Album: The Curse The Cross & the Lion
Release: November 5, 2013
Artist:  Nathan Felix

Tracks:
I. The Curse The Cross & the Lion
II. Lion's Roar
III. Broken Down the Walls
IV. In My Heart
V. Don't Give It Up
VI. Funeral Montage

www.TheCurseTheCrossTheLion.com

The Curse the Cross & the Lion is an adventurous, cinematic symphony by indie-rocker/film scorer turned composer, Nathan Felix. CCL explores 6 thematic movements that span over 28 minutes long and was performed by and written for full symphony orchestra.

From the dissonant opening crescendo of the self-titled 1st movement, to the brooding yet elegant 3rd movement of Broken Down the Walls, to the Western jangle of Don’t Give It Up, The Curse the Cross & the Lion, injects your soul with a genre-bending musical adventure that pays homage to some of the greats, but has a surprise around every stanza. The combination of melodic irresistibility and incisive epic textures are ever-present hallmarks of Felix’s raw untampered repertoire.

4. Don't Give Up (Excerpt) [Purchase full track on iTunes]

iii. Phosphorescent Flame

Nubes crinium lucem excludant
Cave flammam,
Placet tibi nigram mortem stillare in cor. quā caelum ardēbit.
Currūs igneī terras ardebunt,
Flamma caerula fiat,
Et erit caeca bonis.

The clouds of dust the light they will shut out
Beware of the flame
It pleases you that the dark death drips into your heart By which the sky will burn
Chariots of fire the earth they will burn
Flame blue it will become
And It will be blind to good men.

Phosphorescent Plague (NEON HEAVEN Excerpt)

NEON HEAVEN
Everything we do is for the purpose of altering consciousness.

Inspired by mood, atmosphere, and cinematography from the likes of David Lynch’s, Twin Peaks , Jodorowsky's Holy Mountain and Nicolas Winding's, Drive and Only God Forgives, Composer Nathan Felix set out to capture a hypnotic melding of colors and music for his choral symphony, Neon Heaven. Felix trekked through Mount Qingcheng in Chengdu, China for 8-months, writing daily as the mountains revealed echoes of monastic liturgy that provided his soundscape.

Recording then took place over a 5-day period in an abandoned warehouse in East Austin in the hot summer of Texas. Without air-condition and little light, the performers ascended to hallucinogenic levels of expression. Sounds on the record evoke a wide range of feelings, at times hinting of a dark Mendelssohn with other moments sitting in pockets with pop sensibilities.

Felix debuts, Neon Haven, at SPOT Festival in Denmark with conductor Mathias Sørensen and the Aarhus Studiekor.

Phantasmagoria (NEON HEAVEN Excerpt)

i. Love Song for Anitae

Carissima meae vitae, 
Accipe meas manus 
Claude tua lumina 
Dede te
Tangēo te
Tangēs me 
deseramus lustremus 
novas vias Una
ad aeternum
Tuā formā
Habeō fidem
Habeō spem
Carmina Dulcia Anitae 
maria navigemus tempestatas 
toleremus Sequamur
 ignem caelestum 
Nostra fides dux sit
Veni sub ponte mecum
Sol Cum altissime surgat
et conveniamus
antequam deseramus
Permittas me 
ponere oscula in pedibus Inde valeamus
Lunā amnes adlucente 
adfulgenteque tua lumina


Love of my life 
Take my hand 
Close your eyes 
Surrender
I feel you 
You feel me 
Let’s run off 
And get lost 
Together Forever
All of your beauty
Brings me faith
Gives me hope
A love song for Anita

We can sail the seas
Fight through the Storms
Let us follow the fire in the sky
Faith will be our guide
Meet me under the bridge
And when the sun is at its peak
And unite as one
And before we leave
Let me kiss your feet
And share our goodbye
With the reflection of the moon on the water Illuminating your eyes

Amor Dei - Love Song for Anita (NEON HEAVEN Excerpt)

PURCHASE ON ITUNES - http://apple.co/1rOduBj

Neon Heaven is symphony #2 by Nathan Felix.  Neon Heaven is a choral symphony sung in Latin that captures a hypnotic melding of colors and music, at times hinting of a dark Mendelssohn with other moments sitting in pockets with pop sensibilities.    


The 4th Moirai

The Sword & The Throne

PURCHASE ON ITUNES - http://apple.co/1rOduBj

Neon Heaven is symphony #2 by Nathan Felix.  Neon Heaven is a choral symphony sung in Latin that captures a hypnotic melding of colors and music, at times hinting of a dark Mendelssohn with other moments sitting in pockets with pop sensibilities.    

iii. Phosphorescent Flame

Nubes crinium lucem excludant
Cave flammam,
Placet tibi nigram mortem stillare in cor. quā caelum ardēbit.
Currūs igneī terras ardebunt,
Flamma caerula fiat,
Et erit caeca bonis.

