Recorded live on KPFK, Dec 19, 1980, by EVTE (The Extended Vocal Techniques Ensemble): Deborah Kavasch, Linda Vickerman, Ed Harkins, Phil Larson. Score available at http://frogpeak.org/fpartists/fpbrooks.html.

Madrigals

Madison Choral Project
April 23, 2017, 3pm
First Congregational Church, Madison, WI

Program Notes:
I have never identified as a feminist. It'd be impossible, however, for me to remain ignorant of the clumsily uneven climate of our world, and certainly of this country. Work: What Choice? is my first concert work featuring a self-written text, but instead of just telling my story, it is an attempt at telling a common story shared by many. This daunting objective resulted in a painstakingly delicate creative process and an overly precise score wrought with ambiguous messages. Have you ever noticed how similar flirtation can sound to taunting, how alike a concerned outcry of warning can be to a parroted command, or how easily understanding can be misconstrued as pity (and vice versa)? This piece is not designed to convince, complain, or coerce. It is meant only as one perspective, one voice in the conversation asking to be heard.

Work: "What Choice?" - D. Jasper Sussman | MCP

Sanctus from A Small Requiem
by Grey Grant
Performed by //meridian ensemble and the Converge String Quartet

Sanctus

Translating emotion into intentional expression, whether it be delicately notated or spontaneously voiced, is at the heart of JASPER SUSSMAN's interest in music. As a collaborative composer, performer, educator, and improviser, she strives to promote emotional awareness and growth, compelling the questioning of perception and the breaking down of expectation. 

Inspired by artists Meredith Monk, Theo Bleckmann, Bobby McFerrin, Tanya Tagaq, and Paul Botelho, Sussman spent much of the last two years exploring raw and vulnerable vocal timbres. She has started to write her first opera, based loosely on Joseph Campbell’s The Hero’s Journey. Additionally, Sussman is working on a set of vocal etudes designed to demonstrate the bounds of the female voice. 

As the Madison Choral Project’s first composer-in-residence, Sussman is writing two new choral works for the talented group’s upcoming season. Her past works span from collaborative dance pieces, such as her work Dionysian Sea, commissioned by choreographer Marlene Skog and featured at the World Dance Alliance—Americas in Honolulu this past summer, to orchestral works like her piece Baguettelle which received 2nd place in the Austin Civic Orchestra Composition Competition in 2014. Sussman received her master’s degree in music composition from the University of Michigan where she studied with Stephen Rush, Kristin Kuster, Evan Chambers, and Erik Santos. She received her bachelor’s from Lawrence University studying under Joanne Metcalf, Asha Srinivasan, and Fred Sturm. She is an alumna of the Atlantic Music Festival, the National Puppetry Conference, and the Brevard Music Center, and has worked with composers Melissa Dunphy, Kevin Puts, Ken Ueno, Robert Patterson, Mari Kimura, Michael Harrison, and Robert Aldridge. She is a member of PASIC, ASCAP, the College Music Society, and the American Composers Forum. Her works are published by Bachovich Music Publications.

Sussman currently resides in St. Louis, MO where she sings with the St. Louis Symphony Chorus. She has a private coaching practice focusing on the connection between music, creativity, and wellness.

Work: "What Choice?" - D. Jasper Sussman | MCP

Jasper Sussman

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