“Standing at the Beam,” composed by Andrea Clearfield, with poetry by Anthony Silvestri, for chorus and string quintet was created to foster a spirit of healing among survivors and the MSU Community due to the criminal sexual misconduct of Larry Nassar, and healing and support for all who have suffered abuse. The work honors the resilience and courage of survivors.

This piece was commissioned by the Edward D. Anderson Choral Scholars Fund in Honor of The University Chorale.

Conducted by: David Rayl

Featuring Soloists: Claire Kaiser, Phoenix Miranda, Paula Duva-Rodriguez, Jacqueline Conlon, Paige Heidrich, Katy Green, Cera Babb, Maria Schoon

STANDING AT THE BEAM
Poem by Charles Anthony Silvestri
© 2019 for Andrea Clearfield

Standing at the beam
All alone
Shaken still    shaken…
broken…
Standing on the edge
Seeking balance
Shifting equilibrium   shifting…
imbalance…
Rising into my routine
Trying not to fall   falling…
Facing all those faces   fearing…
Who’ll never know   hiding…
That not to fall
Requires all
The grit, the work, the strength
Even the strength of all my scars
To get back up again

Standing at the beam
A shadow at my side   shadow…
Weighing me down   inside…
still...

This shadow is not my story
And nothing will take the glory
Of what I have accomplished

But I cannot balance alone
I must dance with the shadows
Until they fade
Until what’s real shines through…

And I see you    I see you…
Standing together   together…
We shake this shadow
And lift each other up

The light of life is ours today
The world will hear what we must say
The light of truth drives shadows away
And reveals a bright new dawn

lifting...
We stand at the beam   shifting...
In strength, together   together…
Where shadows cannot touch us.

From the concert "Standing at the Beam" Saturday, April 2, 2022 
For more information or to order scores visit:
https://www.andreaclearfield.com/works/choral/standing-at-the-beam/
To learn more about survivors of abuse and how you can help visit:
https://centerforsurvivors.msu.edu

Standing at the Beam (premiere audio)

This work, commissioned by The Philadelphia Orchestra (libretto by Charlotte Blake Alston, music by Andrea Clearfield), honors the community's elders and youth.  The creative process for Kabo Omowale (Welcome Home Child) began with elders from the Linden Elder Center sharing early music memories and the ways music impacted their lives. Kabo Omowale is a text-driven one-movement work in four sections for spoken word, chorus and orchestra. Section 1/Prologue places the voices of the elders inside ancient rituals heralding the birth of a child: the assurance that the survival and legacy of the village was secure. Words of welcome, thanks and praise from three indigenous languages are chanted while the names of the elders’ children and chorus members are whispered. The perpetual rhythmic cycle of life is represented by the drum, regarded in some cultures as the most sacred of instruments. Section 2 transitions to a time of village upheaval and displacement, incorporating elements of African-American spirituals and sorrow songs, followed in Section 3 by an energetic expression of adaptation in a new world – rural to urban, ancient to contemporary. Section 4 begins as a reflective lament, gradually evolving into a joyous reclamation and declaration to “step into the Elder space”: to reach out, embrace, encourage and guide. In the Epilogue, the choir chants the names of the elders: those who have pledged to walk beside our children into a future Full of Hope. Charlotte Blake Alston and I are honored to have been part of this process.  More information on the work and how to purchase the score here: https://www.andreaclearfield.com/works/choral/kabo-omowale/

Andrea Clearfield's Album

Kabo Omowale (3 minute excerpt)

Scored for: flute, piano, percussion, string quintet
Total Duration: 15:45 min.
Premiere: August 22, 2018, Angelfire, NM at Music from Angelfire Festival: Emma Resmini, Flute; Ida Kavafian and Theodore Arm, Violins; Steven Tenenbom, Viola; Peter Wiley, Cello; Peter Lloyd, Double Bass; Anne-Marie McDermott, Piano; Gregory Zuber, Percussion, Jonathan Coopersmith, conductor.
Commissioned by: Music from Angel Fire with the support of the Bruce E. Howden, Jr. American Composers Project.
Published by: Angelfire Press, Distributed by Black Tea Music. Contact Trudy Chan for score and parts: tc@blackteamusic.com

