Kyle Bruckmann  |  oboe
Mckenzie Lagenfeld  |  vibraphone
Jennifer Ellis  |  harp

This piece is a setting of Dorraine Laux's 2017 poem "Under Stars." The poem is not sung in my setting, however—it is  used as a dramatic guide, for both me as a composer and (hopefully) for the performers. I originally intended to set Ray Bradbury's 1947 short story "I See You Never" based on its title alone, but its words failed to sufficiently inspire. I found that title, however, to be poignant, especially in the quarantines of 2020-21 that have kept me physically very far from people I love. So I kept it.

The idea of setting an unsung text comes from the instrumental jazz tradition of playing standards. A pianist, for instance, might internalize the lyrics of a song and communicate them not through singing, but through playing.  —D.G.

Painting: Kay Sage, "On The Contrary" (1952)

I See You Never (2021) for oboe, vibraphone, and harp

Progressive Metal Guitarist, Drummer, Bassist, and Keyboardist.

Daniel Godsil's music, which has been described by the San Francisco Classical Voice as having an “intense dramatic narrative,” draws from such eclectic influences as science fiction, thrash metal, and Brutalist architecture. His more recent work draws inspiration from the natural beauty of Northern California, his current home.

Winner of the 2019 League of Composers/ISCM Steven R. Gerber prize (for Cosmographia) and the 2017 Earplay Donald Aird Composition Competition (for his quartet Aeropittura), Godsil's music has been played by Ensemble Dal Niente, Spektral Quartet, Talujon Percussion, Daedalus Quartet, Lydian String Quartet, Empyrean Ensemble, Metropolitan Orchestra of Saint Louis, UC Davis Symphony Orchestra, University Symphony Orchestra at California State University Fullerton, Knox-Galesburg Symphony, and the Nova Singers, among many others. Recent film scores include the PBS documentary Boxcar People, Man Ray’s 1926 silent film Emak-Bakia and the feature film H.G. Wells’ The First Men In The Moon. Godsil was a finalist in the 2018 Lake George Music Festival chamber composition competition, as well as the 2014 and 2019 Red Note New Music Festival Composition Competitions. His choral works are published by Alliance Music Publishing and NoteNova Publishing.

Born and raised in central Illinois, Godsil (b.1982) is currently pursuing his PhD. in Composition and Theory at the University of California, Davis, studying with Mika Pelo, Laurie San Martin, and Sam Nichols. He holds an MFA in Music Composition from the Vermont College of Fine Arts, where he studied with John Fitz Rogers, John Mallia, and Jonathan Bailey Holland. He also holds a BM in Music Composition from Webster University.

Godsil was selected to participate in the 2017 Summer Institute for Contemporary Performance Practice (SICPP) in Boston, where he had master classes with composers Nicholas Vines and Georg Friedrich Haas.