Operas

Hoods
an opera mashup of Hekabe and Red Riding Hood

VII. Eyes 			
Tent of Trojan women. Hekabe invites Polymestor and family to her tent, blinds him, and kills all his children. Polymestor asks for justice from Agamemnon, who deems it served. Polymestor tells Hekabe she will turn into a dog with eyes of red fire.

tumble into water
fall out of your own heart
lose your own life

Jessica Aszodi, Stephanie Aston, Natalie Moran, sopranos.
Michael Matsuno, flute/bass flute; Sam Dunscombe, clarinet; Nicolee Kuester, French horn; Ryan Nestor, percussion; Judith Hamann, cello; Kyle Motl, contrabass; Stephen Lewis, conductor.

Recorded by Colin Zyskowski, Studio A, UCSD, 2014.

Hoods - VII. Fall out of your heart

HUNGER: Part III, Sc. 1 (Clip 1) - August 14th & 15th, 2014
A new multimedia opera in four parts by composer Jason Thorpe Buchanan & librettist Darcie Dennigan

Darmstadt Contemporary Opera Workshop with Ensemble Interface, soprano S.Aston, mezzo-soprano B.K.Majewska, baritone S.Storck. 
Musical director/conductor Stephan Schreiber, stage director L.Steier, Dramaturg P.Hahn, composer H.Thomalla, and vocal instructor D.Michel-Dansac.

Knut Hamsun’s novel "Sult" is a point of departure for a libretto by award-winning poet Darcie Dennigan, exploring themes of psychological decay, irrationality, and self-destruction. Oumenos is a starving and delusional young writer who is unwilling to compromise his work even as his intellect and body gradually deteriorate.  He is split in two; the baritone and soprano form a composite, each depicting aspects of his inner/outer selves and suppressed madness. His hunger and self-disgust lead him to consider stealing bread, and to thoughts of self-mutilation. He despises his baseness. He is a dog. He is drawn to Ylajali, a young girl who appears to him in various manifestations – her physical existence and a distortion/projection in his mind. At the bloodbank, Ylajali draws his blood. At the spermbank, she coaxes his orgasm. In a butchershop, Ylajali as countergirl displays the meat before him. He fights his coarseness and hungers to appear presentable, normal. He finds himself examining her on the counter as if she were meat. Humiliated by his inner self, and by Ylajali, he in turn humiliates her. He has again become, in his mind, a dog.

The first completed scene (Part III, Sc. 1) was selected for the Darmstadt Contemporary Opera Workshop and premiered August, 2014 in an acoustic version for three singers, a.flute, b.clarinet, perc, pno, vln, and vc. This ensemble was later augmented by the inclusion of e-guitar, bari sax, electronics, and video projection. Scenes 1 & 2 were premiered in a concert version with electronics at The Industry’s FIRST TAKE in Los Angeles on February 21, 2015. LA Times critic Mark Swed called Hunger (Part III) “elliptical” – “Hunger is a kind of training session in mental disintegration… An ungodly opera needs ugly music, singers who produce primal sounds, an electric guitar that sounds scraped raw, a wailing orchestra effects, cuts the ear like a knife. Buchanan delivers.”  The first complete staged performance of "Hunger (Part III, Scenes 1 & 2)" with live video processing was premiered by the [Switch~ Ensemble] on May 15, 2016 as part of MATA’s Interval Series at the DiMenna Center in NYC.

