Here's a playlist of works by Aaron Alter in multiple styles. Thank you for listening!

Aaron Alter

This is the finale from Variations on Lo Lanu Ha-Shem for cello and piano, performed by the Cracow Duo (Jan Kalinowski, cello and Marek Szlezer, piano)in Kraków, Poland on September 13, 2020, sponsored by the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust.
To see a video of the complete Variations on Lo Lanu Ha-Shem, please visit the page on my website: https://aaronalter.com/chamber-variations-on-lo-lanu-hashem

Variations on Lo Lanu Ha-Shem are based on my "Lo Lanu Ha-Shem" (a setting of Psalm 115) for Women's Chorus, Flute, Harp, Two Horns, Double-Bass and Tambourine. To hear the original choral work, please visit the page on my website: https://aaronalter.com/choral-lolanuhashem

Finale from Variations on Lo Lanu Ha-Shem for cello and piano

This is the World Premiere performance of Aaron Alter's "Fire and Sleet and Candlelight" for Soprano voice and Chamber Ensemble that took place in New York on December 2, 2022. The performers were:
Ljiljana Winkler - soprano (to whom the work was dedicated)
Peter Oswald - trumpet
Lynn Bechtold - violin
Katie Scheele - oboe
Gene Pritsker - electric guitar
Jai Jeffryes - piano
Charles Coleman - conductor

Performed as part of Composers Concordance presents Art of the Art Song, featuring soprano Ljiljana Winkler with Formation Solenne / CompCord Ensemble on Friday, December 2, 2022 at Greenwich House, New York City.

The text is based on the poem by Elinor Wylie.

Fire and sleet and candlelight.

For this you've striven
Daring, to fail:
Your sky is riven
Like a tearing veil.

For this, you've wasted
Wings of your youth;
Divined, and tasted
Bitter springs of truth.

From sand unslak-ed
Twisted strong cords,
And wandered naked
Among trysted swords.

There's a word unspoken,
A knot untied.
Whatever is broken
The earth may hide.

Your race is ended—
See, it is run:
Nothing is mended
Under the sun.

Fire, sleet, candlelight.

For more information on Fire and Sleet and Candlelight and other works by Aaron Alter, please visit https://aaronalter.com/compositions .

Fire And Sleet And Candlelight - World Premiere in New York

This is the live performance of Aaron Alter's "Toccata-Variations on a Theme by Charlie Parker, performed by the Steinway Artist, Susan Merdinger on November 10, 2022 at the Howard Brubeck Theatre at Palomar College, San Marcos, California. Toccata-Variations combines thematic material from the Charlie Parker tune, "Segment", with stylistic elements of Johann Sebastian Bach's organ toccatas.

For more information on Toccata-Variations on a Theme by Charlie Parker and other works by Aaron Alter, please visit https://aaronalter.com/compositions .

Toccata-Variations on a Theme by Charlie Parker, performed by Susan Merdinger, Steinway Artist

This is the world premiere performance of Aaron Alter's Latin-Jazz-inspired piece, Who, if not You?, for mixed chamber ensemble and tap dancer. The performance was part of a concert entitled 
Composers Concordance & Talujon Present "Ensemble Motion"
Talujon Percussion Meets CompCord Ensemble
Featuring Max Pollak & Dancers
Sunday, March 26th, 2023
St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery, New York

The performers were:
CompCord Ensemble
Michiyo Suzuki, Clarinet
Daniel Schnyder, Soprano Saxophone
Jonathan Finlayson, Trumpet
Gene Pritsker, Electric Guitar
Jay Elfenbein, Double Bass
Peter Jarvis, Conductor

Talujon Percussion Ensemble
David Cossin, Suspended Cymbal
Michael Lipsey, Conga
Riley Palmer, Cajon
Matt Ward, Vibraphone

Tommy Wasiuta, Tap Dancer

Recording by Moti Margolin

For more information on Who, if not You? and other works by Aaron Alter, please visit https://aaronalter.com/compositions .

Who, if not You? for Mixed Chamber Ensemble and Tap Dancer - World Premiere in New York

Sunset on the Spire (Introspective Blues #2) is an Art Song for Soprano Voice that is in the tradition of Art Songs by Franz Schubert, Robert Schumann and Johannes Brahms, but with a more modern instrumental accompaniment of a Jazz Quintet of Trumpet, Tenor Saxophone, Piano, Double-Bass and Drum Set. The text is by the early 20th century American poet, Elinor Wylie. The beginning and end of the song are in a Blues style, while the middle section is in a style that is more Brahms-inspired.

The performers were:
Ljiljana Winkler, Soprano (to whom the song was dedicated)
Peter Oswald, Trumpet
Dennis Brandner, Tenor Saxophone
Jai Jeffryes, Piano
Troy Rinker, Jr., Double-Bass
Lee Jeffryes, Drum Set
Gene Pritsker, Conductor

Sunset on the Spire was premiered by Ljiljana Winkler and the CompCord Ensemble as part of Composers Concordance Presents "Art of the Art Song" November 29, 2023 at DROM, New York City.
The video was by James Lane (Hot Indie Media.)