NOTES: Akin to the Native American Dreamcatcher, the Tibetan sago-namgo (translated as earth door/sky door) entices and captures negative energies so that positive energies can pass through. It is used for blessing and protection – closing the doors to that which does not bring the highest good.  In this chamber work, I focused on the creative process: how some doors open, others close; how some ideas reveal possibility, others get left behind. It is an exploration of creativity and its mysteries as well as more generally about life – what doors have opened to manifest dreams, which ones have closed leading one to follow a new direction. Musical doors may open into sound or silence, movement, spaciousness or surprise. Some melodic passages are “caught” while others undergo development, leading to propulsive rhythms or textures and colors. A humorous section features many melodies striving to go through the doors at the same time, cut off by one of the instruments. Certain musical ideas function as “seeds” or foundations upon which the piece is built however only one of the melodies will open the sky door at the conclusion of the work.

Earth Door/Sky Door Premiere Excerpt

First 5 minutes of a 27-minute cantata for soprano and tenor soloists, 2 narrators, SATB chorus, string quartet and piano
Libretto: Andrea Clearfield, based on open letters by LGBTQ+ youth advocates Mimi Lemay and Sam Brinton
Duration: 27 min.
Premiere: November 6, 2022 premiere, Coro Allegro Chorus, David Hodgkins, director, Arneis String Quartet, Sonja DuToit Tengblad, soprano, Jonas Budris, tenor, LGBTQ+ activists Mimi Lemay and Sam Brinton, narrators at Old South Church, Boston, 3pm Information here.
Commissioned by: Coro Allegro Chorus, David Hodgkins, Artistic Director
Published by: Angelfire Press, distributed by Black Tea Music.

Here I Am-I am Here (5 minute Excerpt)

Two excerpts from Here I Am: I Am Here", cantata for soprano and tenor soloists, 2 narrators, SATB chorus, string quartet and piano based on open letters to transgender youth and survivors of conversion therapy. These excerpts are from from Movements II "A Mother's Love" and  VIII "Dear God, Make Me Straight" respectively.
Music and Libretto: Andrea Clearfield
Entire work: 27 min.
Premiere: November 6, 2022, Coro Allegro Chorus, David Hodgkins, director, Arneis String Quartet, Sonja DuToit Tengblad, soprano, Jonas Budris, tenor, Old South Church, Boston
Commissioned by: Coro Allegro Chorus, David Hodgkins, Artistic Director
Distributed by Black Tea Music.

Here I Am - I Am Here (A Mother's Love, Dear God Make Me Straight)

This 2004 work for marimba and string orchestra features soloist Angela Zator-Nelson of the Philadelphia Orchestra with Orchestra 2001, James Freeman, Artistic Director, October 2014. Used with permission.

The work was commissioned and premiered by the Philadelphia Classical Symphony, Karl Middleman, Artistic Director. The work was composed to feature Ms. Nelson’s exceptional technique and musical expressiveness as well as explore some of the many colors of this lesser known solo instrument; sounds ranging from brilliant and dynamic to delicate, evocative and mysterious.

The one-movement 11 minute work is in a large ABA form, with energetic, rhythmic material framing slower and more introspective music. In the center of the work is a lyrical duet between the violin and the marimba, following and preceding two cadenzas for the soloist, one rhapsodic and the other mercurial and precise. An orchestral transition leads back to the return of the opening thematic ideas which are varied and developed, interspersed with recollections of earlier motivic elements, culminating in an exuberant coda that propels the work to its close.

Marimba Concertino - 3 minute excerpt

The work is inspired by the composer's fieldwork in the restricted Himalayan region of Lo Monthang, Nepal, near the border of Tibet documenting indigenous folk song, 2008-2010. The seven movement cantata was commissioned by the Mendelssohn Club and Pennsylvania Girlchoir. The work, scored for SATB and SSA choruses, digital audio and chamber orchestra, was composed in 2012 and revised in 2013. This performance from Spring, 2013 is by the University of Austin New Music Ensemble and Choirs, directed by Dan Welcher. The cantata is based on rites of passage. Texts: Dr. Sienna Craig and traditional texts from the region of Lo Monthang in Upper Mustang, Nepal, initial translations by Karma Wangyal Gurung and Katey Blumenthal; poetic translations by Sienna Craig; transliterations by Katey Blumenthal and Andrea Clearfield.  Movements I and VI are sung in English, set to poetry by Dr. Sienna Craig. 
Prologue: At the threshold (I)
I Kye (Birth)
II Shar Ki Ri (Mountain to the East)
III Kusum (Queen Kusum goes to Ladakh)
IV Tse Go La (At the threshold of this life)
V Re Chung Tso (The performers)
Interlude: At the threshold (II)
VI Shi (Death)

