Composed in 2020, Escher Keys is a musical work from composer Mara Gibson that continues her long standing passion for drawing inspiration from a variety of artistic mediums. Inspired by the lithographs of MC Escher, Gibson explores timbral and attack possibilities between the bassoon and orchestra blurring the similar timbres through formal inversion and the investigation of negative/positive space.This process also resulted in a work that gives great room for bassoon soloist Darrel Hale to interpret his perception of the artwork in performance. Each movement juxtaposes traditional and non-traditional relationships between Hale interjecting his statements and the orchestra responding with atmospheric tessellations under the baton of Scott Terrell.

Escher Keys

Movement 3: Day and Night (1937) and Waterfall (1961) 

The third movement moves from Escher’s Day and Night into Waterfall to create a symmetrical conclusion to Escher Keys. Beginning in the sky of the first image, the listener moves back and forth, side to side between viewing the white birds and black birds, neither of which visually can be seen at the same time. Moving into the patterned, chess-like view of the fields, the viewer is confronted with two opposing rivers. Wooden timbres comprise much of the timbre pallet. Day and Night is the only woodcut I selected to be included in this piece. All the other pieces are lithographs. As the opposing rivers move into the cities, the listener shifts from Day and Night into Waterfall, which continues with fluid flowing movement from the opposing rivers. Like the first movement, the soloist in this movement retains its more traditional relationship with the orchestra interjecting his statements often to have the orchestra respond with atmospheric tessellations. After building back up solid pillars of the castle-like structure, defying logic, the middle section of this movement deconstructs from birds into missiles. The mysterious Shepard tones return over the war zone to conclude with the over blowing airy texture of the opening and perpetual motion of the rising harmonic series.

Escher Keys Mvt 3

Movement 2: Three Worlds (1955) 

The second movement reflects a less conversational relationship between the soloist and the orchestra. The timbre and dialogue is more subtle and introspective. There is great room for the soloist to interpret his perception of the artwork in the movement. This movement begins submerged under water, in the underworld. Gradually climbing through the reflected branches the second section of this movement moves into bird song. Starting out with a Messiaen-inspired bird song, the music moves to a deep cormorant call (native to Louisiana), a brief cry from a white-throated sparrow and general songbird calls all layer to create an otherworldly pallet. The descent of the leaves falling takes the listener back into the world below thus merging the three perspectives: the world above, below and on the surface.

Escher Keys Mvt 2

Movement 1: Ascending and Descending (1960) 

Mapped by register, irregular rhythmic patterns, endlessly rising canons and forever loops, the first movement is the longest of the concerto drawing on a traditional soloist/ensemble relationship. Starting with a dirge-like march reflecting the monotony of the circling monks, the piece shifts abruptly to the working activity of the monks with no practical purpose. With some variation, this pattern continues until the middle section of the piece, which descends to the second tier of Escher’s artwork; this section is focused on contemplation, reflecting out and the solemn arches representing the endless process of finite. Slowly descending to the third tier with Shepard tones in the background sounding as if the lines are moving upwards and downwards simultaneously, a familiar canon by Bach appears before returning to the forever loops. The movement ends with the figure looking outwards, monochromatic, as if a descent into nothing. Like Escher’s piece, this movement grapples with double meaning and contradiction.

Escher Keys Mvt 1

Having a blast writing for Amy Williams' Interludes Project which she will be bringing to LSU in February.  Thanks to the Cage Trust for this awesome virtual instrument which is helping me expand my imagination on this masterpiece.  Having SO. MUCH. FUN.

Interlude Influenza teaser -- test opening

Swansongs: Inspired by Swedish artist Hilma Klint (1862-1944), this cello and piano duet is a commission for Eduard Teregulov and Albina Khaliapova who will feature the work on one of their upcoming programs dedicated to female composers.  

Klint is especially known for her mystical thought, like that of Hildegard von Bingen, but centuries later.  I aim to draw parallels between these two artistic women separated by hundreds of years.  I will appropriate some of Hildegard’s music, where I will weave select quotes into a modern interpretation of mysticism.  Of note, Klint’s work ran parallel to the development of abstract art (such as Mondrian, Malevich and Kandinsky) all of whom were all inspired by the Theosophical movement founded by Madame Blavatsky.  The inner and outer world is important in Klint’s work.  Swans have been a metaphor for one who takes flight from worldly trappings.  She directly references the Chinese symbol of yin and yang which is further highlighted by contrasting color.  While clearly struggling, they also function as mirrors – the white swan could represent femininity and the black masculinity or the spiritual vs. material or the visible and invisible; there is a duality to all of these paintings.  The music will explore balance and imbalance, and other dualities of life.  Though Hildegard was a non-dualist, the two shared many commonalities such as a search for own truth, both members of all female organizations, while Klint allowed hand to be led by spirit (automaticism), Hildegard believed music was the ultimate mode of communication that most closely resembled the angles.

