We all know the story: A hen on a farm finds a grain of wheat, and decides to turn it into bread. All along the way she asks the other farm animals for help, but they refuse. When the bread is made, however, they all demand a piece of it. Typically, the story ends with the hen refusing to share her bread, keeping the fruits of her labor for herself. In Winell’s retelling, the internal contradictions and battling voices within her take over and wreak havoc upon the whole farm.
The Little Red Hen
libretto & music by Elena Doria Winell*

Recording engineered, produced, mixed, & mastered by Aaron Zimmer

PLAYERS:

Conductor - Jonathan Villegas
Hen - Rose Hegele*
Soprano - Kayleigh Sprouse
Alto - Marjorie Sheiman
Contralto - McKey Monroe*
Tenor - Michael Balsamo
Bass - Rahzé Sinclair
Flute - Eli Gentle
Clarinet - Olivia Harrison
Percussion 1 - Deqi Mu
Percussion 2 - Samuel Hsu
Piano - Daniel Nerger*
Violin 1 - Brian Stuligross*
Violin 2 - Sangwoo Kim
Viola - Daria Dodonova
Cello - Athos Maelstrom*
Bass - Noah Sapp

This premiere was made possible with generous donations from:

Dustyn Geary-Gilman & Kenneth Gilman
Mar Rodriguez & Jodi Milonas
Sonia Gardner & Ken Winell
Kelly Winell
Lily Holliday
Rose Hegele
Cindy Browning
Mary Durante
Terry Holthause
Michael McGuire
Martin Deegan
Bob & Linda Pisciotta
Jamie & Art Lima
Elena Doria Winell

*members of Der Gestanke

The Little Red Hen

it's nothing new: musings from quarantine

Available for streaming and download here:
https://spencerwinell.bandcamp.com/album/its-nothing-new
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qwdv3CaT8QE

hitherzither - for akkordzither and electronics
the owls are not what they seem - for soprano and piano
Dunsinore and Elsinane - for electronics
thitherzither - for akkordzither and electronics
The Death of Schoenberg - an operetta in two scenes

"the owls are not what they seem" features soprano Avery Richards, text by Spencer Winell
Text for "Dunsinore and Elsinane" by William Shakespeare

All pieces composed by Spencer Winell
Production, editing, mixing and mastering by Spencer Winell & Tina Tallon

The Death of Schoenberg Players: 

Sarah Mair as The Mystic
Alena Feldman as Arnold Schoenberg
Stephanie Rivero as Gertrud Schoenberg
Emerald Brooke Barbour as The Doctor

Nuala Imrie - Flute
Alexis Mitchell - Oboe
Tim Hanley - Clarinet
Steph Tamas - Saxophones
Nathaniel Edison - Bassoon

Sean McClendon - Horn 1
Jack Krugman - Horn 2
Justin Taveras - Trumpet
Kris Leslie - Trombone
Kamilla Bendersky - Piano

Violin I:
Brian Stuligross
Malachi Provenzano*
Violin II:
Peyton Cook*
Gioia Gedicks
Viola:
Rebecca Miller
Cello:
Enrique Hernandez de Tejada III*
Aodán Collins*
Bass:
Gillian Dana
Jacob Slater

Click tracks and parts for "The Death of Schoenberg" prepared by Liria Music Prep

Libretto, music, percussion, additional strings by Spencer Winell

Special thanks to Tina Tallon, Curtis Hughes, Marc McAneny, Shelbie Rassler, Felipe Lara, Tian Hui Ng, David Sanford, Salvatore Macchia, and Mike Williams without whom this recital would not have been possible. 

*recorded two tracks to fill out the sections because they're stellar

The Death Of Schoenberg

This piece operates in extremities. As such, it was named for the historic Parisian theater, Le Théâtre du Grand-Guignol (The Theater of the Great Puppet) - known more commonly as Grand Guignol - previously located in the Pigalle district from 1897 until its closing in 1962. The theater specialized in naturalistic horror shows, and today the term is used to describe graphic, amoral horror entertainment. The piece is a love letter to several works that fall under the umbrella term. Written for and premiered by the illustrious JACK Quartet on February 8th, 2024 at Griswold Hall, Peabody Institute at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD.

