Anima Mundi Productions presents
Six Feet Apart: Stories of Resilience and Transformation

Music by
ETHAN GANS-MORSE
Libretto by
TIZIANA DELLAROVERE

Guest poets
ANIS MOJGANI
KIM STAFFORD
H.B. LEE MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENTS

Music direction by
FAHAD SIADAT

Featuring performances by
HEX VOCAL ENSEMBLE
BRIGHTWORK NEWMUSIC

Featured vocal soloists
MARIA ELENA ALTANY, LINDSAY ABDOU, LAUREL IRENE, DAVID CONLEY, ELIZABETH ANDERSON

Instrumental ensemble
ARON KALLAY, PIANO | MAGGIE PARKINS, CELLO | SHALINI VIJAYAN, VIOLIN

Story collection assisted by
SO. OREGON HISTORICAL SOCIETY (Kira Lesley, lead archivist)
S.O. EQUITY
SO. OREGON JOBS WITH JUSTICE

Learn more and view the accompanying video at animamundiproductions.com/sixfeetapart

Video design by
CAMILLA TASSI

Guest artist
BETTY LADUKE

Music copyright 2021 by Ethan Gans-Morse.
Poetry is owned by the respective poets.
All rights reserved.

Six Feet Apart

"How Can You Own The Sky? A Symphonic Poem Honoring Native Wisdom" is a new program symphony with music by Ethan Gans-Morse, poetry by Tiziana DellaRovere, and singing, drumming, and narration by Brent Florendo and the Dancing Spirit Ensemble. 
Perusal score, poetry, and more information at http://ethangm.com/HCYOTS/
Cover art by Chava Florendo

How Can You Own The Sky?

Copyright 2008 by Ethan Gans-Morse
Performed by Matthew Pavilanis

Five Miniatures for Solo Piano

The firstmovement of "Bucolic Dances" by Ethan Gans-Morse. Arranged for and performed by the Eugene Contemporary Chamber Ensemble in 2011. Artwork by Tiziana DellaRovere.

Bucolic Dances I: Fire Dance

Anima Mundi Productions presents
Six Feet Apart: Stories of Resilience and Transformation

Music by
ETHAN GANS-MORSE
Librettto by
TIZIANA DELLAROVERE

Guest poets
ANIS MOJGANI
KIM STAFFORD
H.B. LEE MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENTS

Music direction by
FAHAD SIADAT

Featuring performances by
HEX VOCAL ENSEMBLE
BRIGHTWORK NEWMUSIC

Featured vocal soloists
MARIA ELENA ALTANY, LINDSAY ABDOU, LAUREL IRENE, DAVID CONLEY, ELIZABETH ANDERSON

Instrumental ensemble
ARON KALLAY, PIANO | MAGGIE PARKINS, CELLO | SHALINI VIJAYAN, VIOLIN

Story collection assisted by
SO. OREGON HISTORICAL SOCIETY (Kira Lesley, lead archivist)
S.O. EQUITY
SO. OREGON JOBS WITH JUSTICE

Learn more and view the accompanying video at animamundiproductions.com/sixfeetapart

Video design by
CAMILLA TASSI

Guest artist
BETTY LADUKE

Music copyright 2021 by Ethan Gans-Morse.
Poetry is owned by the respective poets.
All rights reserved.

5. How Many Of Us (Six Feet Apart: Stories of Resilience and Transformation)

4. The Other Side (Six Feet Apart: Stories of Resilience and Transformation)

3. Picking Grapes (Six Feet Apart: Stories of Resilience and Transformation)

2. Introvertigo (Six Feet Apart: Stories of Resilience and Transformation)

1. Six Feet Apart (Six Feet Apart: Stories of Resilience and Transformation)

"Mara's Lament" from the opera "The Canticle of the Black Madonna"
Music by Ethan Gans-Morse
Libretto by Tiziana DellaRovere
Lindsey Cafferky, Soprano as Mara
Ryan Heller, Music Director

"Mara's Lament" from "The Canticle of the Black Madonna"

Five Miniatures for Solo Piano - I. What Remains Unsaid

Five Miniatures for Solo Piano - V. Determination

Five Miniatures for Solo Piano - II. Afterward

Five Miniatures for Solo Piano - III. Obsession

Five Miniatures for Solo Piano - IV. Solitude

Copyright 2009-2010 by Ethan Gans-Morse
Performed by Ralph Stricker-Chapman and Alexandria Greenwell

Alexandria Suite III. Alexandria

'Water Dance' from "Bucolic Dances"

Performed by soprano Jocelyn Claire Thomas and baritone Zachary Lenox with pianist Jodi French

Music by Ethan Gans-Morse; Poetry by Tiziana DellaRovere

WAR AND LOVE
When the scattering of souls erupts
The sky is filled with red.
Not the red of blood,
Not the red of rage,
Not even the red of the blasts,
But the red of wings on fire.

