Andrew White, baritone voice
Fifteen Minutes of Fame online concert, Saturday, 17JUL21.

Inner Voice/Inner Chaos is both a canon and a vocalise whereby the performer follows a leading melody in imitative counterpoint as various errant sounds swirl around chaotically. The work draws from two main influences: the soundscape works of John Cage, and the Renaissance vocal tradition of 16th century imitative polyphony. The work is about healing from psychological abuse and will be featured in a song cycle called Four Electroacoustic Art Songs.
Inner Voice/Inner Chaos was one of fifteen works selected from an international call-for-scores by the baritone Andrew White who is the Professor of Voice and Diction in the Department of Music, Theater, and Dance at the University of Nebraska at Kearney. The work was premiered in an online performance on
Saturday, July 17, 2021.

Luz - Inner Voice Inner Chaos For Baritone Voice And Fixed Media

Full score PDF available: https://andresrluz.weebly.com/bulosan-project.html 

Featured on WIND ORCHESTRA MASTERS, VOL. 1 album from ABLAZE Records.

Wind Symphony of the College-Conservatory of Music
Erik Nordstrom, narrator
Kevin Michael Holzman, conductor
Corbett Auditorium, University of Cincinnati

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YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNWTGvUJLrA2PBMsg2c3VZ6qO3nLh1p3w
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For performance materials, go to https://www.murphymusicpress.com/products/w-868
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My dissertation provides background on the life of Carlos Bulosan, as well as a thorough analysis of the work, found at this site:
https://esploro.libs.uga.edu/esploro/outputs/doctoral/Compositional-Innovations-in-PassacagliaChaconne-Forms-from/9949450527702959
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Bulosan: On American Democracy is the Winner of the 2023 American Prize in Composition, College/University-Level Wind Ensemble Division.  It was also chosen for the 2022 Ablaze Records International Wind Ensemble Call-for-Scores to be featured in Volume 1 of the Wind Orchestra Masters series now available at www.ablazerecords.net

Bulosan: On American Democracy draws inspiration from selected excerpts from two important literary opuses written by the labor union organizer and writer, Carlos Bulosan (1913-1956), who was active on the U.S. West Coast in the 1930s-40s. In both his semi-autobiographical novel, America is in the Heart (1946), and the essay, “Freedom from Want” (1943), Bulosan wrote on themes about the preservation of American democracy at a time when it was under threat by the rise of Fascism in Western Europe and Authoritarian Communism in the Soviet Union. As the U.S. had emerged from the years of the Great Depression and entered the Second World War on two fronts, Bulosan stressed that in order for democracy to survive at home, the nation must seek to preserve a thriving, independent, and well-educated populace situated in a culture that values the natural rights of individuals as well as intellectual and artistic freedoms.  Despite numerous instances of rampant racism, xenophobia, class discrimination, and workplace-related harassment and violence, Bulosan steadfastly believed in the American values of liberty, opportunity, and excellence even in the face of abject poverty, poor working conditions, and societal marginalization which he and his colleagues had experienced living in the United States. 

The resulting text is assembled from Carlos Bulosan’s semi-autobiographic novel, America is in the Heart (1946), and the essay, “Freedom from Want” (1943). This order is meant to illustrate a ruminative evolution from darkness to light—a gradual movement (1) from a spirit of steadfastness in the face of fierce antagonism and gross inequality, (2) to a consideration of value placed upon national unity and the many faces of the American identity, and finally (3) to a contemplation on the fulfillment of the American dream based on democracy’s fundamental aims supported by the many people who embody them. Additionally, an underlying theme that is revisited in the work is the paradoxical nature of the United States as both “kind” and “cruel” in its treatment of immigrants and minorities as depicted in Bulosan’s America is in the Heart.

Bulosan: On American Democracy - Grand Passacaglia for Narrator, Wind Symphony, & Fixed Media

WUGA - UGABotGarden Soundwalk Radio Broadcast, 07MAY21

Recorded in Atlanta, GA, 14APR22

Before I switched to composition, I worked as analytical microbiologist for 16+ years in the Biopharma industry. [Micro/Industrious] for Orchestra (2015) is dedicated to my friend and colleague, Josephson De Guzman, who assumed my duties at my former place of laboratory work while I was away on extended sabbatical in Fall 2011.

At the heart of this character piece is the folk melody, "Anak na Baley," from Pangasinan province, Ilocos Region, Philippines, Joe’s birthplace and childhood home. Anak na Baley is an occupational folksong about hard working children of modest means who labor tirelessly in the fields, cultivating many different types of vegetables despite the hardship in spending whole days under the severe heat of the Philippine sun, and with the unpredictability of torrential rainstorms in that part of the country.

