Teasdale Songbook (2008)

"A Forest that is a Desert" was commissioned by Choral Arts Initiative for the 2019 PREMIERE|Project Festival. The work sets three texts written by Kendra Preston Leonard specifically for this composition.

When I first received the CAI commission, I looked through a number of Kendra’s text and was drawn to her lovely work “My mother is a poem by Yeats,” which expresses the profound grief of watching a loved one succumb to dementia. Full of ideas, I texted to ask if she would be open to me setting it. She was thrilled - but another composer already had secured the rights to set the poem!

I resigned myself to choosing another text, but couldn’t get the first poem of my head enough to find something that resonated strongly. After some brainstorming, Kendra generously agreed to write a companion text exploring similar themes. Within a couple days, she sent three new poems written in memory of her mother, hoping that one might be a good fit. I loved all three and was particularly drawn to them as a set.

The resulting work, "A Forest that is a Desert", uses traditional choral writing, coloristic vocal effects, and indeterminacy to bring to life Kendra’s evocative words. The music is intended to reflect the mental effects of dementia on those who suffer from it and also express the complex emotions felt by loved ones watching that decline.

This performance is by the Ohio University Singers at the Society of Composers Inc. Region V Conference in Nov. 2023.

Society of Composers, Inc. Region V Conference 2023

A Forest That Is A Desert

Sleeping Standing Up was written for the CUNY Contemporary Music Ensemble in the spring of 2012. It was inspired by the poem of the same name by Elizabeth Bishop. Bishop’s brief four stanzas depict a surreal dreamworld filled with fleeting scenes that lead, smoothly but incongruously, one to the next, ending up with a sense of nostalgic longing (tempered by an undertone of cynicism) for a goal never quite reached.  The work uses a similar instrumentation to Messiaen's "Oiseaux Exotiques".

Sleeping Standing Up

Jessica Rudman’s music inspires empathy for social issues through stories of myth, magic, and the modern world. Described as a “new music ninja” by the Hartford Advocate, she blends lyrical melodies and dramatic narrative structures with sensual harmony and vibrant color to draw the audience into the world she has created. Her works for the concert hall, dance, and opera often differ in musical language and approach, with the common thread always being expressivity. She believes that the ability to reach one’s audience is of extreme importance in our current social, economic, and political environment. 

Jessica’s works have been performed by groups such as the International Contemporary Ensemble, the Cadillac Moon Ensemble, The Omaha Symphony’s Chamber Orchestra, the Yakima Symphony Orchestra, and the Hartford Independent Chamber Orchestra.  She has received awards from SCI/ASCAP, Boston Metro Opera, the College Music Society, the International Alliance for Women in Music, and others. Jessica is a 2019 Connecticut Artist Fellow, with support from the Connecticut Office of the Arts. 

Jessica is an Assistant Professor of Composition and Theory at the University of Utah.

A Forest That Is A Desert

Jessica Rudman

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