Gilgamesh Weeps
music by Lisa Neher
​poem by Kendra Preston Leonard

World premiere performance by the Tenor/Bass Choir at University of Wisconsin Oshkosh and Dr. Shannon Gravelle, Director

Gilgamesh Weeps explores love, devotion, and loss between friends. The music and text upend hero stereotypes by portraying the mythic warrior Gilgamesh in tears, mourning his friend Enkidu’s death. Like keening moans, the descending motives in the opening and closing sections evoke Gilgamesh crying, while the middle section’s percussive ostinatos paint musical images of the precious drum that Enkidu sacrificed everything to find. Gilgamesh Weeps was commissioned by and is dedicated to the Tenor/Bass Choir at University of Wisconsin Oshkosh and Dr. Shannon Gravelle, Director.

--Lisa Neher, composer

This piece draws on the Sumerian poem "Gilgamesh, Enkidu, and the Netherworld,” which tells of how a mythic Mesopotamian king, Gilgamesh, aids his sister, the goddess Inanna, by driving away unwanted beings in her willow tree. For this, she gifts him a “mikku” and a “pikku,” thought to be a drum and sticks or beaters for the drum. But Gilgamesh is careless and he loses these items. His devoted friend Enkidu offers to find them, and enters the Netherworld to do so. But the Netherworld has rules: once you’re in, you can never leave. Enkidu’s ghost is able to rise to the surface world briefly, where he tells Gilgamesh of the horrible conditions of the Netherworld. Other writings about Gilgamesh exist, including the Epic of Gilgamesh, which tells this story in a rather different way. 

--Kendra Preston Leonard, lyricist

Gilgamesh Weeps

Crocodiles from Snapshots by Lisa Neher
Olivia Betzen, soprano
Nate Salazar, piano

Texts from the University Daily Kansan's Free For All

Crocodiles by Lisa Neher

Rain from Snapshots by Lisa Neher
Olivia Betzen, soprano
Nate Salazar, piano

Texts from the University Daily Kansan's Free For All

Rain by Lisa Neher

Turtle Fence from Snapshots by Lisa Neher
Olivia Betzen, soprano
Nate Salazar, piano

Texts from the University Daily Kansan's Free For All

Turtle Fence by Lisa Neher

Tuesdays and Thursdays from Snapshots by Lisa Neher
Olivia Betzen, soprano
Nate Salazar, piano

Texts from the University Daily Kansan's Free For All

Tuesdays And Thursdays by Lisa Neher

Sneaky Squirrels from Snapshots by Lisa Neher
Olivia Betzen, soprano
Nate Salazar, piano

Sneaky Squirrels by Lisa Neher

brook for 2 clarinets and bassoon by Lisa Neher

Lisa Neher Masters Composition Recital

Sound the Flute! Now it's Mute!
for SATB choir
by Lisa Neher

Choral Pieces Recording Session April 2011

Sound the Flute! Now it's Mute! for SATB choir by Lisa Neher

Three Basho Haiku
for SATB choir
by Lisa Neher

I. Harvest Moon for SATB choir by Lisa Neher

Senior Composition Recital Recording Session Disc 1

1. Little Fish by Lisa Neher

2. Leopard by Lisa Neher

4. Peacock by Lisa Neher

5. Love Song for a Jellyfish by Lisa Neher

American Waters
by Lisa Neher
for unaccompanied voice

American Waters by Lisa Neher

Twister by Lisa Neher
Performed by Durward Ensemble
Michelle Blair, Conductor
Live Performance at Grand View University, Des Moines, Iowa

Durward Fall 2017

Twister by Lisa Neher

Gulper by Lisa Neher (WORLD PREMIERE)
For Solo Clarinet
Performed by Taylor Gaskins
November 2, 2018, University of North Texas, Denton, TX

Program Note:
The gulper eel or pelican eel is not an eel at all but a deep-water fish named for its enormous, pelican-like mouth, which is much larger than the rest of its long, skinny body. At the end of its tail, the gulper eel has a special organ with many small tentacles that glows pink and occasionally flashes red to attract prey, mostly squid and crustaceans. It is tragic and deeply frustrating that what little we know about these animals comes from those inadvertently caught in fishing nets. The sudden change of temperature as they are pulled from the depths to the surface kills them, and thus research on live gulper eels in their natural habit is extremely limited.
​
In this piece, the gulper eel comes to life, illuminating its lure, lying in wait for prey, moving about in the deep sea with its whip-like tail, and finally coming in for the kill. I hope this piece cultivates interest and empathy for this fascinating and mysterious creature.