Movement 1: (The Swan) – Hilma’s Symmetry (and Chaos)
Movement 2: Hildegard
Movement 3: (The Swan no. 3): Lock and Key

Gibson - Swansongs - III. Lock And Key

Gibson - Swansongs - II. Hildegard

Gibson - Swansongs - I. Hilma's Symmetry

For flute alone. “I hold this to be the highest task of a bond between two people: that each should stand guard over the solitude of the other.” 
― Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet

FLone (2014), best studio recording

Inspired by Swedish artist Hilma af Klint (1862-1944), Swansongs for cello and
piano was a commission from/for Eduard Teregulov and Albina Khaliapova,
who have featured the work on several programs.

Beyond her paintings, af Klint is especially known for her mystical thought; she
can be likened to an early-twentieth century Hildegard von Bingen. Inspired by
both of these mystic women Gibson uses quotations from Hildegard’s music
to weave a modern musical interpretation of af Klint’s approach to visual
mysticism. Af Klint’s work ran parallel to the development of abstract art (such
as Mondrian, Malevich and Kandinsky) all of whom were all inspired by the
Theosophical movement founded by Madame Blavatsky. The relationship
between the inner and outer world is important in af Klint’s work. In her
painting The Swans (1915), she directly references the Chinese symbol of yin
and yang, with their relationship highlighted by their depiction in contrasting
colors. Swans have long been a metaphor for one who takes flight from worldl
trappings. Af Klint’s swans can be understood as both locked in struggle and
as mirrors for each other, showing the interdependence of various dualities,
such as masculine/feminine, spiritual/material, and visible/invisible. The music
of “Swansongs” explores balance and imbalance, and other dualities of life.
Though Hildegard did not share af Klint’s interest in dualism, they both fiercely
sought their own truth through mysticism and were active in all-women
organizations. Through their connections with the mystical, af Klint allowed
her hand to be led by spirit (automaticism), while Hildegard believed music
was the ultimate mode of communication that most closely resembled that of
the angels.

Movement 1: Hilma’s Symmetry (and Chaos) - The Swan no. 1
Movement 2: Hildegard - The Athenaeum, The Swan no. 2, Group IX
Movement 3: Lock and Key - The Swan no. 24, group IX

Eduard Teregulov, Cello
Albina Khaliapova, Piano
Recording, Recital Hall of Concordia College, Minnesota, December 2023
Recording Engineer, Russ Peterson

Swansongs (2022)
“Swansongs is an alluring and captivating duo in three movements for cello
and piano that not only deeply explores timbral and textural relations between
two instruments, but also creates an unforgettable atmosphere of mysticism
and spirituality.

The first movement, Hilma’s Symmetry, starts from a monolith hymn-like
introduction in the piano part, which sets the feeling of mesmerizing eternal
stillness. The introduction is followed by a seemingly cold and logical fast
section. It eventually transforms into complete chaos that brings the music
into the stage of fear and anxiety reminding us of expressionistic paintings of
the beginning of the 20th century.

The forceful and ominous second movement, Hildegard, brings the tension
and intensity to the next level, implementing extremely loud dynamics and
close to violent textural and rhythmical “disagreement” between the cello and
piano parts.

The last movement, Lock and Key, is slow, almost meditative, and creates
a character arch with the introduction of Hilma’s Symmetry. Cello and piano
finally reach unity and agreement. However, the music does not bring any relief to the tension of the entire work. It is rather a brooding and distorted elegy where the flow of time seemingly halts. Hypnotizing harmonies of the
movement force the listeners and performers to detach from the fastpaced
reality and focus on their inner world.” - Eduard Teregulov and Albina
Khaliapova

Swansongs (2023 recording)

Wayward Flicker reflects on mood/imagery, disintegration, memory and enlightenment through the blurring of timbre and the unfolding of time.  

The text is comprised of excerpts from James Joyce’s short story, “The Dead.”  All of Dubliners, but especially “The Dead,” employs the use of free indirect discourse as a narrative style, which is when the voice of a third-person narrator has begun to turn into a first-person narrator, that is one of the characters in the story.  This literary shift between observation and embodiment is analogous to the three primary musical materials in Wayward Flicker.  