The clouds of dust the light they will shut out
Beware of the flame
It pleases you that the dark death drips into your heart By which the sky will burn
Chariots of fire the earth they will burn
Flame blue it will become
And It will be blind to good men.


Phosphorescent Flame

ACT 6: I Stand on the Rio Grande
i. Culture Shock

(Jean standing along the river concerned that Joe is distant and now stationed in San Antonio, all while a baby is coming.)

CHORUS ( whisper )
‘Whisper names of migrant children’

Jean
Desert sun
Baby comes
Joe is gone to San Antone
I stand on the borderland 
Rio Grande
Will my children 
Feel this pain
Discriminate

CHORUS ( whisper )
‘Whisper names of migrant children’

The War Bride

ix. I Stand On The Rio Grande

ACT 5: Nuevo Laredo
i. Bien Venido a Laredo
ii. El Primo de Joe

(Wearing a thick coat and tired from a long train ride, Jean meets Joes cousins including Juan who takes Jeans suitcase but does not offer her a ride and she must take a taxi to her new home. Laredo is far from what she expected of life in America. Seven people live in a small house with 2 rooms and a washtub out in the backyard)



Joe
Bien venido a Laredo
La huida de Mejico
Bien venido a Laredo
La huida de Mejico
Bien venido a Laredo
A currucado a el Rio Grande

Juan
Mi nombre es Juan 
El primo de Joe
Esta es Nuestra casa
Puede llavar con la llave atras
Y la taza esta afuera 
En el cobertezo

(Joe is a different person that the man she met in Britain.  Perhaps due to the war?  He ignores Jean and is distant physically and emotionally)

Joe
Bien venido a Laredo
La huida de Mejico
Estoy cansado de la guerra
Feliz de estar en casa
Pero pronto nuestra estacion sera
No he visto a mis amigos en anos
De masiadas cosas han cambiando
Alrededor de me dentro de mi

viii. Nuevo Laredo

ACT 4: The Bride Train
i. The Appalachian Range
ii. Carolinas to the Mississippi
iii. Texas to Laredo

(Jean (monologue style) boards a train unknowing the geographical location of her final stop.  Exhausted, pregnant and lonely, Jean finds herself mesmerized by the landscapes)

Jean
Leaving New York by train
Dreaming of our new life
I gave away my life
All in the name of love
For my sweet Joe
Wide eyed mountain ranges
Grand appalachian 
Warms the skies with 
Red and yellow colors
Gilded 
In awe of sight
It’s beauty reigns 
It steals my heart
I’m so alive
And overwhelmed
I want you here
To hold my hand
Carolina
Jessamine
Foothills of Tennessee 
Down through the 
Mississippi river breeze
Ghosts of Mark Twain
It’s marvel stares me in my soul
A British girl with virgin eyes
From poverty but now I dream
And pray for my America 
The land of freedom
The hope of my America
Oh America 
And through the state of Arkansas
Down to Texas
My train has stopped 
In Laredo
In Laredo

(Jean gets off the train in the heat of Laredo)

vii. The Bride Train

ACT 3: New York
i. The City
ii. Newfoundland

(Jean in NYC overwhelmed by the bright lights and excitement of the wonderment of all she had dreamed America would be, unknowing of the culture shock that awaited her in south Texas)

CHORUS ( showtune/broadway)
Turn to the left
Turn to the left
Turn to the left
Turn to the left
Turn to the right
New York! New York!
Turn to the left
New York! New York!
Turn to the right
New York! New York!
Turn to the right
New York! New York!
Turn to the left
New York! New York!

Jean
I am here to see my love in
New York! New York!
I am here to feel alive in
New York! New York!
Hold me in your arms tonight
New York! New York!
We can live our dreams tonight
New York! New York!
New York! New York

(heading towards her train)

New York 
Bye Bye
On my mind
Bye New York 
Goodbye my love
New York

Grandchild (sung with choir to represent their 7 children in the future)
New York is where
My mothers mom 
Set foot upon the
Newfoundland
She paved the way
For me to fail
So here I am today
To break the curses
That my father left
Before he left me 
Here to die 
Not caring for 
The child i was 
But now I am that child today
New york is where
My mothers mom 
Set foot upon the 
Newfoundland
She paved the way
For me to fail 
New York!!!

