Performance by Alexander Dudkin (clarinet) and Pei-Hsuan Lin (piano) on May 10, 2022 at University of Maryland in College Park, MD.

Death was a common theme in my experience of 2021. Topics of death infiltrated my artistic creations. For this piece, I approached death with the idea that the heart is a vital element in sustaining life, and thus explored how dysfunction of the heart can lead to death. The progression of the piece is based upon four dysfunctions of the heart called arrhythmias, which are irregular heartbeats. The four arrhythmias I delved into were ventricular fibrillations, tachycardia, premature ventricular contractions, and asystole. Ventricular fibrillations are when the heart flutters and the ventricles do not properly contract to pump blood through the heart; tachycardia is any accelerated heartrate that is greater than 100 beats per minute; premature ventricular contractions are “extra” or “early” heartbeats; asystole is when there is no electricity or movement of the heart – better known as “flatlining”. I expressed concepts of these arrhythmias in the textures of the piece and the relationship and interaction of the clarinet and piano.

Arrhythmia (2022)

Premiere Performance 
Seiji Ozawa Hall, Tanglewood, Lenox, Massachusetts 
24 July 2010

Ryan Yuré, clarinet
Pei-Ling Lin, viola

℗ 2010 Boston Symphony Orchestra

Self-Loathing (2010)

Transference, solo cello, Severine Ballon

Transference, solo cello, performed by Severine Ballon, 2010

Semblance, solo bass flute, Richard Craig

Semblance, solo bassflute, performed by Richard Craig, 2013

For Edna
by Leila Adu-Gilmore
Cello & Voice: Amanda Gookin
Cell structured piece, maximum duration 10 mins.

Program Note

When Amanda Gookin said that she’d like to participate in her women’s social justice Forward Music Project, I wanted to write a piece that encapsulated the strength of women. At first, I was going to write something physically and aurally demanding — hard. Then I realized that our strength is perseverance and endurance, adaptability and openness, and connection to others. I wrote this thinking about women loving their man who has come home from war; women who have lost their children; women who have been beaten by men, the system, or both, and who still have the strength to love. 
I dedicate this piece to my friend, activist and scholar Edna Bonhomme, because in the struggle of being a black woman from a working-class family, she perseveres to be one of the most loyal, hard-working, inspirational and devoted people I have ever met. With her Haitian background and American upbringing, she has continued to keep her heart open and share her intellect with me, including around issues of colonialism, black struggle, police brutality, the prison justice system and her tangible fears for her own family. A few years ago on my 12/12/12 birthday, Edna gave me a copy of Frantz Fanon’s Wretched of the Earth, and she wrote this dedication in the front page:
Continue to recover the voices of “other” and the marginalized and show that their music is important too.
Thank you Edna and Amanda for being part of the creative inspiration of this piece.

For Edna

Viola and soundtrack
Performed by Mara Gearman
Recorded at Jack Straw Productions, Seattle, WA

For additional information, please visit: alexandragardner.net/music/seduction-involves-patience/

Seduction Involves Patience — viola & soundtrack

This piece was premiered by Jonathan Sotelo and Adam Smith. This version of the piece was recorded as two separate tracks and then edited together due to social distancing protocols of 2020. The piece was "performed" on May 10, 2020. Audio mixing done by Alan Wonneberger.

Pebbles (Social Distancing Edition)

Written in Spring 2019. Performed by Bergamot Quartet at the UMBC Linehan Concert Hall on Sep. 26, 2020. Mixed and mastered by Alan Wonneberger.

Moon Drop (2019, Performed by Bergamot Quartet Sep. 2020)

I made this for an electronic music course I am taking. We were to use samples to create a piece of music. I found the sample "weird pikaCHU!" on freesound.org, used the bullet seed SFX from the gen 3 Pokémon games, and created the rest of the samples.  A Lo-Fi song to cry and play Pokémon Emerald to.

Bullet Seed Heart

The concept for this piece comes from The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows, a collection of words invented by John Koenig that “aims to fill a hole in the [English] language—to give a name to emotions we all might experience but don’t yet have a word for.” The title for this
piece comes from the definition for “the meantime.”

the meantime
n. the moment of realization that your quintessential future self isn’t ever going to show up, which forces the role to fall upon the understudy, the gawky kid for whom nothing is easy, who spent years mouthing
their lines in the wings before being shoved into the glare of your life, which is already well into its second act.

This piece was commissioned by the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival for the Callisto Quartet, who premiered the piece at St. Hugo of the Hills in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan in June 2019.

This recording features the Aizuri Quartet, recorded by Andrés Villalta at Princeton University in November 2020.

The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows: the meantime (2019) // Aizuri Quartet

This piece was created out of a collaboration that was born from the fall 2020 UMBC New Music Ensemble. I wrote a solo piano work, and Kemari Bigbie used his incredible tech skills to forge it into this piece. I hope you enjoy our collaborative work: "Synapse".

Synapse ft. Kemari Bigbie

Kathryn Blake is Maryland-based composer. Her compositions have been premiered by the Bergamot String Quartet and percussionist Jonathan Sotelo. Kathryn’s work has been featured in the Fresh Inc. Festival, the District New Music Coalition, and T1International. Kathryn participates in interdisciplinary collaborations, working with both visual artists and dancers. She works with the Achelois Collective for social justice through music. Kathryn is also an Insulin for All advocate and has interests in psychology and mental health.

Arrhythmia (2022)

Kathryn Blake

Related tracks