Song Cycle Consortium Launched!

Librettist Laurana Wheeler Roderer and I are organizing a consortium for a new song cycle! Letters from the Anthropocene will respond to climate change from the perspective of an expectant parent anxious about the world their child will inherit. As a relatively new parent myself, this scenario and Laurana’s texts strongly resonate with me, and I image there are a number of you reading this who will also identify with them.

If so, please help us bring this project to life! Details about the cycle including a description, sample texts, ways to participate in the consortium, and more are included on the consortium page.

The consortium will close on Dec. 15. We hope you will join us in this collaboration!

University of Utah

I am very pleased to be joining the faculty at the University of Utah School of Music as an Assistant Professor of Composition and Theory! While I am sad to be leaving The Hartt School, this will be an exciting new chapter. I can’t wait to get to know my colleagues and students this fall!

Credo Selected as Winner of 2021 HerVoice Competition

I’m happy to announce that my work “Credo” was selected as a winner of the HerVoice Emerging Women Composers Competition. The piece will be workshopped and performed by the Kansas City Chorale, under Charles Bruffy. Details about the program and the other winners can be found here. The piece was workshopped by the Choral Arts Initiative in 2018, after which I revised the piece. I’m excited that a premiere is coming and will post performance info when I have it!

Ensemble for These (Summer) Times

The Ensemble for These Times has released the last installment of their online summer listening series, “Ensemble for These (Summer) Times.” This fourth program features music by composers who will be included in their upcoming 2020-21 season—and I am happy to be one of them!

A full season announcement is coming soon, but until then enjoy the video below. You can read the concert program here. An excerpt of “Times of Speaking and Silence” starts at 10:36!

Megan Ihnen and Alan Theisen Present at Oh My Ears

Megan Ihnen and Alan Theisen Present will perform a set of works for voice and saxophone at the Oh My Ears New Music Festival in Phoenix, AZ on 2/1/19 at 7 pm. These fantastic performers are true champions of new music, and have been actively touring their first program, “This World of Yes,” for the past couple of years. Their OME performance will include compositions from that program as well as more recent works:

Elegy (Deserted) by Jennifer Bellor

Epilogue by Jessica Rudman

The Little Mouse Elder by Kincaid Rabb

There are so many tictoc from When you touch by Alan Theisen

From All of Our Love This Was Lost by Nick Zoulek

Dark Star by Garrett Schumann

Support “Speaking Her Truth”

For the past year and a half, Kendra Preston Leonard and I have been creating a new chamber opera, “Marie Curie Learns to Swim.”  This project will be brought to life next month with a premiere by the Hartford Opera Theater on April 28 as part of their “Speaking Her Truth” event.  For this performance, HOT is partnering with my long-time collaborators the Hartford Independent Chamber Orchestra to present our new opera along with another world premiere—“Four Songs for Lady Macbeth,” also with text by Kendra—and a reprise of my mini-opera “Trigger.”

Producing new opera in particular is a very large undertaking, and we need your help!

If you are interested in the work Kendra and I are doing—

If you value HOT and HICO’s contributions to the Greater Hartford area—

If you love opera—

If you want to support new music—

If you believe in fostering new art by women—

Then please help us bring this event to audiences!

You can help by:

Any way you can help is greatly appreciated by everyone involved.

As a little bonus, if you donate to one of the two fundraisers above, I will send you PDFs of the score and parts for one of my solo or chamber pieces at no charge!  Just make your donation and then send me an email here or contact me on social media with the name of the solo or chamber piece you would like to receive.  If you donate to both fundraisers, I’ll send you two pieces!

Thanks for your support, and I hope to see you on 4/28!

Music of Our Mothers

My solo flute work L’Age Mûr was featured on Ellen Grohlman’s radio show “Music of Our Mothers” this past Wednesday, along with music by Henriette Renié, Myra Melford, Illeane Perez Velazquez, Emma Wilde, Matilde Capuis, and Cécile Elton.  If you are interested in listening to the broadcast, archives of past episodes can be found on the show’s website. If are interested in checking out the score of the piece or purchasing a copy, you can do so in my e-store.