Sunset on the Spire by Elinor Wylie (abridged by Aaron Alter)
All that I dream
By day or night
Lives in that stream
Of lovely light.

Here is the earth,
And there is the spire;
This is my hearth,
And that is my fire.

From the sun's dome
I am shouted proof
That this is my home,
And that is my roof.

And I am wooed
From the moon's brink.

And the days go over,
And the nights end;
Here is my lover,
Here is my friend.

Sunset on the Spire (Introspective Blues #2) is published by Universal Edition. For scores and parts, please visit:
https://www.universaledition.com/en/Works/Sunset-on-the-Spire-Introspective-Blues-2-for-S/P0261476

For more information on Sunset on the Spire and other works by Aaron Alter, please visit https://aaronalter.com/compositions .

Sunset On The Spire (Introspective Blues #2) for Soprano voice and Jazz Quintet-Premiere in New York

Performed by Iwona Glinka, Flute and Naomi Alter, harp, recorded shortly after the World Premiere performance at the National Flute Association Convention in San Diego in 2016. Artwork by Kay Lipton.
Introspective Blues #1 score and parts are now available for purchase from SilverWinds Publishing by clicking on the link below or by pasting it into your browser:
http://www.silverwindspublishing.com/arrangements/introspective-blues-1

The blues can reflect many moods. Introspective Blues#1 for flute and harp starts out reflecting the state of mind of a person thinking a lot about “why things are the way they are” but not ready to express it outwardly. As the work unfolds, our “hero” gains more courage, and by the ending, we hear the outward expression that was suppressed initially.  Many thanks to Iwona Glinka, who brought the flute part to life and to my wife, Naomi Alter, who played the harp, which provided the harmonic and rhythmic drive to the work.  Thanks also to Michail Travlos, who did the excellent recording and to Kay Lipton for the inspiring and evocative artwork. For the video of this performance, please click on https://youtu.be/zvgqfUmCY80
For more information on Introspective Blues #1 and other works by Aaron Alter, please visit https://aaronalter.com/compositions .

Introspective Blues #1 for flute and harp

Introspective Blues #1 for flute and harp (2016)

Aaron Alter is a composer from Carlsbad, California. His music is published by Universal Edition and Silverwinds Publishing. Aaron calls his new music his "New Beginning" because it is an exploration of a new style and energy that defies categorization.    

A native of Chicago, Aaron Alter's musical background was a product of the rich musical life that he found growing up in the Windy City. Aaron received his Bachelor of Music degree from Northwestern University, where he studied piano with Frances Larimer and Gui Mombaerts, and composition with Lynden DeYoung and David Noon. He received his Master of Fine Arts Degree from Princeton University, where he studied with Milton Babbitt and James K. Randall.  

Aaron’s new music was first performed in 2015, with the performance of “Homage to Josquin” for two flutes, piano, electric bass and drum set by The New Mexico Performing Arts Society in Santa Fe, New Mexico. “Homage to Josquin” received an Honorable Mention in the 2016 American Prize competition for Chamber Music Composition.  

Works such as "Solar Rays" and "Vanilla, Chocolate and Strawberry" defy genres and exist in Classical ensemble and Jazz Big Band versions. Both the classical piano trio (piano, violin and ‘cello) and Jazz Big Band versions of “Solar Rays” have received Silver medals at the Global Music Awards. Aaron’s Introspective Blues #1 for Flute and Harp has become his most popular work, with over 16,100 plays on SoundCloud and over 5,200 plays on Jango Internet Radio. Aaron’s music has been featured on the albums “One Minute”, “Two Minutes”, “Gimel” and “Daleth”, by the flutist Iwona Glinka on the Sarton and Phasma Music labels, all of which have won Silver Medals at the Global Music Awards.  

Aaron has received two commissions in the past two years for choral works with an instrumental ensemble from The New Mexico Performing Arts Society.  The first commission, “Together We Create and Sing! (inspired by the music of Franz Joseph Haydn”) was a semi-finalist at the 2018 American Prize competition for Choral Music Composition and received a Silver Medal at the August 2019 Global Music Awards.  The latest commission, “Lo Lanu Ha-Shem” (a setting of Psalm 115) received a Silver Medal from the March 2019 Global Music Awards.  

Aaron is a regular contributor of compositions to the repertoire of the flutist Iwona Glinka, the pianist and Steinway Artist, Susan Merdinger, the pianist Vania Pimentel, The New Mexico Performing Arts Society and Composers Concordance in New York.  

Aaron also serves as an Executive Board Member of the Carlsbad Friends of the Arts.

Fire And Sleet And Candlelight - World Premiere in New York

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