I have taken an old folk melody from Joe’s childhood province, freely altered it in various ways, clothed it in modern harmonies, and reinterpreted it using various devices from contemporary compositional. While this material has humble roots in Filipino folk culture, here it proceeds boldly and confidently with a rugged American panache.

[Micro/Industrious] for Orchestra

Taking Flight, ringtone for string quartet (2015)

Recorded by the Hugo Wolf String Quartet, February 11, 2015. 
Frederick Loewe Recital Hall, University of Redlands.
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This ringtone is free for download.
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Installation for Android phones:

1. Connect your smart phone’s memory to your computer using USB or a microSD adapter.
2. On your computer, open the My Computer folder, and locate your smart phone’s memory file. 
3. Look for the Ringtones folder. If you do not find one, create a new folder and name it Ringtones.
4. Open the Ringtones folder. 
5. Click and drag the ringtone mp3 file into the Ringtones folder. 
6. You can now detach your mobile phone from your computer.
7. On your mobile phone, access the Settings folder. Select the Sound folder. Select Ringtones. Locate the desired ringtone and select it. Your phone should now play your selected ringtone when you receive a phone call.
8. If this does not work, restart your mobile phone. Some Android systems require a system restart before it can locate new files to the system.

Alternate Android methods: 
Search for the Media folder and create a folder named “Audio” inside of the Media folder. The folder structure would therefore be:

Media > Audio > Ringtones > Notifications > Alarms

Move your mp3 ringtones to either the Ringtones, Alarms, or Notifications folders. Proceed with Step 7 and 8 as mentioned above.

If the new ringtones are not there, go into Settings > Storage. Unmount the SD card and wait until your mobile phone unmounts the card. Mount the SD card again. Your ringtone should now appear in the Ringtones folder.

If all else fails, explore using AirDroid from Google Play. This free app enables you to send mp3 files to your mobile phone for use as ringtones.
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Installation for iPhones:

*Instructions are forthcoming.*

Taking Flight, ringtone for string quartet (2015)

11/19/15 Studio Recording of Surveillance State for soprano, alto saxophone, fixed media, and live electronics (2015).

Janie Vail, soprano
Kelsey Broersma, alto saxophone
Manuel Perez, audio engineer

Frederick Loewe Performance Hall
University of Redlands
11-19-15

Surveillance State for soprano, alto saxophone, fixed media, and live electronics (2015)

Performance Details: 
Scott Eggert, baritone
SCA Recital, Thursday, 13APR17.
Dancz Center for New Music, Hugh Hodgson School of Music, University of Georgia, Athens.  

Notes:
As there are not many pieces for solo voice and electronic media, I wanted to take the opportunity to work toward making a contribution in this medium.  "El Perdido" is my title for the setting of Alejo Valdés Pica’s poem, "El Amor de los Amores," which is about a rejected lover so traumatized by a failed romance that his entire vision of reality has become lost to him: his world is falling apart around him.  Everything has become an eternal wasteland to him with only a faint reminiscence to momentarily alleviate the pains that lie within.  The sandstorm that envelopes him at the end of the song is therefore appropriate;         it reflects the inner turmoil that has lead him to yearn to be free of his life, a yearning that becomes as infinite as all the grains of sand lost in the desert.  Pica’s work is representative of the late Nineteenth and early Twentieth century Filipino poets who incorporated contemporary Symbolist imagery in an overwrought style of Spanish writing.

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Text and Translation:

La vida es un dolor. Es algo incierto,
lleno da brumas y de ensoñaciones
que nos hacen temblar. Sepulcro abierto
para enterrar en él las ilusiones.

Es triste caravana en el desierto.
Nos morimos de sed. Las desazones
son inquietantes, como un cuerpo muerto
destrozado por garras de leones.

De la vida en el áspero camino
yo he sido como humilde peregrino
que hizo el amor de su ideal un rito;

atravesó el desierto con mis penas,
y he quemado mis pies en sus arenas
en un ansia infinita de infinito.

1919
--Alejo Valdés Pica (1890-1945)
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Life is pain. It is uncertain and
full of foggy daydreams
that make us tremble—a ready grave
awaiting our illusions.

On a sad desert caravan
We die of thirst.  Like lions clawing 
the carcass of dead prey, 
anxieties tear us apart.

On a humble pilgrim’s journey I have
traveled life’s rough roads, turning
love’s ideal into perfect rituals.

I walked along the desert with my hardships
and burned my feet in the sands
in an infinite yearning for the infinite.

Translation: Carla Cao and Ruben Cao.

El Perdido for baritone voice, fixed media, and live electronics (2017)

Pianists: Jacob Mappes and Cameron Gwynn.
This performance of "The Kapre, the Tree Giant" took place at the Dancz Center for New Music and the University of Georgia in Athens, GA on 06MAR19.