Original Gravity Podcast

When I was at Electronic Music Midwest in Sept., I had the pleasure of being the guest on an episode of the Original Gravity Podcast.  The podcast is a companion to the Original Gravity Concert Series in MA, which presents new music in breweries and similar locations.

Hosted by Keith Kirchoff and guest-hosted by Eric Honour, this episode covers home brewing, electronic music (including Concertina No. 1: Cathedrals), the Marie Curie Opera, and more.  There’s even a previously unreleased excerpt from the opera draft included in the podcast.  You can check it out on the Podbean app or listen online.

“This World of Yes” Tour

I am very happy to announce that mezzo-soprano Megan Ihnen and saxophonist Alan Theisen will perform Epilogue on their upcoming tour.  Their program, “This World of Yes,” features a number of twenty-first century compositions from a diverse group of composers.  Tour dates and locations are:

  • Nov. 13 at 7 pm at Xavier University in New Orleans, LA
  • Nov. 14 at 7 pm at Highlands United Methodist Church in Birmingham, AL
  • Nov. 15 at 7:30 pm at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, NC
  • Nov. 16 at 7:30 pm at Mars Hill University in Mars Hill, NC

Megan and Alan have previously performed the program in Fort Wayne, IN; Kansas City, MO; and Lamoni, IA.  A video of one of their past performances can be found here:

 

Electronic Music Midwest 2017

My work “Falling” for voice and live processing has been selected for inclusion at the 2017 Electronic Music Midwest Festival.  Held at the Kansas City Kansas Community College on Sept. 21-23, “Falling” will be on the 1:30 pm concert on Saturday, Sept. 23.

The work was premiered at the Women Composers Festival of Hartford in 2015.  Based on a line of text by Sarah Teasdale, the work uses Max/MSP to build ambient textures from the spoken vocal part.  If you attend, you’ll see a rare sight – me performing!

L’Age Mur on 365 Days of Flute

My solo flute piece L’Age Mûr was recently included in Robin Meiksins‘s 365 Days of Flute project.  Each day Robin records a different flute excerpt or short composition and posts it to her YouTube channel.  You can see the video of my work below (day 284 of 365) or check out the full collection of videos for some great flute playing.

 

 

IAWM Annual Concert 2017

Every year, the International Alliance for Women in Music presents a concert of works selected from a competitive score call.  I am pleased to announce that my violin-cello duo You, as You Were Before You Existed has been selected for performance at the 2017 concert.  The event will take place on Saturday, Oct. 28 at 7:30 pm at the University of Kansas’s Swarthout Recital Hall.  The concert will featured the following works performed by the Kansas Virtuosi:

  • Running Amok by Victoria Malawey (USA)
  • Stay by Jennifer Bellor (USA)
  • You, As You Were Before You Existed by Jessica Rudman (USA)
  • Solitude by Ellen Ruth Harrison (USA)
  • The Lives and Opinions of Literary Cats by Jennifer Jolley (USA)
  • Up a Half Step by Amelia S. Kaplan (USA)
  • Conigli by Anne Guzzo (USA)
  • Meadowlark by Tawnie Olsen (Canada)
  • Parakeet Dancing by Seunghee Lee (South Korea)

If you are in the area, I hope you will join us!

Featured on 1 Track Podcast

This week, I was featured on Anthony Joseph Lanman‘s excellent 1 Track Podcast. The show presents musicians with one basic question: If you could introduce listeners to your music by playing them just one piece, what would it be and why?

When Anthony invited me to be a guest on the podcast, I knew right away that I wanted to share Trigger, my mini-opera about domestic violence because of the important topic it examines.  You can listen to our conversation and hear some audio excerpts of the music here.  If you’d like to watch the full premiere performance, a video is included below.

 

“Elegy” to be included on Kate Amrine’s Album

Trumpeter Kate Amrine is releasing her first album, which includes my solo Elegy.  Her project features music for trumpet alone and in various chamber settings by women composers, including Alexandra GardnerAriel MarxJennifer Higdon, Jinhee Han, Ledah Finck, and Nicole Piunno.  She is joined on the album by Borah Han (piano), Peggy Houng (harp), and The Witches  (Ledah Finck, violin and Louna Dekker-Vargas, flute) in a program that includes singing, improvising, and extended techniques.