TSE GO LA (At The Threshold Of This Life) - 30 minute cantata

Excerpts from Tse Go La cantata, scored for double chorus, electronics and chamber orchestra, commissioned by Mendelssohn Club and Pennsylvania Girlchoir. The work is inspired by my fieldwork in Lo Monthang, Nepal, documenting Tibetan melodies.  The 7 movement work is about rites of passage.  This is a 5 minute excerpt from the 30 minute work.

Tse Go La (At the threshold of this life) - excerpt

This is the third movement of the cantata "Tse Go La" for SATB chorus and chamber orchestra.

This cantata is inspired by the composer's treks to the restricted and remote Himalayan region of Lo Monthang, Nepal, to study and document indigenous Tibetan music. The work incorporates 5 songs from the gar-glu (court) and tro-glu (common) traditions. Katey Blumenthal and Andrea Clearfield recorded over 130 songs that had not been previously documented. Their fieldwork is part of the World Oral Literature Project at the University of Cambridge.

Tse Go La (At The Threshold Of This Life)

Performed by Orchestra 2001 with James Freeman as the artistic director, and Gloria Justen as the soloist. For more information about this work, visit http://www.andreaclearfield.com/works/orchestral/romanza/.

Image credit: painting by Louise Clearfield http://www.stationgallery.net/LouiseClearfield.htm

Romanza (Excerpt)

Written by Andrea Clearfield
Commissioned by the Mendelssohn Club in honor of Alan Harler
Scored for SATB chorus

The score will be available for purchase from Boosey & Hawkes in Summer 2016. Prior to that, music may be purchased by directly contacting the composer.

To learn more about this work, visit http://www.andreaclearfield.com/works/choral/alleluia/

Image credit: painting by Louise Clearfield http://www.stationgallery.net/LouiseClearfield.htm

Alleluia

Written by Andrea Clearfield
Heide Sibley, violin
Edgar Meyer, bass
Text by Pablo Neruda http://hellopoetry.com/poem/9912/body-of-a-woman/

I. Body of a Woman

Inspired by three sensual love poems by Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, this set of three musical tableaux was originally composed for Philadelphia Orchestra bassist, Robert Kesselman and his wife, oboist Jennifer Kuhns in 1996. Two years later, the work was arranged for violin and bass duo for celebrated bassist Edgar Meyer who recorded the work in Banff, Canada. In 2002, Manfred Fischbeck, artistic director of Group Motion Dance Company, choreographed the duo for the Fringe Festival in Philadelphia where the music was performed live with the dancers. The work has been performed by numerous duos internationally, some with projected images and incorporating spoken word.

I. Body of a Woman
II. The Light Wraps You
III. Every Day You Play

Image credit: painting by Louise Clearfield http://www.stationgallery.net/LouiseClearfield.htm

Three Songs For Violin And Bass After Neruda Poems, I. Body Of A Woman

Written by Andrea Clearfield
Arr. for SATB chorus and piano by the composer

This song cycle, commissioned by Israeli soprano, Raya Gonen is set to texts by Sima Yashonksy-Feitelson, an inmate of the Kovno ghetto. The song cycle consists of three sings: “Farlorn Alemen” (Losing everyone), “Du bist Avek” (You are gone), “Mein Land” (My homeland), a poem that Ms. Feitelson wrote after having been liberated and immigrated to Israel.

Sima Yashonsky-Feitelson was 16 years old when she lost both her parents and sibling in the Kovno Ghetto, Lithuania, during World War II. Her young husband was taken to a forced labor camp near Kovno, in which all of the Kovno Ghetto Jews were shot. His job was to burn their bodies. Sima documented her life and experiences in the ghetto in a booklet of poems in Yiddish, which bears witness to the atrocities, her feelings of fear and loss, and her doubt as to whether she would ever see her husband again. She also documented her resistance activities in the underground movement, which was formed there against the Nazis.

