Lyric soprano Lilian Tong performs Gary Lloyd Noland's setting of Alexander Theroux's poem GHOSTS IN THE RAIN for soprano & alto (July 9th, 2023).

Poem GHOSTS IN THE RAIN by Alexander Theroux

I saw in that black slant of rain
the rising ghosts of the sheeted slain
from all my recollected pain

and recollecting all that pain
that rose with all the blackened slain
slanting through the ghosts of rain

brought back like black to me so slain
in the recollected sheets of rising pain
all the ghosts in the slant of rain.

Poem copyright © 2015 by Alexander Theroux from Collected Poems (published by Fantagraphics); Music copyright © 2023 by Gary Lloyd Noland • BMI

For more information on composer Gary Lloyd Noland, please visit his website at: garynolandcomposer.com

GHOSTS IN THE RAIN for soprano & alto; poem by Alexander Theroux

Soprano Hayley Boggs and pianist Maryna Buksha perform Gary Lloyd Noland's setting of Alexander Theroux's poem "Autobiography," Op. 108. For more information on Gary Lloyd Noland, please visit his website at: garynolandcomposer.com

Here is Alexander Theroux's poem "Autobiography":

My default reflex is to disappear.
My defect reflex is to default.
My appearance is to reflect default.
My despair appearance is to defect.
My reflex is to appear to default.
My reappearance is to reflect defect.
My refault defect is to reappear.
My defect reappearance is to despair.

Music by Gary Lloyd Noland, Op. 108
Poem by Alexander Theroux

Music copyright © 2019 by Gary Lloyd Noland
Text from Collected Poems copyright © 2015 by Alexander Theroux 
Permission to set this poem has been granted by the author.

AUTOBIOGRAPHY for soprano & piano, Op. 108; poem by Alexander Theroux

Soprano Hayley Boggs and pianist Victor Hugo Morales perform composer Gary Lloyd Noland's setting of Heinrich Heine's poem "Aus meinen Tränen Sprießen" from his FOUR HEINE LIEDER, Op. 19, No. 1. For more information on composer Gary Lloyd Noland, please visit his website at: garynolandcomposer.com

AUS MEINEN TRÄNEN SPRIESSEN from FOUR HEINE LIEDER, Op. 19, No. 1

Lyric soprano Lilian Tong performs the soprano & alto parts of MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAST THOU FORSAKEN ME?, a setting of Psalm 22, Op. 9, by Gary Lloyd Noland (1986). Recorded on June 13th, 2023. For more information on composer Gary Lloyd Noland, please visit his website at: garynolandcomposer.com.

Lilian Tong is a lyric soprano from Hong Kong. She earned her Masters Degree in Vocal Performance at Codarts Rotterdam, under the tutelage of Henk Neven. She obtained her Bachelor of Arts degree from the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2016. She is now a student of Maartje Rammeloo.

She has been an active performer in Hong Kong and The Netherlands. She participated in various opera productions. In August 2021, she has sung the role Serpina in the opera La Serva Padrona by Pergolesi in Muziektheater Hollands Diep Zomer Opera. In March 2017, she performed the world-premiere opera Seconds of Fear as the major role in Dutch National Opera in Amsterdam. She then sang as the role Irene in San Antonio de la Florida with Codarts Opera Lab in April 2017, and performed in the Operadagen Rotterdam 2017 in May. In February 2018, she did the role Despina in a staged Così fan tutte production with Codarts Opera Lab.
 
Besides operatic productions, she is also an active performer in church music. She has been the soprano soloist for Petite Messe Solennelle by Rossini, Cantata BWV 138 Warum betrübst du dich, mein Herz, Weihnachtsoratorium, Messiah, The Armed Man, Requiem by John Rutter and Solemn Mass by César Franck.

She has also performed with various ensembles and choirs, including Groot Omroepkoor, Opera Society of Hong Kong, SingFest Chorus and Hong Kong Voices.

MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAST THOU FORSAKEN ME?, setting of Psalm 22 for soprano & alto, Op. 9

Lyric soprano Lilian Tong performs Gary Lloyd Noland's setting of Alexander Theroux's poem ARCHAEOPTERYX for soprano & alto, Op. 147, No. 5 (2023). Recorded on June 25th, 2023. For more information on composer Gary Lloyd Noland, please visit his website at: garynolandcomposer.com.

Poem ARCHAEOPTERYX by Alexander Theroux:

A cantankerous mix
Of scales but no flix
That’s riddled with ticks,
With teeth just like picks,
Tail-feathers like wicks,
A head thick as bricks
Wherein little clicks
For its IQ of six.
It worries with tricks,
Wingbeats and kicks,
And raspy-tongued licks
The prey which it sics
With claws sharp as picks
Can shred into sticks
All its eye can affix,
And to add to the fix
With its name so radix
You can’t spell it quix.