Our vision is a multimedia opera whose musical and dramaturgical narrative is driven not by dialogue or action, but rather psychological and musical states seamlessly entwining electronics and real-time video capture of liver performance against pre-recorded film, with multiple projection surfaces and electronics. At its core, Hunger evokes the deeply “internal” quality of Hamsun’s Sult, while reason and semantic content are obfuscated through the fragmentation of both music and text. Oscillation between intelligibility and unintelligibility demand focus on phenomenological qualities and filmic subtlety, inviting participants to explore and engage with a multiplicity of potential narrative threads played out as contradictory physical and digital manifestations occurring simultaneously. Because its true subject is, as Hamsun described, “the delicate fluctuations of a sensitive soul, the strange, peculiar life of the mind,” "Hunger" invites participants to construct and engage with a multiplicity of scenarios and readings. Hunger breaks with operatic conventions by eschewing grandeur and dramaturgical coherence in order to explore the volatile city of one man’s psyche. The edge of comprehensibility itself becomes a means of structural integrity, reflecting the central themes of deterioration and fragility. 

More information and synopsis: www.hungeropera.com

HUNGER Part III, Scene 1 (m.1) - Darmstadt Contemporary Opera Workshop

HUNGER: Part III, Sc. 1 (Clip 2) - August 14th & 15th, 2014
A new multimedia opera in four parts by composer Jason Thorpe Buchanan & librettist Darcie Dennigan

Darmstadt Contemporary Opera Workshop with Ensemble Interface, soprano S.Aston, mezzo-soprano B.K.Majewska, baritone S.Storck. 
Musical director/conductor Stephan Schreiber, stage director L.Steier, Dramaturg P.Hahn, composer H.Thomalla, and vocal instructor D.Michel-Dansac.

Knut Hamsun’s novel "Sult" is a point of departure for a libretto by award-winning poet Darcie Dennigan, exploring themes of psychological decay, irrationality, and self-destruction. Oumenos is a starving and delusional young writer who is unwilling to compromise his work even as his intellect and body gradually deteriorate.  He is split in two; the baritone and soprano form a composite, each depicting aspects of his inner/outer selves and suppressed madness. His hunger and self-disgust lead him to consider stealing bread, and to thoughts of self-mutilation. He despises his baseness. He is a dog. He is drawn to Ylajali, a young girl who appears to him in various manifestations – her physical existence and a distortion/projection in his mind. At the bloodbank, Ylajali draws his blood. At the spermbank, she coaxes his orgasm. In a butchershop, Ylajali as countergirl displays the meat before him. He fights his coarseness and hungers to appear presentable, normal. He finds himself examining her on the counter as if she were meat. Humiliated by his inner self, and by Ylajali, he in turn humiliates her. He has again become, in his mind, a dog.

The first completed scene (Part III, Sc. 1) was selected for the Darmstadt Contemporary Opera Workshop and premiered August, 2014 in an acoustic version for three singers, a.flute, b.clarinet, perc, pno, vln, and vc. This ensemble was later augmented by the inclusion of e-guitar, bari sax, electronics, and video projection. Scenes 1 & 2 were premiered in a concert version with electronics at The Industry’s FIRST TAKE in Los Angeles on February 21, 2015. LA Times critic Mark Swed called Hunger (Part III) “elliptical” – “Hunger is a kind of training session in mental disintegration… An ungodly opera needs ugly music, singers who produce primal sounds, an electric guitar that sounds scraped raw, a wailing orchestra effects, cuts the ear like a knife. Buchanan delivers.”  The first complete staged performance of "Hunger (Part III, Scenes 1 & 2)" with live video processing was premiered by the [Switch~ Ensemble] on May 15, 2016 as part of MATA’s Interval Series at the DiMenna Center in NYC.

Our vision is a multimedia opera whose musical and dramaturgical narrative is driven not by dialogue or action, but rather psychological and musical states seamlessly entwining electronics and real-time video capture of liver performance against pre-recorded film, with multiple projection surfaces and electronics. At its core, Hunger evokes the deeply “internal” quality of Hamsun’s Sult, while reason and semantic content are obfuscated through the fragmentation of both music and text. Oscillation between intelligibility and unintelligibility demand focus on phenomenological qualities and filmic subtlety, inviting participants to explore and engage with a multiplicity of potential narrative threads played out as contradictory physical and digital manifestations occurring simultaneously. Because its true subject is, as Hamsun described, “the delicate fluctuations of a sensitive soul, the strange, peculiar life of the mind,” "Hunger" invites participants to construct and engage with a multiplicity of scenarios and readings. Hunger breaks with operatic conventions by eschewing grandeur and dramaturgical coherence in order to explore the volatile city of one man’s psyche. The edge of comprehensibility itself becomes a means of structural integrity, reflecting the central themes of deterioration and fragility. 