1.	Three distinct sounds represent imagery from the text: breath (air), tears (keyclicks/slaps) and flickering (buzzing).  These dissolve over the course of the piece.
2.	The Irish ballad, “The Lass of Aughrim” presents itself abstractly as a memory that gradually becomes more perceptible, therefore more real, as the piece progresses.  The song tells a story of imperfection and fragility, heartbreak and death.
3.	The text is extracted from the final pages of “The Dead” and moves between spoken and sung words as the main character Gabriel reaches an epiphany which gradually takes him outside of his own thoughts and makes him view his partner and humanity in a new way.


Wayward Flicker (World Premiere), loadbang 11/5/24

02 - Swansongs - 2 - Hildegard

05 - Pranayama

06 - Snowball

01 - Swansongs - 1 - (The Swan) Hilmas Symmetry (and Chaos)

04 - Fight - Flight

03 - Swansongs - 3 - (The Swan no. 3) Lock and Key

08 - Escher Keys - 2 - Three Worlds

09 - Escher Keys - 3 - Day and Night - Waterfall

07 - Escher Keys - 1 - Ascending and Descending

Mulberry Song

I. Toccata
II. Chorale
III. Intersection
IV. Chorale
V. Transformations

Five Piano Etudes  (1998)

Studio recording, spring 2016 featuring Professor JoDee Davis (trombone), Trevor Thornton and Emily Trapp (piano duet).

Spark (2014) is a metaphor for fascination, intrigue and wonder. Similar to neurons, a spark is electrically excitable; it processes and transmits information/ideas through signals. Signals occur via synapses, or connections through networks. For Spark, I designed the structure from the sound and timbre, working specifically with the materials I know to be characteristic of the instrument and performer(s). The primary musical material is derived from the manner in which sound is produced on the trombone, through fundamental wavelength – overtones and partials. The piano functions as a resonator. Sound and form have always been connected in my work, but I consciously chose to start with sound first in Spark, then move into form, proceeding forward in dialogue with one another. The sections are intended to reflect a shifting perspective, from smoldering, flashing, explosive, even subdued. Each section connects to a larger map of embedded structures.

I recently discovered a quote by Nabakov that resonated with me in relation to the ideas that inspired this piece.“The more you love a memory the stronger and stranger it becomes.” In particular, the writer talks about how memories can function as illusions, and those from childhood generally conjure more fondness than more recent memories. As it relates to art, memory is a tool. Sparks can muster obsessively or passively, implicitly or explicitly. They can come on episodically, or topographically, but most generally, sparks spur and incite.

Spark

Blackbird was inspired by Wallace Steven's "13 Ways of Looking at a Blackbird," about making the ordinary extraordinary. The complete collaboration includes dance by Gary Abbott and video by Caitlin Horsmon.  This studio recording was completed in May 2016 by Cascade Quartet in Great Falls, Montana.  The piece was largely composed while on residency at Virginia Center for Creative Arts summer 2015.

Part 1: Observation

1. Moving I (eye): 
Among twenty snowy mountains, 
the only moving thing
Was the eye of the blackbird.

2. Th(r)ee: 
I was of three minds,
Like a tree
In which there are three blackbirds.

3. Mimes:
The blackbird whirled in the autumn winds.
It was a small part of the pantomime.

4. One:
A man and a woman
Are one.
A man and a woman and a blackbird
Are one.

5. Inflection: 
I do not know which to prefer,
The beauty of inflections 
Or the beauty of innuendoes,
The blackbird whistling
Or just after.

6. Icicles:
Icicles filled the long window
With Barbaric glass.
The shadow of the blackbird
Crossed it, to and fro.
The mood
Traced in the shadow
An indecipherable cause.

Part 2: Embodiment

7. Golden:
O thin men of Haddam,
Why do you imagine golden birds?
Do you not see how the blackbird 
Walks around the feet
Of the women about you?

8. Inescapable:
O thin men of Haddam,
Why do you imagine golden birds?
Do you not see how the blackbird 
Walks around the feet
Of the women about you?

9. Circles:
When the blackbird flew out of sight,
It marked the edge
Of one of many circles.

10. Green:
At the sight of blackbirds
Flying in a green light,
Even the bawds of euphony
Would cry out sharply.

11. Pierced:
He rode over Connecticut
In a glass coach.
Once, a fear pierced him, In that he mistook 
The shadow of his equipage
For blackbirds.