Sima immigrated to Israel (with her husband, who survived the Holocaust) and reunited with friends from the Ghetto, including soprano Raya Gonen’s parents. As a token of their friendship, Sima gave an autographed copy of her poems to Raya’s parents. After reading the poems, Raya felt compelled to be able to sing them, and thus commissioned Andrea Clearfield to set these poems to music so that they could be included on Raya’s touring Holocaust songs program.

To learn more about this work, including how to purchase the score and parts, visit http://www.andreaclearfield.com/works/choral/farlorn-alemen-choral/

Image credit: painting by Louise Clearfield http://www.stationgallery.net/LouiseClearfield.htm

Farlorn Alemen

Music written by Andrea Clearfield
Text excerpted from "Song of Myself: No. 21" by Walt Whitman
Commissioned by The College of New Jersey Chorale; John Leonard, Artistic Director, "live" performance by The College of New Jersey Chorale, April, 2016
Scored for SATB chorus and piano

To learn more about this work, visit
www.andreaclearfield.com/works/choral…of-the-body/

To purchase the score, visit
http://seeadot.com/staff-view/andrea-clearfield/

———

I am the poet of the Body and I am the poet of the Soul,
The pleasures of heaven are with me and the pains of hell are with me,
The first I graft and increase upon myself, the latter I translate into new tongue.

I am the poet of the woman the same as the man,
And I say it is as great to be a woman as to be a man,
And I say there is nothing greater than the mother of men.

I chant the chant of dilation or pride,
We have had ducking and deprecating about enough,
I show that size is only development.

I am he that walks with the tender and growing night,
I call to the earth and sea half-held by the night.

Press close bare-bosom’d night-press close magnetic nourishing night!
Night of south winds-night of the large few stars!
Still nodding night-mad naked summer night.

Smile O voluptuous cool-breath’d earth!
Earth of the slumbering and liquid trees!
Earth of departed sunset-earth of the mountains misty-topt!
Earth of the vitreous pour of the full moon just tinged with blue!
Earth of shine and dark mottling the tide of the river!
Earth of the limpid gray of clouds brighter and clearer for my sake!
Far-swooping elbow’d earth-rich apple-blossom’d earth!
Smile, for your lover comes.

Prodigal, you have given me love-therefore I to you give love!
O unspeakable passionate love.

———

Image credit: painting by Louise Clearfield www.stationgallery.net/LouiseClearfield.htm

Poet.4.16.16

Poet of the Body and the Soul

Unremembered Wings
Jonathan Hulting-Cohen, soprano saxophone
Liz Ames, piano

36th Annual US Navy Saxophone Symposium
January 5th, 2013
George Mason University
Fairfax, VA

36th Annual United States Navy Saxophone Symposium 2013

Unremembered Wings

Lung-Ta (The Windhorse) - 13 minute excerpt (entire work is 25 minutes)
Commissioned and premiered by Network for New Music, Linda Reichert, Artistic Director, Jan Kryzywicki, conductor
Fl., Cl in A, Oboe (EH), Bsn, Vln, Vla, Vlc, 2 Percussion, fragments of sound recordings 
Inspired by field research in the restricted, remote Himalayan region of Lo Monthang, Nepal.


01 Lung-Ta 13 minute version

Unremembered Wings performed by Calvin Wong, soprano saxophone and Mo Xu, piano at Riverside Recital Hall, Iowa City, Iowa, 2014. The work was inspired by the poem, "La poesía" by Pablo Neruda.

"...and something started in my soul, 
fever or unremembered wings, 
and I made my own way, 
deciphering 
that fire 
and I wrote the first faint line, 
faint, without substance, pure 
nonsense, 
pure wisdom 
of someone who knows nothing, 
and suddenly I saw 
the heavens 
unfastened 
and open..."

Unremembered Wings for Soprano Saxophone and Piano

The octet Earth Door/Sky Door was commissioned by Music from Angel Fire, Ida Kavafian, Artistic Director, with the support of the Bruce E. Howden, Jr. American Composers Project. This recording is from the premiere performance on August 22, 2018, Angelfire, NM at Music from Angelfire Festival by Emma Resmini, Flute; Ida Kavafian and Theodore Arm, Violins; Steven Tenenbom, Viola; Peter Wiley, Cello; Peter Lloyd, Double Bass; Anne-Marie McDermott, Piano; Gregory Zuber, Percussion, Jonathan Coopersmith, conductor. You may wish to turn up the volume since it was recorded low.