Copyright © 2015 by Alexander Theroux from his Collected Poems. Permission granted by the author to the composer to set his poem to music.

Lilian Tong is a lyric soprano from Hong Kong. She earned her Masters Degree in Vocal Performance at Codarts Rotterdam, under the tutelage of Henk Neven. She obtained her Bachelor of Arts degree from the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2016. She is now a student of Maartje Rammeloo.

She has been an active performer in Hong Kong and The Netherlands. She participated in various opera productions. In August 2021, she has sung the role Serpina in the opera La Serva Padrona by Pergolesi in Muziektheater Hollands Diep Zomer Opera. In March 2017, she performed the world-premiere opera Seconds of Fear as the major role in Dutch National Opera in Amsterdam. She then sang as the role Irene in San Antonio de la Florida with Codarts Opera Lab in April 2017, and performed in the Operadagen Rotterdam 2017 in May. In February 2018, she did the role Despina in a staged Così fan tutte production with Codarts Opera Lab.

Besides operatic productions, she is also an active performer in church music. She has been the soprano soloist for Petite Messe Solennelle by Rossini, Cantata BWV 138 Warum betrübst du dich, mein Herz, Weihnachtsoratorium, Messiah, The Armed Man, Requiem by John Rutter and Solemn Mass by César Franck.

She has also performed with various ensembles and choirs, including Groot Omroepkoor, Opera Society of Hong Kong, SingFest Chorus and Hong Kong Voices.

ARCHAEOPTERYX for soprano & alto, Op. 147, No. 5; poem by Alexander Theroux

Lyric soprano Lilian Tong performs Gary Lloyd Noland's setting of Alexander Theroux's poem MARRIAGE for soprano & alto, Op. 147, No. 1 (July 7th, 2023).

Poem MARRIAGE by Alexander Theroux:

"Any enjoyment is weakened when shared."—DeSade

What holds down a carpet? Tacks.
Theory's nice, but not facts.
And while sweetness surely attracts,
Remember, honey makes wax.

The composer has received permission by the author to set this poem to music. Poem published in Collected Poems (Fantagraphics), copyright © 2015 by Alexander Theroux.

For more information on composer Gary Lloyd Noland, please visit his website at: garynolandcomposer.com

MARRIAGE for soprano & alto, Op. 147, No. 1; poem by Alexander Theroux

Lyric soprano Lilian Tong performs Gary Lloyd Noland's setting of Alexander Theroux's poem GHOSTS IN THE RAIN for soprano & alto, Op. 147, No. 2 (July 9th, 2023). 

Poem GHOSTS IN THE RAIN by Alexander Theroux

I saw in that black slant of rain
the rising ghosts of the sheeted slain
from all my recollected pain

and recollecting all that pain
that rose with all the blackened slain
slanting through the ghosts of rain

brought back like black to me so slain
in the recollected sheets of rising pain
all the ghosts in the slant of rain.

Poem copyright © 2015 by Alexander Theroux from Collected Poems (published by Fantagraphics); Music copyright © 2023 by Gary Lloyd Noland • BMI

For more information on composer Gary Lloyd Noland, please visit his website at: garynolandcomposer.com

GHOSTS IN THE RAIN for soprano & alto, Op. 147, No. 2; poem by Alexander Theroux

ARISTOBOMBASTIC TRIPE DREAM by Gary Lloyd Noland (July 30th, 2025). For more information on the composer, please visit his website at: garynolandcomposer.com

ARISTOBOMBASTIC TRIPE DREAM

MIDNIGHT VACUUM CLEANING PHRENZY by Gary Lloyd Noland (July 30th, 2025). For more information on the composer, please visit his website at: garynolandcomposer.com

MIDNIGHT VACUUM CLEANING PHRENZY

FRANTICALLY STRIVING TO FEEL OPTIMISTIC by Gary Lloyd Noland. For more information on the composer, please visit his website at: garynolandcomposer.com

FRANTICALLY STRIVING TO FEEL  OPTIMISTIC

GAUNTLET JAUNT by Gary Lloyd Noland (August 6th, 2025). For more information on the composer, please visit his website at: garynolandcomposer.com

GAUNTLET JAUNT

VISPROINTIAMO No. 11 for piano, composed and performed by Gary Lloyd Noland. For more information on the composer, please visit his website at: garynolandcomposer.com

VISPROINTIAMO NO. 11 for piano

A HOST OF CONFLICTING AGENDAS by Gary Lloyd Noland. To read more about the composer, please visit his website at: garynolandcomposer.com

A HOST OF CONFLICTING AGENDAS

PROMENADING PLUTOCRATIC MORONS by Gary Lloyd Noland. For more information on the composer, please visit his website at: garynolandcomposer.com