More information and synopsis: www.hungeropera.com

HUNGER Part III, Scene 1 (m.23) - Darmstadt Contemporary Opera Workshop

HUNGER: Part III, Sc. 1 (Clip 3) - August 14th & 15th, 2014
A new multimedia opera in four parts by composer Jason Thorpe Buchanan & librettist Darcie Dennigan

Darmstadt Contemporary Opera Workshop with Ensemble Interface, soprano S.Aston, mezzo-soprano B.K.Majewska, baritone S.Storck. 
Musical director/conductor Stephan Schreiber, stage director L.Steier, Dramaturg P.Hahn, composer H.Thomalla, and vocal instructor D.Michel-Dansac.

Knut Hamsun’s novel "Sult" is a point of departure for a libretto by award-winning poet Darcie Dennigan, exploring themes of psychological decay, irrationality, and self-destruction. Oumenos is a starving and delusional young writer who is unwilling to compromise his work even as his intellect and body gradually deteriorate.  He is split in two; the baritone and soprano form a composite, each depicting aspects of his inner/outer selves and suppressed madness. His hunger and self-disgust lead him to consider stealing bread, and to thoughts of self-mutilation. He despises his baseness. He is a dog. He is drawn to Ylajali, a young girl who appears to him in various manifestations – her physical existence and a distortion/projection in his mind. At the bloodbank, Ylajali draws his blood. At the spermbank, she coaxes his orgasm. In a butchershop, Ylajali as countergirl displays the meat before him. He fights his coarseness and hungers to appear presentable, normal. He finds himself examining her on the counter as if she were meat. Humiliated by his inner self, and by Ylajali, he in turn humiliates her. He has again become, in his mind, a dog.

The first completed scene (Part III, Sc. 1) was selected for the Darmstadt Contemporary Opera Workshop and premiered August, 2014 in an acoustic version for three singers, a.flute, b.clarinet, perc, pno, vln, and vc. This ensemble was later augmented by the inclusion of e-guitar, bari sax, electronics, and video projection. Scenes 1 & 2 were premiered in a concert version with electronics at The Industry’s FIRST TAKE in Los Angeles on February 21, 2015. LA Times critic Mark Swed called Hunger (Part III) “elliptical” – “Hunger is a kind of training session in mental disintegration… An ungodly opera needs ugly music, singers who produce primal sounds, an electric guitar that sounds scraped raw, a wailing orchestra effects, cuts the ear like a knife. Buchanan delivers.”  The first complete staged performance of "Hunger (Part III, Scenes 1 & 2)" with live video processing was premiered by the [Switch~ Ensemble] on May 15, 2016 as part of MATA’s Interval Series at the DiMenna Center in NYC.

Our vision is a multimedia opera whose musical and dramaturgical narrative is driven not by dialogue or action, but rather psychological and musical states seamlessly entwining electronics and real-time video capture of liver performance against pre-recorded film, with multiple projection surfaces and electronics. At its core, Hunger evokes the deeply “internal” quality of Hamsun’s Sult, while reason and semantic content are obfuscated through the fragmentation of both music and text. Oscillation between intelligibility and unintelligibility demand focus on phenomenological qualities and filmic subtlety, inviting participants to explore and engage with a multiplicity of potential narrative threads played out as contradictory physical and digital manifestations occurring simultaneously. Because its true subject is, as Hamsun described, “the delicate fluctuations of a sensitive soul, the strange, peculiar life of the mind,” "Hunger" invites participants to construct and engage with a multiplicity of scenarios and readings. Hunger breaks with operatic conventions by eschewing grandeur and dramaturgical coherence in order to explore the volatile city of one man’s psyche. The edge of comprehensibility itself becomes a means of structural integrity, reflecting the central themes of deterioration and fragility. 

