Georges Seurat painted 'A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte' between May 1884 and May 1886, focusing meticulously on the landscape of the park. Scholars have theorized La Grande Jatte to be a mirror impression of one of Seurat’s earlier paintings, "Bathers at Asnières", completed in 1884. A stark difference between the two works is however, the ‘bathers’ in the earlier painting are exclusively expressed in light, whereas almost every figure on La Grande Jatte appears to have a shadow, whether that shadow is casted upon them by an object or another person. In the painting's center stands a little girl dressed in white who stares directly at the viewer of the painting. The little girl is the only character of the painting without a shadow.

In "Shadows", the idea of the shadows within the painting as well as the absence of a shadow for the girl in white is evoked through the single-movement miniature symphonic tone poem using register, texture, counterpoint, and chromaticism. The trajectory of the piece begins in a darkness, at the center of the shadow that opens into a sweeping melodic line with chromatic moments throughout to signify a glimmer of light in the form of hope, reason, justice, or innocence amid the shadows. Seurat interprets this aspect of the painting himself as, “their prospects bleakly, cloaked as they are in shadow and suspicion of sin...” (BBC, The Private Life of a Masterpiece (2005) Series 4, Georges Seurat: A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte.) where the girl in white is silently questioning the audience: "What will become of these people and their class?" This symphonic miniature explores these aspects of life both within and beyond the shadows.

Shadows: A Symphonic Miniature

An anxiety dream is an unpleasant dream which can be more disturbing than a nightmare. Anxiety dreams are characterized by the feelings of unease, distress, or apprehension in the dreamer upon waking. General anxiety is a negative effect of anxiety dreams. However, Anxiety dreams have an important function. When the ego has been overworked, often the only way it can reset is when one wakes up. Anxiety dreams will build until the dreamer is forced to wake and thus let the ego refocus.

Anxious Dreams is musical depiction of this very process. The piece begins with an ethereal solo motif that cycles between the flute line and the oboe line providing a dream like essence that slowing devours itself into a prominent baseline. This pattern continues throughout the course of the piece with different presentations of the beginning motif as well as varying melodic material diverging into both a development and a coda. Furthermore, the notion of the distorted dream is contrapuntally depicted throughout Anxious Dreams in all the voices of the trio.

"Anxious Dreams"  Trio for Flute, Oboe, and Piano

String Quartet No.1, “Homage” is a semi-traditional harmonically voiced string work in three movements in which each individual movement essentially pays homage to a different composer and/or type of work. The work aims to explore the idea surrounding the laws of the conservation of energy as observe in the study of physics; and how those same laws can relate to music. In doing so, it expressed what would be considered somewhat traditional practices in harmony and structure, with the twist that is the subtlety of 20th century practices regarding dissonance and atonality. Excerpts used from these works, ranging from 2 to 4 measures in length, are both arranged and extended over the course of the movement. The composers utilized in this work include: Camille Saint-Saens, Amy Beach, and Pyotr I. Tchaikovsky. In it’s entirety, this work is approximately 12 minutes long, with individual movements ranging from 2 to 6 minutes.

LIVE "Homages" String Quartet No. 1,  Movement 2

Victor Hugo once said in his famous book Les Misérables, “Not being heard is no reason for silence." This quote serves as a catalase for the overarching meaning and message in Rancor and Triumph. The need to have one’s voice heard and understood amid emotional hardship, regardless of the genesis of said hardship, is a universal need of humanity. The need to be understood is a human desire and inescapable trait we all inherit.

Rancor and Triumph is a work for solo cello and orchestra that exhibits the emotional impact felt, in part, on the individual and on society when the voice of the people is not heard. The solo cello acts as the voice of the unheard, underrepresented, marginalized, and confused person, accompanied by the orchestra. It is an acknowledgement of the hurt, pain, and rage felt towards the present as well as a prayer for the hope of the future.

Rancor and Triumph: Concerto for Cello and Orchestra - Excerpt 2

Rancor and Triumph: Concerto for Cello and Orchestra - Excerpt 1

Every year for Christmas, my grandmother brings home a fresh bouquet of Poinsettias to display around the house. The Poinsettia flower has always been a symbol of the Christmas season in my household. Native to Mexico, the plant is called Flor de la Noche Buena (Flower of the Holy Night) due to its resemblance to the star of Bethlehem. Thus, it represented a symbol of hope. However, in 2014, The Poinsettia would come to represent destruction as the nickname for the second most destructive wildfire in San Diego, CA starting at Poinsettia Lane and burning over 400 acres of land over the course of 3 days. A year later, an article describing the scene held the inscription that served for the catalyst of this piece, “Sound rises from the ashes of the Poinsettia fire.”

Ashes to Poinsettias tells a narrative to evoke the idea of a single Poinsettia flower outlasting the destruction of the Poinsettia fire. It musically juxtaposes this narrative by using grandiose moments intermixed within a thematic development that encompasses the idea of hope amid destruction.

Ashes of Poinsettias

Forgotten Royalty is the story of Abdulrahman Sori who was West African royalty before he was enslaved on a Mississippi plantation. After a shackled journey across the Atlantic, Abdulrahman Ibrahim Ibn Sori was desperate to make the man about to purchase him, Thomas Foster, understand his terrible mistake: he wasn’t supposed to be enslaved, the 26-year-old was the heir to one of Africa’s most influential kingdoms. Instead of freedom, his protestations earned him the derisive nickname “Prince,” which he’d carry for his next 40 years of enslavement (Higgins, A. (2019, February 8).

Sori’s story is the same as many enslaved Africans and thus their descendants. Forgotten Royalty tells this story using grandiose triplets that recur through a soaring thick harmonic texture through a fugue-like presence.

Forgotten Royalty, Quartet for Strings

Still Point

SLEEP is a science-fiction chamber opera by Anthony R. Green (music) and Clio Em (libretto) that tells the story of two women – an Organic (human woman) and a Mech(her technological copy) - who look exactly alike. They are stuck in a testing centre dormitory and regard each other during a sleepless night. Each woman sings about how she will defeat the other – the triumph of one will mean the death of her twin|opponent. Sometimes their vocal lines join; sometimes they diverge. Their perspectives mirror each other but have subtle, significant differences. 

This workshop version was put on by Chants libres as part of their Works in progress concerts on March 16 and 17, 2019 at Gesù at Quartier des spectacles, Montréal.

Image by Hali Rey.

Anthony Green/Clio Em - SLEEP - Chants libres workshop version

Performed by Breanna Webb 
Written as an homage to the emotional stresses such as a anxiety,
tension, apprehension, and angst, this piece utilizes sustained tones as
well as silence to exhibit these same emotions that someone might
experience in the process of 'expecting' something to happen. Dance
was later added to help illustrate the shadows of emotional stress

Expecting for Solo Cello (April 16, 2019)

Jessica T. Carter (b. 1992) is a composer, performer (violinist & mezzo-soprano), and educator from Indiana described as evocative and lyrical by Aspire Magazine and Apricity Magazine, respectively, who is swiftly making a name for herself. Specializing in concert music, film scoring, and musical theatre, Jessica's aim and goal in music is to intersect the relationship between vitriol and compassion through empathy, highlighting the lives marginalized children while deepening the universal understanding of the marginalized adult through sonic engagement that extends to the narrative of human nature through the message of hope.

Shadows: A Symphonic Miniature

Jessica T. Carter

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