusually strange or unexplainably unreal… Just one time in your life you might feel something that you never felt before or after… At such a moment you understand that everything that created around the holographic existence is bigger and deeper than you would be able to observe and absorb. At such a fleeting instant you are surrounded by the wonder… At such an astonishing flash your the only sensation is the admiration!
If you are endlessly high...
Suspended on thin air...
You contemplate the stars,
You can't reach Earth...
You try to understand what are you doing here?
If your breath is too short and almost frozen
You feel you're helpless at such position,
You know you're hopeless at such condition...
You hear your inner wordless scream!
If you are endlessly high...
If you can smell and taste the air...
You see gold sparkles through indescribable blue color
Your heart is not inside of you...
Your brain is not responding to you...
Your blood is desperately cold
Bombarding your brain by isotopes of thoughts,
Trying to stop all these and comprehend...
Are you alive?
If you are endlessly high...
Nothing above, beneath, and all around...
Nothing is up...Nothing is down...
And you try to connect your toes and ground
Willing to calm your tremor...
Am I flying or am I motionless?
Am I sensing margis between my dream and death?
No... No... it can't be..
No... No... No... No... your feelings are so real...
If you are endlessly high suspended on thin air
You have to feel a little fear and unexpected joy...
- Rahilia Hasanova
On Thin Air was premiered at Linnehan concert hall of the University of Maryland Baltimore County on October 20, 2023 by Duo Della Luna.
Susan Botti, soprano
Airi Yoshioka, violin
Recording engineer, Alan Wonneberger
Click here to listen to the recording.