These are the angels of the setting suns.
By the thousands, they rush in.
Swiftly, they catch the souls in their arms
To sweep them away
From the smell of burning flesh and sulfur
Into the scent of chrysanthemums and marigolds.

And when the cries of war
are too far to be heard,
A new horizon appears.
The fiery angels’ wings
Turn into filaments of gold
And tears become morning dew.

I’ve been told 
That on the shores of this other land,
There is no need to rush.
The inhabitants like to collect smiles,
And when the sun sets, the nights are gentle.

War and Love

Performed by baritone Zachary Lenox with pianist Jodi French
Music by Ethan Gans-Morse; Poetry by Tiziana DellaRovere

Composed in 2010 | Recorded in 2024

SOSPIRO
Nel silenzio della notte,
Ho sentito il sospiro della vita.
La vita che accarezza le mie vene
Cerca l’amore sconfinato.

Questo desiderio che trema nel mio corpo
Per l’abbraccio che penetra senza toccare,
Come il tremolio luccicante delle foglie a mezzanotte
Sussurra senza riposo.

Il sospiro della vita mi porta verso te.
In tutto e in niente,
Di fuori e di dentro,
Di sopra e di sotto,
Mi circondi.

E io ti cerco
Nelle praterie senza fine,
nel profondo del mare,
nella notte infinita,
E tu sei sempre con me...
Nel mio sospiro d’amore.
----------------------
SOSPIRO [THE SIGH]
In the silence of the night,
I heard the sigh of life
Caressing my veins
In search of a love without bounds.

This desire trembles in my body
For that embrace which penetrates without touching,
Like the glistening shimmer 
Of leaves at midnight
Whispers without rest.

The sigh of life carries me ever toward you.
In everything and in nothing,
From without and from within
From above and from below,
You envelop me.

And I seek you
In the endless plains,
In the depths of the sea,
In the boundless night,
While you are always with me,
In my sigh of love.
---------------------
All rights reserved.

Sospiro

"How Can You Own The Sky? A Symphonic Poem Honoring Native Wisdom" is a new program symphony with music by Ethan Gans-Morse, poetry by Tiziana DellaRovere, and singing, drumming, and narration by Brent Florendo and the Dancing Spirit Ensemble. 
Perusal score, poetry, and more information at http://ethangm.com/HCYOTS/

Track 5. How Can You Own The Sky? The Sacred Hoop Is Broken

Track 4. How Can You Own The Sky? Movement II

Track 3. How Can You Own The Sky? The Sacred Hoop Is Preserved

Track 2. How Can You Own The Sky? Movement I

Track 1. How Can You Own The Sky? The Sacred Hoop Is Created

Ethan Gans-Morse is a critically-acclaimed composer and producer based in Southern Oregon. He is best known for composing and producing the opera, The Canticle of the Black Madonna, which The Oregonian called “A huge achievement… generous, carefully crafted and supremely compassionate” and Oregon ArtsWatch hailed as “One of the most exciting developments of the arts season.” He focuses on collaborative, socially relevant projects that foster greater human connection. As Eugene Weekly described his work, “Classical music is often rightly accused of ignoring the here and now. Fortunately, [composers such as Gans-Morse] are using classical and postclassical forms to help us understand the sometimes-unpleasant realities of the world we live in.” His most recent commissions include the multimedia oratorio Six Feet Apart: Stories of Resilience and Transformation, the immigration-themed chamber opera Dreams Have No Borders, How Can You Own The Sky? A Symphonic Poem Honoring Native Wisdom, a program symphony commissioned by the Rogue Valley Symphony in honor of its 50th anniversary season, and Tango of the White Gardenia, a tango-infused opera in two acts for Cascadia Chamber Opera in Eugene, Oregon.

His instrumental works have been performed by numerous ensembles, including the American Creators Ensemble, the Quartetto Indaco, the Fireworks Ensemble, the Firebird Wind Trio, and the Eugene Contemporary Chamber Ensemble; his choral works have been performed by the Portland Vocal Consort (winner of their 2010 Composer Competition), Chorus Austin, the American School in Taipei, Taiwan, The Sandlapper Singers, and the Contemporary Choral Collective of Los Angeles. His music has been presented at numerous concert series, including the highSCORE Festival in Pavia, Italy, the Instrumenta Oaxaca Festival in Oaxaca, Mexico, the Music Today Festival, the Vanguard Concert Series, The University of Wyoming New Music Festival, the Oregon Composers Forum, the Oregon Bach Festival Composers Symposium, and the Ashland Winter Fine Arts Festival.

Gans-Morse and his wife and creative partner, Tiziana DellaRovere, are the co-founders of Anima Mundi Productions, a 501.c.3 non-profit based in Southern Oregon dedicated to “healing the soul of the world through the arts.”

Ethan Gans-Morse

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