Grand Guignol

Avec la Gomme for mixed sextet by Elena Doria Winell. Premiered by International Contemporary Ensemble on September 25th, 2024 as part of Polyaspora Festival: "The Future is Now Part 2"

Performers:
Rebekah Heller - Conductor
Erin Rogers - Alto Saxophone
Alex Davis - Bassoon
Joshua Modney - Violin
Daniel Lippel - Guitar
Nuiko Wadden - Harp
Jacob Greenberg - Piano

Composer's Note:
I started this piece as a man and finished it as a woman. The turmoil and indecision involved in this process of self-discovery is reflected in the piece' s angularity, thorniness, asymmetry, and, of course, in the unfolding of the now quite antiquated serial processes I employed. P0 of the row is 0-2-6-8-3-9-1 -7-5-4-t-e, and the processes utilized go through the matrix by way finding expressions of the row with the final two notes elliding with the first two notes of the next expression. The linear character's matrix patterns are: P0-RI10-P8-RI5-P3-RI0-P10- RI7-P5-RI2 which then ends back up at P0. The chorale character's matrix patterns, naturally, uses inversions and retrogrades: I1 -R3-I5-R8-I1 0-R1 -I3-R6-I8-R1 1 which lands back at I1 . This explains, of course, only two of the piece' s four characters.

The title is taken from the original French-language version of this quote often attributed to Igor Stravinsky: "Le compositeur travaille avec la gomme." [The composer works with the eraser.] In understanding I wanted to write very fast music for this, I realized generative processes like isorhythm and pitch-serialization, used in tandem, would be the ideal method. Thus, I began the piece by writing out all the expressions of the isorhythmic-row I wanted to use in order in every instrument and then erased and shaped from there.

Avec La Gomme

The Little Red Hen - Scene One: Who Will Plant the Wheat?

The Little Red Hen - Intermezzo 1: The Wheat is Planted and Grows

The Little Red Hen - Scene Two: Who Will Harvest the Wheat?

The Little Red Hen - Scene Three: Who Will Grind the Wheat?

The Little Red Hen - Intermezzo 2: Baking the Bread

The Little Red Hen - Scene Four: Who Will Eat the Bread?

The Cask of Amontillado by Elena Doria Winell

Libretto adapted from Edgar Allan Poe by H. Cipriana and Elena Doria Winell

Recorded as part of Tony Arnold's Opera Etudes on April 11th, 2025 at Joe Byrd Hall, Peabody Institute, Baltimore, MD.

Conducted by Linus Ip
Audio & Video Recording by Yuchen Bian

CAST:
Montresor - Sophia Sorrentino
Fortunato - Abigail Sherman
"Fortunato" - Sophie Low
Conscience (Good) - Siying Chen
Conscience (Bad) - Ruoyu Li

Chorus - H. Cipriana, Olivia Carlton, Julie Knott, Analeigh Flieger, Erika Carper, Kylee Kamikawa

OLD BAY NEW MUSIC ENSEMBLE:
Andrew Nguyen - Clarinet, Bass Clarinet
Michael Liu - Percussion
Haeun Lim - Piano
Heeyun Cho - Violin
Claire Russel - Double Bass

SYNOPSIS: In this short adaptation of Poe’s classic tale, the story unfolds with Montresor’s conscience taking on two tangible, disembodied forms, constantly whispering and conversing with him as he lures Fortunato deeper into the catacombs. As Montresor's dark plan unfolds, his inner guilt and turmoil begin to manifest through a haunting dialogue between him and his conscience, which taunts and questions his actions. After Montresor seals Fortunato’s fate, the opera takes a twisted turn: Fortunato’s voice transforms into a demonic, mocking echo, joined by a chorus of spectral voices. These voices, a blend of Fortunato's tortured spirit and Montresor’s fractured psyche, berate and taunt Montresor for his crime. The conscience now merges with the cacophony of demonic voices, amplifying his paranoia and guilt. The opera explores Montresor’s descent into madness, blurring the lines between his own voice, Fortunato’s ghost, and the eerie chorus, which relentlessly drives him to the brink of insanity, akin to the themes in Poe’s The Tell-Tale Heart and The Black Cat. The haunting sounds culminate in Montresor’s complete unraveling, as he is consumed by the very guilt he tried to bury, forever tormented by the consequences of his actions.

The Cask of Amontillado

scraps for loadbang by Elena Doria Winell, text by Emily Dickinson. Performed at Emmanuel Episcopal Church in Baltimore, MD on April 29th, 2025

Ty Bouque - baritone
Andy Kozar - Trumpet
Adrián Sandí - Bass Clarinet
William Lang - Trombone

This piece is about fragmentation. The poem is taken from Dickinson's collection of "envelope poems" which were literally scrawled in dull pencil on various scraps of papers and envelopes. Like most of her work, these poems did not see the light of day until after her death. The brief interjection comes from what began as my attempt at 'modernizing' the language of the poem, only retroactively realizing a) how pointless that is and b) how intensely I had projected my own immediate reality into this 'translation.'

scraps

Composer, performer, and educator based in Boston, MA. Founder & member of Der Gestank.

Elena Doria Winell

Pinned to spotlight

Popular tracks