(train horn)

vi. New York

(at the dock in New York and US Customs where war brides did passport checks and were given train tickets to their final destination(s))

US Customs Officer
Oh The United States
Welcomes you to New York
All you wallflower wives
Please get in line

Jean
American soil
Is this really
My new home

US Customs Officer
This train to Georgia
This train to Kansas
This train to Utah
This train to Texas
Have your passport 
For the bride train
Farewell war brides
New life in America

(train horn sounds)

v. American Soil

(stationed back in Germany receiving a letter from Jean and writing a letter back)

Joe
Blood dreams or life
Everybody screams
From bombing in the day
Bombing in the night
My best friend died in my arms
I don’t know what I’ll become
I feel myself changing
Who am I
Who am I

CHORUS ( delicate ) 
Rivers
Rivers
Rivers
(aboard the S.S. Saturnia after a week at sea and approaching New York)

Jean
Rivers can unite
Rivers can divide
At the break of dawn
Liberty 
New York 
New York

CHORUS 
New York 
New York 
New York 
New York

(ship horn sounds)

iv. Letters From Germany

ACT 2:  S.S. Saturnia
i. FDR
ii. The Dance
iii. War Bride Ship
iv. Letters from Germany
v. The Atlantic to New York

Joe
I see you
Standing there
Dancing beauty
 
(dancing. Jean & Joe fall in love and immediately look to get married. Jean was previously engaged to an French Canadian soldier who died in action)
 
Joe & Jean
Time stands still
In your arms
Marry me
My Joe/Jean (respectively)
 
Jean
I’ve lost one before 
To this war
Take my heart
 
(fast forward to shipman, signifying marriage and the beginning of Jean’s journey)
 
Shipman
All aboard the S.S. Saturnia 
War Brides!
 
 
 
(on the S.S. Saturnia setting sail over the Atlantic. This is Jean’s first time seeing the ocean and she is alone as Joe is stationed back in Germany and will not return to the US for 18 more months. We also discover Jean is pregnant and is feeling alone leaving her family and Joe for the time being)
 
Jean
Virgin eyes
On ocean shores
Atlantic
 
CHORUS ( murmurs ) 
 
Shipman
In one week
You will see America

Jean
Breathing inside me
Please God
Save my family
I hope this letter finds you
Goodbye England
My heart is forever torn

iii. S.S. Saturnia

Franklin D. Roosevelt: 
(Excerpts of radio broadcast of FDR’s speech after Pearl Harbor)

I assent that we will not only 
Defend ourselves to the uttermost
But will make it certain 
That this form of treachery
Shall never
Endanger Us
With confidence of our armed forces 
With the unbounding determination 
Of our people
We will gain the inevitable triumph 
So help us God

ii. Franklin D. Rooseveldt

ACT 1: Britain Declares War...
i.  This Country is at War with Germany
ii. Neville Chamberlain
(The scene is in a formal office/podium as British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain declares war with Germany.)
 
CHORUS ( chant ): 
This is a public radio announcement
This is a public radio announcement
 
Neville Chamberlain ( stoic ): 
The country is at war with Germany
 
CHORUS ( chant ): 
The country is at war with Germany
 
Neville Chamberlain
My long struggle to win peace has failed
Now may God Bless you all
May he defend the right
It is the evil things that we shall fight against
 
In justice and oppression and persecution
And against them
I am certain that 
the right will prevail
 
CHORUS ( chant ): 
Will prevail

i. Britain Declares War

Nathan Felix (born 1981) is a Brooklyn based, Mexican-American, music composer known for his immersive and audience interactive operas.  His music has been premiered in Bulgaria, Portugal, Spain, Denmark, Mongolia and the United States and his music has been featured on the BBC, MTV, NPR & PBS.

Felix just completed two commissions for immersive opera.  Alien Wanderers : Alien World : Alien Home featured soloist Katrina Saporsantos and addressed discrimination and issues surrounding the United States’ southern border, marginalized groups and reappropriation of borders, premiered at Blanton Museum on Nov 21 2019.  A Dream is a Dream is a Dream is a Dream… a ‘silent’ headphone opera about fictional conversations between artist heavyweights from the Surrealist movement and Pop Art movement  premiered at McNay Museum on Nov 7 2019.

In 2016, Felix was featured on PBS and nominated for a Lonestar Emmy for work on his 6-Piano project in which he restored six pianos for a concert featuring two new pieces. After the concert, Felix donated the pianos to schools in lower income neighborhoods in Austin.  The 6 Piano Project has since been commissioned in San Antonio (2016), Barcelona (2017), Melbourne (2017) and Houston (2019).

In 2018, Felix won awards for his “Opera on a Bus” and the “2018 Tobin Prize for Artistic Excellence” for which he premiered is “Headphone Opera” titled, THE WAR BRIDE at Luminaria Contemporary Arts Festival. Then in 2019, Felix further expended on a series of ‘silent’ headphone operas in Orlando for Fringe Festival (Best Composer), Austin, San Antonio and College Station.

Nathan Felix Composer

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