Akin to the Native American Dreamcatcher, the Tibetan sago-namgo
(translated as earth door/sky door) entices and captures negative energies so that positive energies can pass through.

This chamber work applies this to the creative process: how some doors open, others close; how some ideas reveal possibility, others get left behind. Musical doors may open into sound or silence, movement, dynamic or agreesive movement, spaciousness or surprise. Some melodic passages are “caught” while others undergo development, leading to propulsive rhythms, textures and colors. Certain musical ideas function as “seeds” or foundations upon which the piece is built however only one of the melodies will open the sky door at the conclusion of the work.

Earth Door/Sky Door (2018)

MILA, Great Sorcerer, 2-act opera on the life of the venerated 11th Century Tibetan saint, Milarepa in semi-staged premiere at the PROTOTYPE Festival, January 12 and 13, 2019. Libretto by Jean-Claude van Itallie and Lois Walden, conducted by Manoj Kamps, directed by Kevin Newbury, commissioned by Terry Eder and Gene Kaufman, produced by New Vision for Opera NYC. Leads: Lauren Flanigan, Eve Gigliotti, Will Liverman, Matthew Gamble, Tobias Greenhalgh, Aaron Blake, Susannah Biller, Musa Ngqungwana, Jonathan Blalock. 
Chorus: NY Virtuoso Singers.
Orchestra: The Knights

Sculptures and visuals: 
Video: Greg Emetaz
Dancers: Nickemil Concepcion, Federico Garcia, Abdiel Jackson, Dorren Smith, Darrell Thorne

More info on the company and premiere performance:
prototypefestival.org/shows/mila-gre…OPu72-xUx90DXc

Review: "Mystical and dramatically compelling. Ms. Clearfield’s colorful, expressive score was perhaps the most accomplished and mature of this year’s crop of compositions, which is saying a lot."

Full review: 
www.adriandimanlig.com/viewpoints-pr…8Twlrd83jHayU

Philadelphia Inquirer article:
www.philly.com/arts/prototype-fe…hia-20190103.html

MILA, Great Sorcerer Act I (first 25 minutes, entire opera 2 1/2 hours)

MILA, Great Sorcerer – Opera in 2 Acts
Andrea Clearfield, composer
Jean-Claude van Itallie and Lois Walden, librettists 
Completed: November, 2018
Duration: Entire work: 2 hours
Scoring: 9 leads, chorus, chamber orchestra
Commissioners: Terry Eder and Gene Kaufman
Recording: First look performance, Prototype Festival, Gerald Lynch Theater, NYC, 1/13/2019
Director: Kevin Newbury
Cast: Aaron Blake (Mila), Lauren Flanigan (Mother), Eve Gigliotti (Aunt), Will Liverman (Sorcerer), Matthew Gamble (Uncle) Tobias Greenhalgh (Father), Susannah Biller (Damema), Musa Ngqungwana (Marpa), Jonathan Blalock (Young Man)
Chorus: New York Virtuoso Singers
Orchestra: The Knights
Trailer: https://vimeo.com/306198074

Opera Summary:
Folk hero, singer, and spiritual teacher, Milarepa has been venerated for one thousand years. But as a child, at his mother’s behest, he wields black magic against the relatives that stole his inheritance and destroys his entire village. His remorse sends him on a life journey from mass murder to enlightenment. After you’ve killed, how do you redeem your soul? Milarepa’s transformation and redemption into the most revered teacher of Tibetan Buddhism offer hope and spiritual wayfinding to all who regret acts of consequence and seek higher ground. 

1.	MILA, Great Sorcerer, Act II Trio to House Building Scene (10-minute excerpt)
Act I concludes with Mila’s murder of 35 people and his destruction of the village. Act II begins with an overture followed by Mila’s breakdown. Mila learns about a great spiritual teacher named Marpa, who might be able to help him.

This excerpt begins with a trio: Mila has set out to find Marpa, and, at the same time, the sleeping Marpa and his wife Damema dream of Mila’s approach. The next day, Marpa disguises himself as a farmer. When Mila discovers that this is the great teacher he seeks, he asks Marpa for his teachings. Marpa makes him build houses, knocking them down and making him build again and again…

Act II Score p. 43, m. 139 – p. 98, m. 350

MILA (Act II Trio - House Building Scene)

Composer of music for opera, orchestra, chorus, chamber ensemble, soloists and multimedia collaborations

Andrea Clearfield

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