Gulper by Lisa Neher (WORLD PREMIERE)

Icy Celestial Bodies by Lisa Neher
for solo marimba
Performed by Matt Andreini
University of Northern Iowa
November 2017

Hammers and Mallets

Icy Celestial Bodies by Lisa Neher

Icy Celestial Bodies - Excerpt by Lisa Neher
Performed by Matt Andreini
University of Northern Iowa
2017

Icy Celestial Bodies - Excerpt

Look Within by Lisa Neher
for String Quartet
Inspired by the painting "Ripples of Your Soul" by Paulette Insall: https://www.pauletteinsall.com/
Performed by Delgani String Quartet
Recording Engineer: Alan Niven

Concert-Mosaic_Lincoln-Hall-Rm.75

Look Within, inspired by a painting by Paulette Insall

Tidepooling by Lisa Neher, performed by Third Angle New Music​

Tidepooling places listeners on an Oregon beach, surrounded by the sounds of the waves, the wind, gulls flying above, and their own footsteps on the sand and in the water. Peering into a tide pool, a miniature world takes shape. A giant green sea anemone’s tentacles ripple gently in the water before stinging unsuspecting prey. A small sculpin fish sits camouflaged at the bottom of the pool, then darts quickly to a new location when startled. Beware of the anemone! A purple shore crab crawls back and forth, protected by its hard carapace and brandishing its strong claws. An ochre sea star’s quiet, still presence belies its importance in this ecosystem. By feeding on muscles, it clears space, making way for all the other animals to live.
Tidepooling was commissioned by Third Angle New Music and the Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music with generous underwriting support from Betsy Russell.

Tidepooling

Inner Worlds was written for Access Contemporary Music’s concert of the same name. The concert featured music written exclusively for the inside of a grand piano. Taking the name Inner Worlds as a jumping off point, I started thinking about what was inside our own planet. I was inspired by the layers of the earth: the hard outer crust, the firm but moving mantle made of magma and rock that shifts and reforms and erupts to make the volcanoes that surround me here in the Pacific Northwest, and the pressurized core made of swirling metals that create our planet’s magnetic field. Listeners will hear wooden spoon handles scraping and tapping against metal support beams inside the piano, inspired by the hard crust of the earth. Metallic glissandi, tapping of fingers and hard straws on the strings, and swirling sounds made by moving a sheet of paper around on the strings were inspired by the metals of the planet core and the shifting mantle. The low strings represent the planet core, the power and majesty of the earth. Throughout the work, an asymmetrical rhythmic figure ties the work together, representing the heartbeat of the planet. Inner Worlds was commissioned by Access Contemporary Music and premiered by Marianne Parker.

Inner Worlds

Strawberry Man 
Music by Lisa Neher 
Poetry by Kendra Preston Leonard
Performed by Arwen Myers, Soprano
Kendra Preston Leonard's poem Strawberry Man is a vignette about a man she used to see walking through the streets of Baltimore with a pony and cart, selling strawberries. 
I love the simple joy of the poem: the warmth of the summer sun, the burst of flavor of fresh fruit, and the community of buying our food from street vendors. The pieces features playful melismas with syncopated text, a vocal line that roll up and down freely, and claps and stomps that activate the entire body.
This is the first piece I wrote during the coronavirus crisis. I wanted to express the joy of simple pleasures and the hope we all have of returning to those simple pleasures in the future. It was written for the warm-hearted and incredibly skilled soprano Arwen Myers (https://www.arwenmyerssoprano.com/).

Lisa Neher Strawberry Man

Strawberry Man by Lisa Neher & Kendra Preston Leonard

The Ghost of the Wych Elm
by Lisa Neher and Kendra Leonard

for young singers and piano

The Ghost of the Wych Elm

The Witches' Party
by Lisa Neher and Kendra Leonard

Halloween song for young voice and piano

The Witches'  Party

Growl and Howl
by Lisa Neher and Kendra Leonard

For young voice and piano

Growl And Howl

Mezzo-Soprano & Composer Lisa Neher brings dramatic specificity and committed physicality to both operatic and song repertoire. Trained as a stage actress, Lisa is equally comfortable in the worlds of opera and spoken theatre.  A passionate advocate for contemporary music, Lisa frequently premieres new works as well as established masterworks of the last fifty years. She is the creator of the One Voice Project, a call for scores initiative that promotes the creation of new works for unaccompanied voice.

Lisa Neher, Mezzo-Soprano & Composer

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