chamber music sample (dca)

drop the needle - dca

a visit from the warmth (2020)
for string quartet and fixed media

Christabel Lin, violins
Karoline “Karli” Leal, viola
Shawn Sanders, cello

mixed by Lyndon Hughes
video editing by Tom Echols

composed by David Carlton Adams
©2021 David Carlton Adams, All Rights Res.

a visit from the warmth (2020) for string quartet and fixed media

libretto by Olivia Pepper
music by David Carlton Adams

Lily has been wronged, sought justice, and been denied. At the end of her rope, she turns to a book of spells. At first she believes she has been unsuccessful, until a Stranger appears claiming to be able to offer her vengeance...

SoJung Lim - Lily, a young woman who has known trauma
Joshua Scheid - The Stranger, a mysterious figure, summoned by Lily
Mira Huang, Anna Carolina Peleas, and Maddi Ohrbach
    - Vox Angeli, lesser angels, empathetic, and growing alarmed

Kirkland Moranos, flute
Mika Judge, horn in F
Guhan Peng, piano
Mae Bariff, violin
Brian Anderson, viola
Eion Lyons, contrabass

David C. Adams, electric guitars and electronics (added in post)

Conducted by Sam Hollister
Mixed by David C. Adams
Mastered by David Sexton

Musical Work and Recording ©2021 David Carlton Adams, All Rights Res.

annunciation - Act II Scene 10

"On the Thin Ice of Modern Life" (2021) - David Carlton Adams

This piece explores the fragile nature of continuous consciousness in today’s noisy, distracting world. As in our lives, intricate underlying structures are obfuscated by cacophonous interruptions that challenge us even to finish a thought.

Performed by the Talea Ensemble, conducted by Jim Baker. Recorded live at its premier in Griswold Hall at the Peabody Institute at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, MD, Saturday, October 30, 2021.

Barry Crawford - flute, bass flute, and alto flute
Rane Moore - clarinet, bass clarinet
Chris Gross - cello

Conducted by Jim Baker

This concert was part of the celebration of 150 years of composition at Peabody.

The Talea Ensemble’s fall 2021 residency at the Peabody Institute
received support from a 2020 Johns Hopkins Catalyst Award, awarded to Felipe Lara.

Cover art by the composer

On the Thin Ice of Modern Life (2021) (Talea live premier)

music by David C. Adams
text by Olivia Pepper
choir directed by Beth Willer
mixed by Lara Villanueva
created through Peabody's virtual residency program
Fall 2020

©David C. Adams, All Rights Res

just as i have done for months

"three or four (of many)" by David Carlton Adams
Premiered June 8, 2022, at New Music On the Point by
JACK quartet

This piece explores the intersection of texture, just intonation, and renaissance polyphony. Ideas emerge, find expression, are subsumed, and disappear. Oh, and there’s math.

three or four (of many)- JACK quartet (live)

Play Nice

Sierra Leslie sings "loneliness is a wasp gall" by david carlton adams on text by Olivia Pepper

Ruminations on the dark and silver linings

Sierra Leslie, Soprano

From Sierra:
"Art is how we decorate space, music is how we decorate time." -Jean-Michel Basquiat
Sierra’s passion for music stems from her love of life, nature, and art, where she finds her inspiration. She has always believed in the power music has, and its ability to foster communities and bring people together, which is why she is currently making the effort to expand her compositional skills specifically for choir music in the form of setting poems to songs. In addition to this, she is currently collaborating with bright and extremely talented student-composers, including David Carlton Adams, to construct and perform arias and short pieces this semester. In the Fall od 2020, Sierra performed the role of M​ iss Jessel​ in the Peabody Conservatory’s production of Benjamin Britten’s ​The Turn of the Screw​ under the direction of Garnett Bruce. This is a journey she has longed to begin, with the long-term goal of conducting and composing choral music for all ages and audiences to enjoy.
Sierra received her Bachelor’s degree from Wake Forest University in 2019, where she studied with Teresa Radomski and Dan Locklair.