After 6 indoor video solo piano recitals through the pandemic year, I wheeled my upright piano outside and invited my vaccinated mother and a neighbor couple to be my audience of three! Apologies for poor audio quality(wind) and lots of in between song banter.
set list:
Good Day Sunshine(Lennon/McCartney)
Here Comes the Sun(Harrison)
Wind from Live on Wings of Love (Safar)
Song of the Lark from the Seasons(Tchaikovsky) Dance in Bulgarian Rhythm(Bartok)
Children’s Song (Corea) Desire(Scriabin)
April in Paris(Duke)
La Comparsa(Lecouna)
Cuban Boogie(Fileds, arr. Maddox) Toccata(Khachaturian) Arietta(Grieg)
plus some surprises of Spanish music, originals and perhaps another Beatles tune:)

Paul Safar(Semi)Remote Piano Recital#7(3 - 31 - 21).MP3

Thomas Proctor's Senior Recital at Portland State University
Music Composed by Thomas Proctor
Clarinet - Ron Coleman
Viola - Soren Collins
Piano - Chuck Dillard

Mourning Dove Suite 3. Rest - June 12. 2021

Meet storyteller Doria Hughes and composer Lisa Neher, who have collaborated on Baba Yaga and Vasilisa the Brave, as part of the upcoming FREE Dec. 4, 2021 concerts Playdate: Storytime! in Boston and Cambridge. Here Doria and Lisa talk about how they got into their artistic practices. Doria expounds upon the crucial role that live storytelling has even in our highly mediatized world, and both discuss their collaborative practices and how they have taken a modern spin on this classic story. Programs and venues appropriate for families and children, though all are welcome! Hosted by co-Artistic Director Hubert Ho. For more info about the concerts visit www.dinosaurannex.org.

Doria Hughes, storyteller and Lisa Neher, composer share thoughts on collaborating

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

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's "Daybreak" swept me off my feet when I first discovered it, with its joy and spriteful energy! With my choral adaptation, I try to capture the energy of the wind as it comes "up out of the sea" and bursts with joy. Contrasting middle sections create a continuous journey as the wind blows through the town, breathing fresh life into the coming day. My hope is that "Daybreak" will put smiles on the faces of your choir and audience alike.

Available for SSAATTBB Voices

Daybreak | Michael Bussewitz-Quarm

Performed by Duo Cortona (Rachel Calloway, Ari Streisfeld) at the University of South Carolina on December 7, 2018, under the aegis of the Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music. 

Music and Text by Akshaya Avril Tucker. 

"At 6 PM, I walked outside
I found a marble ogre's fingernail
and hid it away
The house held silence
Mama found a golden hair
as it lay in a dusty box
I fastened it around my wrist
a glowing amulet
Oldest friend,
in both senses of the words
Oldest friend, go to sleep
pleasant dreams
That was when
evening sun
turned tree branches
into canals of light
suddenly blessed by the touch
of an ancient grandfather
And the queen of love was installed
luminous, in the full moon
My love is in love
my love is in love
is in love
love"

Of My Grandfather (2018) - Mezzo Soprano and Violin

1st movement of "Clara", using Clara Schumann's diaries and letters, written on Making Music's Adopt A Composer Scheme  2018/19 in collaboration with choir Ex Urbe, broadcast in January 2020 on BBC Radio 3

Choir - Ex Urbe
Harpist - Angelina Egerton
Conductor - Benjamin Hamilton
Recording - Jim Unwin

1: "Composing gives me great pleasure", Clara

"why are there stars? my daughter asked" by Philip Metres

Concealed Imaginings was written for the Quince Contemporary Vocal Ensemble. The text is from Wallace Steven’s four poem work Peter Quince at the Clavier.

Performed by Quince Contemporary Vocal Ensemble

Score: http://bit.ly/2zNunjZ

Concealed Imaginings

Cantates françaises sur des sujets tirés de l’écriture: Esther
VI. Souvent la verité timide

Composed by Elisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre 
Soprano - Carolyn Quick
Piano - Evan C. Paul

Persisting Sound: Women in Classical Music Showcase Concert
November 17th, 2019
The Old Church Concert Hall,
Portland, Oregon

VI. Souvent la verité timide (1708)

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.

Gilgamesh Weeps

Lisa Neher, Mezzo-Soprano & Composer

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