The zipper was difficult to use, but he managed. His large hooves were clumsy. And amazingly, after they were securely around his waist, he opened his slender mouth and…well it was a strange and beautiful sound. As he galloped off the ocean roared, and I returned once again to my chair.

And the stallion put on my pants and began to sing.

Imagine a dried up old porch swing creaking away in the middle of an overly green field of grass. Suspended somewhere beyond the clouds, the swing is a symbol of nostalgia and sentimentality. Moving erratically at times, and others not at all, this swing bends and pulls the world around it; a world that bows to the swing’s fading will.

Premiered by: Gina Sexton, flute – Celina Tamez, oboe – Reshanda Billy, clarniet – Lynn Moncilovich, bassoon – Nathan McCarter, horn – Brad Coker, tuba – Taylor Kami & Matt Ehlers, percussion – Davina Hong & Su-Yeon Park, violin – Colin Meinecke, viola – Jeff Hartick, cello – Michael Hartery, bass – Stephen Lucas, electronics – Hsiao-Lan Wang, conductor
8PM March 6, 2006 at The University of North Texas, Recital Hall

"Ebb" for 13 musicians and electronics

"Dinosaur" is my response to the drum and bass music of English composer Tom Jenkinson, aka. Squarepusher.  Inspired by the way J.S. Bach borrowed from Buxtehude in some of his early works I began composing this first as a variation on a theme. However, it quickly developed into a mostly original piano solo. The work consists of three main sections in a moderately fast, slow, fast arrangement.

"Dinosaur" for piano and electronics

"Towards the Heavens" for flute & organ (2021)
music by Daniel Zajicek

Live performance
Henry Williford, flute
Ryan Pennington, organ

Sunday, July 11, 2021
St. Philip's United Methodist Church
Houston, TX

Toward The Heavens

Grand Variation for Large Orchestra (2012)
Daniel Zajicek

Performed by the Shepherd School Symphony Orchestra
Conducted by Jerry Hou - http://jerryhou.com/
January 14th, 2015
Recorded by Andy Bradley

Grand Variations for Large Orchestra

Portrait · TV · Man 
OPERA IN ONE ACT 
Libretto by Sebastian Zaberca 
Music by Daniel Zajicek 
First performance: Houston, TX - 20 March 2011

CHARACTERS 
Portrait [an Italian Duke]    Baritone 
TV [a television announcer]    Baritone 
Businessman [a Wallstreet broker]   Baritone 
Setting: The businessman’s apartment. 

SYNOPSIS:

INTRODUCTION 
Noises emanate from a busy street; a staged drama is situated before an 
audience. The TV runs down the headlines, and, as if afraid of silence, the 
Portrait begins to sing. Prompted by a stagehand, the TV becomes aware of 
the audience and beckons them, while the Portrait laments his counterfeit 
existence. The TV’s yearning unites with the Portrait’s lament and they sing 
together. The outside storm intrudes. 

PART I 
United in the same space, the TV and Portrait decide to make conversation. 
Neither is truly happy, yet they believe their mode of existence is better than 
the other’s. Eventually they sing a duet in which they argue over which of 
their forms is more real. The Businessman enters wet from the rain. 

PART II 
The TV relays the current state of the market. Depressed, the Businessman 
sings. A loud phone call awakes the sleeping Portrait. Henceforth, the Por- 
trait becomes obsessed with the likeness of the Businessman to his brother 
Mario. Once again the TV reads through the headlines, there is another 
phone call, and the Portrait convinces the TV of the shared likeness of the 
Businessman to his brother. Yet all the while, nobody is watching them, so 
they sing about it in a brief trio. Distraught, the Businessman fixes a drink 
and sits on the sofa. 

CODA 
The TV dreams of life outside his box.

