To inquire about performance materials, email galindomusix@gmail.com.

Featured - Email galindomusix@gmail.com for performance materials.

Praise by Your Being for string quartet (2016, rev. 2020)
I. Stillness of the sky
II. Stroll
III. Thorns
IV. Exaltation

Written for the RAM Players

On this recording: 

Russell Kotcher & Sabina Torosjan, violin
Laura Sacks, viola
Luis Mercado, violoncello

Performed as part of 'Chamber vs. the 1s & 2s'
Gilbert's Birthday Concert Celebration
Friday, January 21, 2022
Presented by Composers Concordance & Galindo Musix
@ The Delancey

Praise by Your Being (Live at The Delancey) - 3. Thorns

Praise by Your Being (Live at The Delancey) - 4. Exaltation

"Currents" for piano trio (2021)
I. Midstream
II. Isolation
III. Carry On

Performed by Marina Dichenko, violin; Patrick Moore, cello; Syuzanna Kaszo, piano

Galindo Musix Presents: "Exaltations"
Saturday, February 12, 2022
Modern Art Museum of Forth Worth, Forth Worth, Texas

Currents for piano trio - 3. Carry On

Currents for piano trio - 2. Isolation

Currents for piano trio - 1. Midstream

"Hymns of the Sky" for orchestra (2019-2022)

Purchase or rent score and parts: https://composers.com/products/galindo-hymns-of-the-sky

Performed by:
Chicago Composers Orchestra
Allen Tinkham, conductor
Recording Engineer: Nick Broste

2.2.2.2-2.2.2.1 timp. 2 perc. hp. str.

Upon taking trips and spiritual retreats to New Mexico the past few summers (near my home region of the Permian Basin in west Texas), I have been taken back by the beauty and true enchantment of the land. In particular, I find the sky in New Mexico expansive and delightfully mysterious. "Hymns of the Sky" is my musical response and homage to the expansiveness of that sky, setting the stage for it to divulge its secret celestial melodies. “Hymns of the Sky” was written for and commissioned by the Chicago Composers Orchestra.

World Premiere: Saturday, August 6, 2022
Chicago Composers Orchestra Presents: verdant cycles
Chicago Composers Orchestra
Allen Tinkham, conductor
St. James Cathedral, Chicago, Illinois

Hymns of the Sky for orchestra (2019-2022)

LISTEN TO THE LAND 
for string quartet
2023

I. The Majesty of the Mountains, Waters, Skies
II. The Wooded Network
III. The Three Sisters
IV: Hope for the Earth

Recorded on Tuesday, November 7, 2023
Patricia Reser Center for the Arts
Beaverton, OR

The Dalí String Quartet performing
Ari Isaacman-Beck, First Violin
Carlos Rubio, Second Violin
Adriana Linares, Viola
Jesús Morales, Cello

Program Notes

“Listen to the Land” for string quartet came about from the fortunate opportunity to participate in the Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music Composing Earth commissioning program. The program is for “Academy alumni who recognize that climate change - climate disruption - is a bona fide civilizational emergency” (www.glfcam.com). Indeed, this climate disruption is an emergency and has been for some time.

From my participation and from observations of our climate and world, with the titles of the piece and its movements, I decided to draw attention to the fact that the land communicates to us, or that we can read the land to learn how to live more harmoniously with it. It is my firm belief that we have abused the land, and it is also my firm belief that we can live on this planet in a way that it is beneficial and harmonious for us and Sister Mother Earth.

The music itself is an impression of the titles and not literal programmatic writing. It is inspired, then - as music often does - develops a life of its own because of the initial idea.

“Listen to the Land” for string quartet was commissioned by the Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music for the Dalí Quartet through the Composing Earth commissioning program.

- Gilbert Galindo, September 2023

Image by zhogov_s on Wallpapers.com

Listen to the Land IV: Hope for the Earth

LISTEN TO THE LAND 
for string quartet
2023

I. The Majesty of the Mountains, Waters, Skies
II. The Wooded Network
III. The Three Sisters
IV: Hope for the Earth

Recorded on Tuesday, November 7, 2023
Patricia Reser Center for the Arts
Beaverton, OR

The Dalí String Quartet performing
Ari Isaacman-Beck, First Violin
Carlos Rubio, Second Violin
Adriana Linares, Viola
Jesús Morales, Cello

Program Notes

“Listen to the Land” for string quartet came about from the fortunate opportunity to participate in the Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music Composing Earth commissioning program. The program is for “Academy alumni who recognize that climate change - climate disruption - is a bona fide civilizational emergency” (www.glfcam.com). Indeed, this climate disruption is an emergency and has been for some time.

From my participation and from observations of our climate and world, with the titles of the piece and its movements, I decided to draw attention to the fact that the land communicates to us, or that we can read the land to learn how to live more harmoniously with it. It is my firm belief that we have abused the land, and it is also my firm belief that we can live on this planet in a way that it is beneficial and harmonious for us and Sister Mother Earth.

The music itself is an impression of the titles and not literal programmatic writing. It is inspired, then - as music often does - develops a life of its own because of the initial idea.