The Kapre (subtitled The Tree Giant) is a mini-tone poem for piano 4-hands inspired by a legendary creature found in ancient Filipino mythology. In this short work, a wanderer creeps upon a jungle forest at dusk and discerns an eerie presence in the distance upon the gently swaying treetops. As he makes his way through the mysterious and twisting mass of leaves, vines, and branches, he smells the heavy stench of a burning cigar. Strangely, he begins to feel a bit disoriented and confused of his bearings. Where was he going originally? How did he get here? Is he really walking deeper into the jungle, or is he headed toward a clearing? 

It's getting dark, but his curiosity consumes him! Suddenly, from under his feet, he feels the massive rumbling of an uneasy gait not too far away (mm. 20-24). The wanderer is now even more obsessed; and though filled with a strong sense of fear, it is not a fear that is strong enough to overwhelm his appetite for discovery. He draws closer, even closer, now drunk with an ambition that is swiftly rewarded by the night moaning of the legendary kapre! Behold, tremble, and marvel at the sound! (mm. 31-33) Though he is stricken with a sudden terror that shoots through his body like a lightning bolt, his determination draws him to seek out more, even more, for who has ever recounted an episode with such a mysterious and fantastical being up-close? Who would be able to claim that the legend is true?! 

As he feels his way through the menacing darkness of tangled foliage in that sticky, humid jungle full of bugs and mucky, spoiling greenery beneath his feat, he unexpectedly comes across the soft touch of a warm patch: matted, mangy fur combed through the reach of his curious fingers. What is this?! The beast awakens early from his short slumber, and the wanderer feels an overwhelming sense of inconsolable regret (m. 34). Inevitably what follows is the chase: the clumsy, lumbering giant in pursuit of the wanderer who wandered more than a few steps too far….

In this work, the pianists must choose between two possible endings for their performance, deciding if the wanderer manages to escape the pursuit of the kapre, or if he is captured.

The Kapre, The Tree Giant For Piano - 4 Hands (2018)

Canzona a 5 is the fourth movement serving as a postmodern romp that traverses various styles within its short 6 minute duration.  Inspired by Renaissance-era brass writing, there is much localized contrapuntal imitation that connects each of the voices with one another.  However, instead of remaining within the modal framework of that style, this polystylistic piece moves through some dissonant modernist territory contrasted with episodes evoking styles ranging from early 20th century Neoclassicism; German Oktoberfest Brass music; spare, quasi-minimalist textures; a stuttered quotation of the opening motive to Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto no. 1 in B-flat minor, op. 23 (1875); a free version of early 20th century free atonality; and finally a self-quotation from the first movement of this quintet.  All-in-all, this movement serves as a breezy essay needed to unwind from the relatively serious content of the three movements that precede it.

Recorded by the University of Georgia Bulldog Brass Society on 09MAY19, led by Phil Smith.
Shengduo Chen, Tyler Jones - Trumpets
Dilon Bryan - Horn
Joel Clevenger - Trombone
Joseph Guimaraes - Tuba

Dancz Center of New Music, University of Georgia.  Athens, GA.

Canzona à 5

The third movement is called ring modulation.  I set aside plans for this quintet until 2018 when I wanted to explore Claude Vivier’s technique for ring modulation as featured in his orchestral work with soprano voice, Lonely Child (1980).  Here, mathematical calculations based upon two frequencies that are at times combined or subtracted from one another yield additional sound frequencies requiring the performers to play microtones.

Recorded by the University of Georgia Bulldog Brass Society on 09MAY19, led by Phil Smith.
Shengduo Chen, Tyler Jones - Trumpets
Dilon Bryan - Horn
Joel Clevenger - Trombone
Joseph Guimaraes - Tuba

Dancz Center of New Music, University of Georgia.  Athens, GA.

ring modulation

In mid-2018, I completed a short second movement intermezzo to serve as a buffer between the eruptive first movement, and the dense third movement.  This unexpected amalgam of an intermezzo combines the enigmatic scale collection (1 – b2 – 3 - #4 - #5 - #6 – 7) used in Verdi’s setting of the “Ave Maria” with a trombone harmonic glissando found in Bartók’s second movement of the Violin Concerto no. 2 (1937-1938).

Recorded by the University of Georgia Bulldog Brass Society on 09MAY19, led by Phil Smith.
Shengduo Chen, Tyler Jones - Trumpets
Dilon Bryan - Horn
Joel Clevenger - Trombone
Joseph Guimaraes - Tuba

Dancz Center of New Music, University of Georgia.  Athens, GA.