Kate is currently doing an online fundraiser for her project – please check it out and consider supporting her mission to promote the music of women composers.

If you visit her fundraiser page, you can hear her perform Elegy in the first portion of the promo video.

Opera Without Borders Sunday Spotlight

The Hartford Opera Theater‘s blog “Opera Without Borders” highlights various composers and performers each Sunday.  I was recently featured in their 2/19 post, which includes some of my thoughts about their theme:

“To me, “Opera without Borders” means connection – connection with words and music, connection with ideas and issues relevant to today, and most importantly, connection with people…”

Read more on their blog!

Profile on Meg’s New Music Blog

I was recently featured on Meg Wilhoite’s blog as part of her series asking musicians how they came to their career.  You can check out the interview here.   She also has been posting a piece a day by different women composers to celebrate March as Women’s History Month – some great music and composers so far, and more to come!

Ensemble for These Times Call for Scores Winner

I recently received the good news that There Will Come Soft Rains for unaccompanied voice was chosen for performance by the Ensemble For These Times in their inaugural Call for Scores.  Selected from over 200 submissions, the piece will be performed during the 2016-17 concert season.  I am very excited to be working with this great ensemble and am honored to be among the composers chosen (see the official release for a full list of winners).

This work is now available through the online store – click here to listen to a recording, view a perusal score, and/or purchase downloadable sheet music.

Online Store Launch Sale!

My online store is now live with more than 25 solo and chamber ensemble works!  In the store, you can view pages for individual pieces that include recordings, perusal scores, and program notes.  All compositions are currently available for purchase as digital downloads.  Please visit my FAQ for store policies and other important information.

In honor of launching, I am offering a 30% discount on all purchases through June 15.  Sale prices are displayed on each piece, so no there’s need to input a discount code!

I am adding new solo/chamber pieces daily, and large ensemble works will be coming in the next few months!  If you are interested in a composition not yet available in the store, please contact me to request it.

Hartford Courant Article on “Iseult Speaks”

Mike Hamad of the Hartford Courant has written a feature on the collaborations behind my new work Iseult Speaks.  The full text of the article is available here, and it goes into the backstory of the work, discussing how the piece developed from a chance meeting.  The work has been a wonderful opportunity to collaborate with poet Elizabeth Hamilton and mezzo-soprano Charity Clark, as well as the Hartford Independent Chamber Orchestra.  It’s been a great roughly 18-month journey, and I’m excited for the work’s premiere!

 

“Iseult Speaks” Premiere on 2/20/16

12687941_1260700267277901_4387299462751896765_nMy new work, Iseult Speaks, for mezzo-soprano and chamber orchestra will be premiered on 2/20 by Charity Clark and the Hartford Independent Chamber Orchestra.  The concert will take place at 8pm in the auditorium of the Mark Twain House.  Tickets are $20 for general admission, $15 for seniors/Lets Go Arts & MTH members, or $10 for students.  They can be purchased online here.

Iseult Speaks is an extended song cycle for mezzo-soprano based on a retelling of the Tristan/Iseult myth. For those of you who might not be familiar with the story, the basic outline—and there are many variations on this skeleton—is that Tristan is supposed to bring Iseult to marry his uncle, but on the way they fall in love, usually because of a potion they accidentally ingest.  Portrayals of Iseult range from passive cypher to tragic heroine to wanton seductress, but she is almost always cast as a one-dimensional accessory to Tristan.

Elizabeth Hamilton’s evocative and provocative poems reexamine the legend from Iseult’s point of view, here somewhat omniscient and shaded with a modern sensibility that links the tale to contemporary experiences.  The text touches on questions of gender roles, societal pressure, and personal power as the narrator contemplates her life, rages against the unfairness of fate, wallows in memories of physical affection, condemns Tristan for his inaction, and vacillates between confidence, insecurity, hope, and despair.

The work was commissioned by HICO with generous support from the City of Hartford Arts & Heritage Jobs Grant Program.