Written for cello and piano in 2020.
Premiered at Hope A Starr's senior recital on November 12 2022 at Stephen F. Austin State University, Nacogdoches, TX.
Performers: Ella Gaertner (cello) and Justin Legel (piano).

This piece came from a place of desperately wanting to write for cello. Though the instrument I perform on and spend time learning is piano, I’ve always loved cello since I took a year of lessons when I was 14. When I was 10 I wrote a simple piece for cello and piano that I always viewed as one of my favorites, so I knew I wanted to return to that instrument pairing. Dragon’s Ascent uses none of the ideas from that original piece but I still view the two as intrinsically linked.

Dragon's Ascent

Road Movies

China Gates

Konoyo

tim hecker 'this life'

Written for piano in 2017
Performer: Mary Katherine Schober.

Purchase sheet music at https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/cycles-of-life-digital-sheet-music/21565058

Cycles of Life

IV. With One More Morning

Cycles of Life - IV. With One More Morning

III. River Sprites

Cycles of Life - III. River Sprites

Drudging Through Exhaustion

Cycles of Life - II. Drudging Through Exhaustion

I. Experiences & Evolutions

Cycles of Life - I. Experiences & Evolutions

Written for string quartet in 2018.
Performers: Westheimer String Quartet featuring Sean O'Neal (violin I), Zachary Montasser (violin II), Alexa Thomson (viola), and Daron Kirsch (cello).

Purchase sheet music at https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/remembering-the-lost-digital-sheet-music/21566491

Remembering the Lost

Written for flute and piano in 2018.
Performers: Jillian Francis (flute) and Mary Katherine Schober (piano).

Purchase sheet music at https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/the-moon-and-her-harvest-digital-sheet-music/21566557

The Moon and Her Harvest

Composer and pianist Hope A Starr got her start in music at age nine, when her first music teacher told the class about a free notation program and she was the only one who cared enough to try it out. Her compositional work focuses on bringing joy to people and improving her craft. Starr's works range from the energetic to the moody and she has worked with traditional chamber instruments as well as handbells and actors. In 2022 Alice Codieck of the First United Methodist Church (FUMC) in Nacogdoches, TX commissioned Starr to write a solo handbell and piano arrangement of a traditional hymn. The resulting work "The King Shall Come" was performed twice that same year, premiered at FUMC by Codieck and pianist Dr Andrew Par, and then performed at Starr's senior recital, this time performed by Codieck and Starr.

As a pianist, Starr has experience in solo performance, jazz band, and collaborative piano. She has helped to premiere many newly composed chamber and choir works, including as part of a Pierrot ensemble. Starr was the pianist for the Alvin Community College Jazz Band for two and a half years and her band played in both the 2017 and 2018 Gulf Coast Intercollegiate Consortium (GCIC) Jazz Festival. In her role as a collaborative pianist, Starr has played for funeral services of Catholic and Baptist churches and regularly puts on private performances with her husband, composer, and vocalist Brazos Starr, with works ranging from classical to romantic to jazz.

Starr got her BA in Composition at Stephen F Austin State University studying with composers Dr Stephen Lias and Robert J Coe and studied composition independently with Dr Chad Robinson for two years, a composer who founded the non-profit Texas New Music Ensemble (TNME), which Starr also worked for during her studies. She also got her AA in Piano Performance at Alvin Community College studying with composer and jazz pianist Dr. Stephen Termini and pianist Carol Holst.

Dragon's Ascent

Hope A Starr

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