More information and synopsis: www.hungeropera.com

HUNGER Part III, Scene 1 (m.28) - Darmstadt Contemporary Opera Workshop

commissioned by the Crash Ensemble 
(flute/picc, clarinet/bass-clarinet, trombone, percussion, piano, laptop, violin, viola, cello, bass). 
=====
an Old Time tune called Ways of the World, which inspired the New tune I made for movement.

Ways Of The Underworld

live recording from REDCAT, Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles, CA, April 13, 2014

Stephanie Aston, soprano
Andrew Tholl, conductor
New Century Players

Bonnie And Clyde - On The Easter Death Of H.D. Murphy

Please share your comments on: 
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Commissioned by newEar Contemporary Music Ensemble. 
Premiered on November 19, 2016 at Central United Methodist Church in Kansas City, MO.

light years (2016) for mallets, piano, mandolin, and cello

(2013 revised 2015) for flute, vibraphone, piano & cello

Seven Songs is a re-arrangement/re-conception of a piece I wrote in 2011, originally scored for soprano sax, acoustic guitar, harp and percussion. In that original version, each of the seven movements really was like a song, with a simple melody, accompaniment or motive.

This new version retains many of the features of the old, including the order of the movements, the general structure of the piece, and the simplified harmonic language. But it distills and fractures the melodies and rhythms of the original: sometimes that means greater rhythmic detail and complexity, sometimes it means creating different ways of playing together, and sometimes it means eliminating everything from a movement except one small gesture, and exploring that gesture in much greater detail. The resultant set of songs is, hopefully, still emotionally direct and clear, but also freer, more elusive and continuously transforming. The piece now seems to be more like a set of spaces or empty rooms than a set of songs, each movement opening up onto the next space, the light slowly changing.

Performed at the nief-norf Festival 2016. Joshua Weinberg, flute; Aaron Gochberg, percussion; Daniel Schreiner, piano; Sophie Chang, cello.

Seven Songs (2015 version)

This piece celebrates the sounds of clocks, from the tiniest whirring of the bedside alarm clock to the grandest tower chime, through an exploration of these sounds' similarity to sounds of liquid. It has been meticulously constructed from tens of thousands of very short clock recordings, often aggregated at high density to produce gestural shapes that last sometimes only one or two seconds.

Its composition was made possible by the Dias de Música Electroacústica artist-in-residence program, and it premiered in November of 2016 at the Ecos Urbanos festival in Mexico City.

Clock Waters

HUNGER: Part III, Sc. 1 (m.48, Clip 4) - August 14th & 15th, 2014
A new multimedia opera in four parts by composer Jason Thorpe Buchanan & librettist Darcie Dennigan

Darmstadt Contemporary Opera Workshop with Ensemble Interface, soprano S.Aston, mezzo-soprano B.K.Majewska, baritone S.Storck. 
Musical director/conductor Stephan Schreiber, stage director L.Steier, Dramaturg P.Hahn, composer H.Thomalla, and vocal instructor D.Michel-Dansac.

Knut Hamsun’s novel "Sult" is a point of departure for a libretto by award-winning poet Darcie Dennigan, exploring themes of psychological decay, irrationality, and self-destruction. Oumenos is a starving and delusional young writer who is unwilling to compromise his work even as his intellect and body gradually deteriorate.  He is split in two; the baritone and soprano form a composite, each depicting aspects of his inner/outer selves and suppressed madness. His hunger and self-disgust lead him to consider stealing bread, and to thoughts of self-mutilation. He despises his baseness. He is a dog. He is drawn to Ylajali, a young girl who appears to him in various manifestations – her physical existence and a distortion/projection in his mind. At the bloodbank, Ylajali draws his blood. At the spermbank, she coaxes his orgasm. In a butchershop, Ylajali as countergirl displays the meat before him. He fights his coarseness and hungers to appear presentable, normal. He finds himself examining her on the counter as if she were meat. Humiliated by his inner self, and by Ylajali, he in turn humiliates her. He has again become, in his mind, a dog.