- Gilbert Galindo, September 2023

Image by zhogov_s on Wallpapers.com

FOCM

Listen to the Land III: The Three Sisters

Listen to the Land II: The Wooded Network

Listen to the Land I:  The Majesty of the Mountains, Waters, & Skies

“Ampelmännchen Stroll” (2015) for flute, clarinet, trombone, piano, violin, bass 

For anyone who has been to Berlin, Germany, you will immediately notice the “ampelmännchen” crosswalk figures - the cartoonish, cute, cheerful figures that indicate when you are to cross the street or not. Last spring [2015] I wondered what music could accompany the ampelmännchen character. I had been asked by Moon Young-Ha to write a piece for an enticing and fun combination of flute, clarinet, trombone, piano, violin, and bass for ensemble mise-en and thought that it would be the perfect opportunity to write music for the ampelmännchen. Channeling Stravinsky, jazz, and my idea of walking music that is not without its bumps along the road, I set to work and produced “Amapelmännchen Stroll.”

Premiered by ensemble mise-en

Wednesday, May 25, 2016
“CONNECTIONS: Austria-America”
Austrian Cultural Forum New York
11 E 52nd Street
New York, New York 10022
(E,M trains to 5th Ave/53rd St.; B,D,F,M trains to 47-50th St./Rockefeller)

Ampelmännchen Stroll (2015) for sextet

Entangled Chant (2008)

Instrumentation: 1 Flute, 1 Oboe, 1 Clarinet, 1 Percussion, 1 Violin, 1 Cello

Live recording from the "Perpetual Chant" June 24, 2016 concert at the DiMenna Center.

Roberta Michel, flutes
Ian Shafer, oboes 
Thomas Piercy, clarinets 
Chris Graham, percussion
Jessica Park, violin
Eric Allen, violoncello
Gilbert Galindo, conducting

PROGRAM NOTES

Written for Ensemble Dal Niente. The titles of each movement give way to a pseudo-programmatic description of the work: Twisted Web, Chant, and Still. I like to think of song, lyricism, and melody as akin to one another or one in the same thing. They are somewhat transformed in Entangled Chant. Melody fights for the spotlight amongst the entangled sounds of the first movement while it is then transformed into a chant-like (not Gregorian chant but song of the purest kind) or later a lyrical character in the second movement. The third movement, as the title implies, obliterates song for the most part until the end, when small utterances are heard in the violin and cello. Think of song, melody, or lyricism as caught in the web of a spider, struggling and trying its hardest to break loose. Does it have hope of survival or escape? Or is it for too long caught in the web of a hungry spider?

Entangled Chant for six players (Perpetual Chant Concert Recording)

Pause - for a moment for piccolo and piano

Sophia Tegart, piccolo
Michael Kirkendoll, piano

Pause - for a moment

PREMIERE 

Sacramento State Presents: Mayumi Hama and Chris Froh on the 
40th Annual Festival of New American Music as part of the
Gabriela Lena Frank Academy of Creative Music
Wednesday, November 8, 2017, 8:00 PM
Capistrano Concert Hall, Sacramento State University

PROGRAM NOTES

Writing for percussion, and in particular two marimbas, challenged and gave me the opportunity to give more attention to rhythm and its treatment than in any of my previous works. For the first movement, I wanted to treat rhythm as block juxtapositions, in a rugged manner with an unrelenting pulse that is always felt, no matter if it is in the foreground or background. The second movement utilizes syncopation expressed through popping and playful melodic lines, followed by an arpeggiated texture section singing out slightly more impassioned lines. For the third movement, I felt the need for abstraction and silence, using brief gestures that elude to music that could be, but is not. 

“Hold on a minute” was written for Chris Froh and Mayumi Hama as part of the inaugural Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music, and the title came from the shock of current political events, in particular the horrible and unacceptable tragedy in Charlottesville. One could say that the shock of open and out Neo-Nazis on the streets of America is reflected by the abstract third movement as it stands in contrast to the rest of the piece. How could we allow this to happen?

Gilbert Galindo, 2017

Hold on a minute for two marimbas, 2. Popcorn

At the Site of Jonah's Burial for bass voice and piano (2018)
Text by Loren Moreno
Written for the RAM Players

Premiered: Friday, March 16, 2018, Sage Music, Long Island City, New York by the bass vocalist Matthew Curran and Steinway pianist Susan Svrcek

Painting: Jonah and the Whale (1621) by Pieter Lastman

At the Site of Jonah's Burial

Sonata for Viola and Piano

(2018)
Duration ca. '15
vla, pno

Written for and commissioned by Liuh-Wen Ting

Purchase score & part: https://composers.com/composers/gilbert-galindo/sonata-viola-and-piano

Sonata for Viola and Piano - Mvt. 1 (excerpt)

Gilbert Galindo’s compositions offer the listener a kaleidoscope of textures, sounds, challenging harmonies, and crisp and vibrant melodies, providing a rewarding journey from the first notes to the last beat. Many are written for multi-combinations of instruments, solos, duets, trios, small ensembles to full-blown symphonic orchestral music, to the most personally poignant songs for voice and piano. A native of west Texas and having studied composition at Northwestern University and the Cleveland Institute of Music, his music has been heard nationwide and internationally by groups such as Ensemble Dal Niente, the Lost Dog New Music Ensemble, the New Thread Quartet, newEar, Parthenia, among others. He has received recognition and awards from the American Music Center, BMI, Meet The Composer, New Music USA, Northwestern University, and others. His music is available from Cuicatl Publications (BMI) on www.gilbertgalindo.com and his recording of “Almost within reach…” for violoncello and piano can be found on New Focus Recordings. Gilbert Galindo is also a member of Random Access Music, a composer & performer collective based in Queens, New York and is currently working on new instrumental and vocal projects for performances later this year.

Updated February 2017

Gilbert Galindo, composer

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