PROMENADING PLUTOCRATIC MORONS

AMBIENT MUSIC FOR NEUROTICS by Gary Lloyd Noland. For more information on the composer, please visit his website at: garynolandcomposer.com

AMBIENT MUSIC FOR NEUROTICS

DEI MADRIGAL for mixed choir by Gary Lloyd Noland (Sept. 18th, 2025). For more information on the composer, please visit his website at: garynolandcomposer.com

DEI MADRIGAL for mixed choir

F*CK THE SYSTEM! for mixed choir, two pianos, and objects that can be hit, thrown & banged by Gary Lloyd Noland (September 21st, 2025). For more information on the composer, please visit his website at: garynolandcomposer.com

F*CK THE SYSTEM! for mixed choir, two pianos, and objects that can be hit, thrown & banged

Resides in Portland, Oregon. Grew up in Berkeley, CA. Born in Seattle.  PhD, Harvard. “Gary Noland is one of the great composers of the 21st century.”—JACK RUMMEL, KGNU 88.5 FM, Boulder CO, “...iconoclastic, stylistic potpourri standards of giddy humor, no holds barred soup to nuts and high spirits.”—ROBERT LEVIN, pianist, musicologist, composer, "...a fleet-fingered, ebullient performer ... bright, witty and engaging.”—CHRISTIAN CAREY, SPLENDID MAGAZINE, “...distinctive, inventive ... subversive ... You can hardly be indifferent to Noland’s music and so I would urge you to try it.” —ROGER BLACKBURN, MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL, “...set in a dizzying harmonic language that loops uncontrollably through a wide-ranging gamut of possible and impossible tonalities ... The general effect is like watching wet paintings of 19th Century musical memorabilia drip into frazzled 21st Century oblivion...” —ALLEN GIMBEL, AMERICAN RECORD GUIDE, “Mr. Noland writes as a ‘time traveler’ in styles long abandoned by most composers as well as styles so new as to not have been imagined but by him. This he accomplishes naturally, convincingly, with originality and true passion. His command of all musical languages and his ability to traverse musical time is nothing less than remarkable. Listen!”—DONALD MARTINO, Pulitzer Prize winning composer, “...mind-bending spiraling of focus which is truly breathtaking ... spectacular...”—CHARLES AMIRKHANIAN, composer, sound poet & radio producer, “I'm amazed at your harmonic skill. Haven't seen or heard anything like it from any one else—except yours truly—certainly not from your generation. It falls somewhere between Strauss and Mahler. Especially like how you are able to slip in and out from the tonal to the atonal—or near atonal...”—GEORGE ROCHBERG, American composer, Pulitzer Prize finalist, “...court jester to the classical establishment...”—PAYTON MACDONALD, AMERICAN RECORD GUIDE, “...florid and juicy...” —RICHARD BUELL, THE BOSTON GLOBE, “...an incredible aural web ... a great ostinato of American kitsch. Sul pont never sounded so good.”—RUSSELL STEINBERG, composer, conductor of the LOS ANGELES YOUTH ORCHESTRA, “...I am bowled over by the expertise of your music: you use certain elements from the 19th century and from jazz, etc., and just at the moment when I am about to say, OK, what else is new?, you do a number of things, such as speeding up, becoming wildly dissonant, modulating to a distant continent, stopping completely and throwing some kind of total surprise ... you seem to know exactly when to do what and how much. I don’t know anybody else who can do it!” —ANDREW IMBRIE, American composer, Pulitzer Prize finalist, “... remarkable stuff...”
—MAX MORATH, American ragtime pianist, composer, actor & author, “...a loony composer from Oregon...” —MAX SHEA, WMUA 91.1FM, Amherst, MA, “Gary Noland is one of those 21st Century composers seeking to forge a new aesthetic based on older models that do not traffic in serialism or minimalism ... Zany waltzes, ragtime riffs, chorales, toccatas, and much else romp and tear through these depictions of superheroes and villains from his ‘chamber novels’; other pieces spoof serial music ... to grand operas ... and Jewish guilt.” —JACK SULLIVAN, AMERICAN RECORD GUIDE, “...Paranoid Ravel...”—ALEX DUNN, KZSU FM90.3, Stanford, CA, “...It’s a romantic romp, rhythmically robust yet melodically flirting with the nostalgia of cabaret, minus the sleazy diminution of spilled drinks and smelly ashtrays. Its elegance recalls Elgar, and the serious sides, a synthesis of those strange bedfellows Schubert and Ives. Composers hate it when their music reminds you of someone else’s, but writing within a tradition, Noland has incorporated divergent styles that, woven together, work. Cosmopolitan without snobbery, it’s intelligent, pleasurable and convincing.” —ROCKY LEPLIN, THE BERKELEY VOICE

AUTOBIOGRAPHY for soprano & piano, Op. 108; poem by Alexander Theroux

Gary Lloyd Noland, composer

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