Credits:

Composer: Daniel Zajicek

Librettist: Sebastian Zaberca

Video Artist: Daniel Zajicek

Producer: Daniel Zajicek

Baritone: David Smith

Conductor: Karl Blench

Stage Director: John Grimmett

Sound Engineer: Chapman Welch

Set Designer: Ayn Morgan

Puppet Designer: Camella Clements

Ensemble: Kevin Judge (bassoon), Natalie Parker (clarinet), Anna Marie Reader (cello), Andrew Schneider (piano), Natalie Zeldin (flute)

Puppeteer: Steve Bachicha

Sound/Video Operator: Hsiao-Lan Wang

Artistic Advisors: Kurt Stallmann & Art Gottschalk

Vocal Advisor: Mark Whatley

Staging Advisor: Andrew Zukoski, Andre Janacua,

Libretto Proofreader: Jeff Kuntz

Hospitality coordinator: Laura Nolte

Performance: Sunday, March 20th, 2011 5:30 P.M. Hirsch Recital Hall Shepherd School of Music, Rice University

Portrait TV Man - An Opera in One Act

During his visit to the beach, a man is pulled underwater by a strong undertow, and after twelve minutes without oxygen, he never regains consciousness. Nothing in the Nothingness is an operatic monologue that explores what it means to be alive and functioning in a vegetative state when consciousness is not possible.

Music by Daniel Zajicek
Libretto by John Grimmett
Video, Daniel Zajicek

Alex Rosen, MAN
Lisa Villegas, NURSE

Evan Withner, alto sax
George Heathco, electric guitar
Benjamin Stoehr, cello
Victor Valkov, piano
Luke Hubley, drum set
Conducted by Hsiao-Lan Wang

NOTHING IN THE NOTHINGNESS

"Punk-Truck-Love" is punk rock for the bass clarinet, or at least the beginning is. There are three large sections to this work, and the title generally reflects those. In addition, the title also helps explain the sonic territory of the piece.

Carlos Cordeiro, bass clarinet
http://www.carloscordeiro.org/

Punk-Truck-Love

straight lines with hard edges 
for string quartet and Bb clarinet (2012)

live recording
Saturday, March 17, 2012 at 5:00 pm

Performers:
Juan Olivares, clarinet
Rob Landes, violin
Eun-Mi Lee, violin
Dawson White, viola
Hellen Weberpal, cello

Commissioned by New Art/New Music
http://newartnewmusic.tumblr.com/


Straight Lines with Hard Edges

This is an arrangement I made of Nirvana’s “Lithium.” Nirvana changed my life and I wanted to play this song on the instrument that I knew best as thanks to them. It’s not flashy, but I hope it captures some of the simple direct beauty of the original.

Lithium (piano arrangement by Daniel Zajicek)

Daniel Zajicek is a composer and video artist. Most interested in beauty and the bizarre, his musical output consists of solo, chamber, choral, electronic, video, installation, operatic, orchestral, and theater music. Performances of his music have taken place throughout the United States, the Czech Republic, and the Far East-most notably at the International Computer Music Conference, the SEAMUS national conference, Diverse Works Flikerlounge, Society of Composers Inc., Imagine II, Florida Electro-acoustic Music Festival, Most Significant Bytes, Lewis University Bytes concert series, the NewTown Pasadena/SCREAM Sounding Images program, MusicAcoustic 2005: Mix (Beijing), the University of Missouri-Kansas City’s Musica Nova, and the Mckinney Repertory Theater. He has been the recipient of the Bertha Mallard Scolarship for Music Composition, the Richard and Candice Faulk Composition Scholarship, the Merrill Ellis Memorial Composition Scholarship, and as a pianist, Daniel was given a scholarship from the National Federation of Music Clubs. Additional honors for his music have come from the Missouri State Music Teachers National Association, the National Guild of Piano Teachers, and ASCAP.
 
Video works by Daniel have been shown at Newtown’s Pop-Up films, Diverse Works Flickerlounge, 4D DREAM-a-thon, Sounding Images, and Most Significant Bytes, among others. His video Self Portrait is released on the first installment of Buffet DVD (buffetdvd.com).
 
Daniel holds degrees from the University of Missouri-Kansas City (BM Composition & BM Piano Performance), the University of North Texas (MM Composition), and Rice University (DMA Composition). He has taught music technology and music theory at Rice University, The Art Institute of Houston, and Collin County Community College. While at the University of North Texas, he served as audio/visual specialist for the College of Music and helped oversee the construction and operation of the College of Music Computer Lab Recording Studio.

danielzajicek

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