Created for LoneRabbit's OST Composing Jam based on art by @xincere

03 - Bait And Tackle

A Commission from Radio France, this is a piece for two narrators and orchestra about New York City, more precisely NYC as seen by its writers. Texts by Gorki, Le Corbusier, Whitman, Fitzgerald, Lethem, Miller, Auster, etc.. This is the 2011 premiere by Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio-France with Alexandre Laiter and Donald Rubinstein, narrators; Gwennolé Rufet, conductor. 

WRITING THE CITY

Light Through Windows was written in 2016. Meant to evoke the wonder one feels when a darkened window reveals its glory, the a cappella choral piece draws a parallel between a stained-glass window and an illuminated manuscript. This recording is of the excellent Vox16 (now Radiance) from Seattle, led by Markdavin Obenza. 
 
TEXT
Hushed, grey, a tall cathedral, 
washed in faint morning light.
Day breaks through mullioned windows, 
brushing away the night.
Light through windows
Light through stained-glass windows
Tales cast and retold in shades of scarlet 
Silver, sky-blue, sea-green, sage 
Sun-dappled rose, russet and gold 
Revelation in the nave
Light through windows
Light through stained-glass windows
On a lectern lie scores of sacred music 
Neumes, breves, calligraphy 
Rimmed in red, glistening with gold, 
Recitation on the page
Gold on parchment 
Gold on ecru parchment
Light floods the floor as 
Sunbeams stream in, 
Cascading ’cross stone walls, 
Arches, apse and pillars glow 
Lux Aeterna
O Light through windows 
Silver, sky-blue, sea-green, sage 
Light through stained-glass windows
Like a manuscript gilded, 
the church is resplendent. 
Stories and windows illumined.
—Caroline Mallonée

Locally Sourced

Light through Windows

Falling Up (2015)
for flute, English horn, clarinet, violin and cello

Falling Up

Rondeau, Ostinato, and Fantasia (2018)
for piano/harpsichord, percussion, clarinet, saxophone, violin, and cello.

Commissioned by the Barlow Endowment for Music Composition

Premiere:
April 9, 2019, Taplin Auditorium, Princeton, NJ
Latitude 49
Jani Parsons, keyboard
Chris Sies, percussion
Andy Hudson, clarinet
Andy Hall, sax
Tim Steeves, violin
Max Geissler, cello
Recording:
Live Recording of the Premiere
Recording engineer: Andres Villalta

Fantasia (2018)

Ostinato (2018)

Rondeau (2018)

Contrapuntal Forms (2019)

I. Fugue
II. Cantus Firmus - “O rubor sanguinis”
III. Canon

Commissioned by the Fromm Music Foundation at Harvard University

Recording:
October 10-11, 2019, Taplin Auditorium, Princeton, NJ
Andres Villalta, audio engineer
Latitude 49
Jani Parsons, keyboard
Chris Sies, percussion
Andy Hudson, clarinet
Andy Hall, sax
Tim Steeves, violin
Max Geissler, cello

For more info, visit: https://www.juriseomusic.com/contrapuntalforms

Contrapuntal Forms - II. Cantus Firmus

Broadcast from Home is a new large-scale work in response to the coronavirus crisis featuring contributions from the public.

Composer Lisa Bielawa is collecting testimonies reflecting on the experiences of the coronavirus crisis; and voices singing melodies that she will write using these testimonies. The public's voices will be the building blocks of the new work, which will be released in "Chapters" each Thursday.

Learn more at www.lisabielawa.net/broadcast-from-home

Broadcast from Home – Chapter 15 “After-lives”

TEXTS:

From “Medieval Lovers: A Book of After-lives”

zombie after-lives
of lost novels, poetry
left behind in a taxi,
paintings secluded 
behind walls…
…calendars
buried in contiguity
…
Sabotage of seas, song
of polystyrene. Cereal aggression
its red plastic end-game.
…
…now-cancelled concert
gigs. Hours of practice
keep musicians ready;
although there are examples:
those who put down instruments
for years then play
just like it was yesterday.
- Deborah Meadows, 63 years old, Los Angeles, CA, July 7, 2020

…I sorrow for those who cannot accept these new realities…I am sometimes one of them. What does it take to transform our ways of knowing what is? What more will we need to have happen in order to come together…?
- Kathleen Marquardt, 74 years old, Milwaukee, WI, July 5, 2020

[plus other improvised texts]

CREDITS:

Composed, produced and edited by Lisa Bielawa
Mixed and mastered by Ben Young
Sing Leaders: Lisa Bielawa and Gregory Purnhagen

A collaboration with zFestival
Shoshana Klein and Peter Traver, directors

Participants: 
Zachary Baker, double bass
Lily Desmond, 5-string violin
Andrew Dewey, flute and ukulele
Seamus Hubbard Flynn, flute and found percussion
Julian Gau, cello, melodica and voice
Shoshana Klein, oboe and English horn
Shannon Lewis, piccolo
Lara Poe, piano
Dalton Ringey, clarinet and bass clarinet
Alannah Spencer, soprano
Peter Traver, tenor and found instruments
Alex Zappavigna, trombone and tuba

The Walden School Online Young Musicians Experience participants:
Nora Giuffrida, soprano 
Graham Lazorchak, marimba, melodica and found percussion
Ash Paris-Carter, soprano and ukulele
Sarah Riskind, soprano
Zola Saadi-Klein, voice
Noah Stein, tenor

Special guest: Oriana Hawley, viola and voice

Additional Singers:
 
Cindy Brome
Melissa Bybee
Charlotte Ensley
Wendy Griffiths
Michele Kennedy
Ari Klein
Alison Lewis
Caroline Mallonee
Andrew Purdam
Leandra Ramm
Megan Schubert
Brian Snowden
Theo Trevisan

Broadcast from Home - Chapter 15: "After-lives"

Being Aware

Art by Charlie Ciccoretti
Photography by Thomas Hill