The first completed scene (Part III, Sc. 1) was selected for the Darmstadt Contemporary Opera Workshop and premiered August, 2014 in an acoustic version for three singers, a.flute, b.clarinet, perc, pno, vln, and vc. This ensemble was later augmented by the inclusion of e-guitar, bari sax, electronics, and video projection. Scenes 1 & 2 were premiered in a concert version with electronics at The Industry’s FIRST TAKE in Los Angeles on February 21, 2015. LA Times critic Mark Swed called Hunger (Part III) “elliptical” – “Hunger is a kind of training session in mental disintegration… An ungodly opera needs ugly music, singers who produce primal sounds, an electric guitar that sounds scraped raw, a wailing orchestra effects, cuts the ear like a knife. Buchanan delivers.” The first complete staged performance of "Hunger (Part III, Scenes 1 & 2)" with live video processing was premiered by the [Switch~ Ensemble] on May 15, 2016 as part of MATA’s Interval Series at the DiMenna Center in NYC.

Our vision is a multimedia opera whose musical and dramaturgical narrative is driven not by dialogue or action, but rather psychological and musical states seamlessly entwining electronics and real-time video capture of liver performance against pre-recorded film, with multiple projection surfaces and electronics. At its core, Hunger evokes the deeply “internal” quality of Hamsun’s Sult, while reason and semantic content are obfuscated through the fragmentation of both music and text. Oscillation between intelligibility and unintelligibility demand focus on phenomenological qualities and filmic subtlety, inviting participants to explore and engage with a multiplicity of potential narrative threads played out as contradictory physical and digital manifestations occurring simultaneously. Because its true subject is, as Hamsun described, “the delicate fluctuations of a sensitive soul, the strange, peculiar life of the mind,” "Hunger" invites participants to construct and engage with a multiplicity of scenarios and readings. Hunger breaks with operatic conventions by eschewing grandeur and dramaturgical coherence in order to explore the volatile city of one man’s psyche. The edge of comprehensibility itself becomes a means of structural integrity, reflecting the central themes of deterioration and fragility.

More information and synopsis: www.hungeropera.com

HUNGER Part III, Scene 1 (m.48) - Darmstadt Contemporary Opera Workshop

Tierra y Centro de la Tierra (2018)
for Bb clarinet, violin, viola, violoncello, surface transducers & resonant space (in this case a Roman water deposit located under the cloister of the Academy of Spain in Rome), midi controller (keyboard).
-Performed by Distractfold (Rocío Bolaños, Linda Jankowska, Emma Richards, Alice Purton) & Haize Lizarazu.
-Live recording at the Royal Academy of Spain in Rome. 26-06-2018.
-Unwanted birds from 14' on.

Tierra Y Centro De La Tierra (2018)

Menu Screen loop for forthcoming audio game, found ambiance (teaser)

found ambiance (game) Menu Screen Loop

After slavishly following instructions or procedures without critical thought, rinse & repeat is about starting anew and breaking routine. 


rinse & repeat was written, performed and recorded as part of the 2019 New Music on the Point Festival. 

I would like to thank Erin Rogers, Annick Odom, Colin McCall & Emerson Wahl for making music out of my instructions on a page.

rinse & repeat (2019) - for chamber ensemble

06.10.2018
Live performance from Église Saint-Salvi, ALBI, France

Hoods - VII. Fall out of your heart

Carolyn Chen

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