Intermezzo: Unexpected Amalgam

The first movement, Grinding, Twisting Steel, is characterized by fast, harsh textures evoking unrelenting and grating masses of the durable, sturdy alloy.  The mood is at first oppressive and then brooding and menacing.  The idea for the piece was conceived in late 2014 from banter between my fellow graduate students and my composition professor at seminar when we noted that there were not very many well-known compositions that begin with shrill sonorities unfolding at a breakneck pace, such as Bartók’s The Miraculous Mandarin Suite.  Here is my tongue-in-cheek contribution to that discussion topic, composed a year-and-a-half later.

Recorded by the University of Georgia Bulldog Brass Society on 09MAY19, led by Phil Smith.
Shengduo Chen, Tyler Jones - Trumpets
Dilon Bryan - Horn
Joel Clevenger - Trombone
Joseph Guimaraes - Tuba

Dancz Center of New Music, University of Georgia.  Athens, GA.

Grinding, Twisting Steel

Gerardo Lopez, flute solo.
Recorded at the University of Redlands, 27JUN19.

Jackson Pollock’s early surrealist work, Guardians of the Secret (1943), is displayed in the permanent collection of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and serves as the inspiration behind Enigmatic Improvisation for solo flute and electronics, op. 16  (2019).  The painting exudes the heavy, mystical air of an ancient, shamanistic scene far removed from common, everyday experience, and is cast with a sense of foreboding that verges on the apocalyptic.  The shadowy background figures, armored sentinels standing guard in their protective display of the secret image, appear surreal and menacing in their wild depiction.  A lone coyote, the spirit animal of dark magic and trickery in some Native American cultures, rests beneath the enigmatic relic with a watchful eye. 

Given these elements, I crafted the fixed media background with a similarly dark and weighty intensity, to conjure an ominous, and sometimes violent, clamorous landscape that defies simple explanation.  Disembodied whispers, animal cries, crashes, and subsonic eruptions depict the nocturnal absence of reason in the first movement, entitled Guardians.  This gives way to the transparent, diaphanous textures found in the meditative Mythos, portraying the radiant luminosity of the mysterious, secret artefact in a loosely unfolding prolation canon.  The final movement, Emergence, proceeds with a dark grandeur.  It arises from a sense of transcendent epiphany, one that suggests for the observer an unexpected awareness and wonder for the titular secret at the heart of this work. 
-ARL, 24MAY19.

Duration - Approximately 13 minutes

Enigmatic Improvisation was selected as a Finalist for the Red Jasper Award for Music Composition in February 2022.

This work was also chosen to be featured at the 2020 Turn Up Multimedia Festival at the Fred Fox School of Music at the University of AZ, Tucson.

Enigmatic Improvisation for flute & electronics, op. 16 (2019) -- Original version

Harnessing the chugging, energetic sounds of contemporary postmodernism as a starting point, Andres R. Luz develops his artistic idiom from the legacy of music history stretching back to medieval and Renaissance stylistic practices, up to those of the present-day.  
Andres Luz has studied with Jeffrey Miller at California State University, East Bay (B.A. Music, magna cum laude, 2013) and taken private studies in electroacoustic music with Ian Dicke, as well as master classes with Hannah Lash, P.Q. Phan, Zae Munn, and Paul Salerni.  Andres Luz completed the Master of Music Composition at the University of Redlands in 2016.

In 2022, Andres Luz completed the Doctorate in Musical Arts in Composition at the University of Georgia (UGA), Athens, studying with Peter Van Zandt Lane, Adrian Childs, and Emily Koh.  Andres Luz also served as Visiting Assistant Professor of Theory and Electronic Music Composition at the University of Redlands and as the assistant of the Dancz Center of New Music at the Hugh Hodgson School of Music at UGA.

His music has been played internationally and notably by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and the Wind Symphony of the College-Conservatory at the University of Cincinnati.  Among his electroacoustic pieces, Andres Luz’s 2017 fixed media work, Premotions, Landscape at Twilight is featured on MUSLAB-Cero Records’ PLANETA COMPEJO album from Fall 2023.  Among the works for large ensemble, Dr. Luz’s dissertation composition, Bulosan: On American Democracy for Narrator, Wind Symphony, and Fixed Media (2021, rev. 2023), won the 2023 American Prize in Composition, College/University-Level Wind Ensemble Division and Runner-up among American Prize compositions featuring Social Justice content.  This work is featured in Ablaze Records’ first volume of the Wind Orchestra Masters series released in Summer 2024.  In the upcoming November/December 2024 issue of Fanfare Magazine, reviewer Ken Meltzer describes Bulosan as “an eloquent and moving work, one I recommend heartily.”  In another review by Colin Clarke, Bulosan is lauded as "expertly structured and emotionally powerful," while Natalie Szabo writes that the album documents a "masterful ensemble performance.  Five stars."

Andres Luz is a member of ASCAP, SEAMUS, Millennium Composers Initiative, and Society of Composers, Inc., and is published by Murphy Music Press and Post-Classical Music.

andresrluz

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