- Triptych of Gossips - soprano version (2009)
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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.
A recording of the 2018 performance by Duo della Luna (Susan Botti, soprano, and Airi Yoshioka, violin) is available for listening on opening the score.
Click here to watch the performance video (YouTube).
- Elio: Visions of Light II (2007)
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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.
This recording of this piece is by Ana Spasic, and can be heard when viewing the score.
- Elio: Visions of Light (1985)
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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.
This recording of this piece is by Ana Spasic, soprano, and members of the Conservatorio "G. Nicolini" chamber music program in Piacenza, Italy, and can be heard when viewing the score.
- I Have Done With Phrases (2010)
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Sofia Kamayianni
for soprano, bass, portative, hand gong, and electronics
Dedicated to Tobias Schlierf and Effie Minakoulis
- Vides yia stravoxyla ("Cranky Pasta Recipe") (2006)
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Sofia Kamayianni
for soprano, saxophone, cello, tuba, piano, and actress
ca. 10'30"
- Ano throsko ("Upward Gaze") (2009)
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Sofia Kamayianni
for string Orchestra and children's choir
ca. 5'30"
- Requiem (1977)
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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)
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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)
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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)
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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 view the recording at New World Records.
- Ice Song: Fantasy on an Inuit Poem (1993)
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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.
- Leaning Into and Away
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Eleanor Hovda
for soprano, contrabass, and percussion
- Song in High Grasses (1985)
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Eleanor Hovda
for soprano, flute, cello, and bowed piano
ca. 12'14"