12. River:
The river is moving.
The blackbird must be flying.

13. Cedar limbs:
It was evening all afternoon.
It was snowing
And it was going to snow.
The blackbird sat
In the cedar-limbs.

Blackbird, studio recording with Cascade Quartet

Breath

I left the biggest space for it.

Have a hard time
thinking of it. Oh it’s supposed to be
so DEEP, go all the way down. Breathe into your pelvis,
into your feet. There comes a point

when you see that none of it is bullshit after all & at that point
no one wants to read your poems anymore. I probably peaked

at twenty-two. The universe is a breath
& every breath a universe. Oh god I’ve done it again:

took too big a breath, bigger than “natural.” Told my friend
I wasn’t sighing at her. I’m no longer a teenager. She’s good; she gets it.

The thing that got me hooked at first on breath
is how much warmer it is coming out than going in.

Come in, air around me! Is what I say in my mind, Come in and I’ll do something to you & you’ll be the same again soon.
---
By Hannah Ensor
---
Composed for Megan Ihnen and Michael Hall, "One Voice" is intended to be exactly that. Each performer is charged with mimicking the phonetic sounds between one another: some are spoken, some sung and many played. The aim is to blend as much as possible with one another. The voice and the viola are closer than one might initially think. A big part of this idea came from the Asian ehru, an instrument inspired by the sound of wind. Humanly voiced, like the viola, mezzo is the natural compliment.

One Voice (Ann Arbor performance, April 2017)

This set of piano preludes was inspired by a series of paintings by Baltimore based painter Jim Condron who I met at the Virginia Center for Creative Arts (VCCA) on residency in the summer of 2015.  I was fascinated by his process of working, and upon his departure, he gifted me the following painting, Home is a failed idea: Prelude VI.

At VCCA in 2015, I started seeing and believing in my ideas as much as my notes on the page. Equally as much as my connection between the emotive and physical, the spiritual realm started to speak for me. Jim’s painting and approach to creating a fluid process between making and feeling spoke volumes to my process.

Last summer pianist Holly Roadfedlt approached me about the idea of participating in a project involving women.  I met Holly through a long-time collaborator friend, Michael Hall. Her playing is splendid, and her ideas poetic. Holly’s For Lisa project, music written by women composers, tells a story prompted by one of Holly’s piano students. In her lesson, the gifted 13-year old student asked Holly why she was only studying music by men. Although, Holly has frequently performed music written by women, it was an enlightening moment for her when her student taught the teacher. 

My Preludes, as a group titled Conundrums, are gesturally and structurally motivated by Jim’s paintings.  Each prelude takes a different painting and sonically “reads” the work.  Woven throughout the series, Holly’s student stories emerge, sometimes as quotations, sometimes as more emotive expressions.  I began composing these pieces while at the MacDowell Colony summer 2016.  For a link to see each painting visit: http://maragibson.com/preludes/

My second CD will be released through PARMA Recordings this November including Condundrums and many other new works composed between 2015-2017.

Prelude 1: For Saturday

Fanfare (2003) was originally composed for the Greater New Orleans Youth Orchestra.  I primarily write for smaller chamber ensembles, but this project allowed me an opportunity to increase the size of my pallet. The piece has also been performed in Norway (by the Trondheim Youth Orchestra in 2009), the Kansas City Youth Orchestra (2011) and most recently by the LSU Symphony (2017) featured on this live recording conducted by Dennis Llinas.

Fanfare is about the development of an idea, one that is not strictly melodically or harmonically driven where rhythm and timbre are of the utmost importance; the piece is about layering.  I was most interested in separating musical parameters so that the parts could be heard more clearly.  While it was a lesson for me writing for orchestra, it was also intended as a new look at how musical materials are put together for listeners.

Analogies I made while composing include: building blocks, sandcastles (where everything is a building block – if you lose a part of the foundation it is crushed) and kaleidoscopes (where big patterns often fragment and become closer together). Descriptive words I used to think about the music included: gradations, in-betweens and spectral/spectrum.

Musical materials I used for formal construction included African drumming patterns and Gamelan scales from Indonesia.  Art analogies I made during my process of composing include those playing with primary colors, like in the works of Robert Delaunay.

Fanfare with LSU Symphony conducted by Dennis Llinas 10/10/17

Pre concert talk by Professor Blake Howe (start at 6:11).

Fanfare program description - LSU Symphony Orchestra 10/10/17 - Howe

Rumi’s words anchor Secret Sky:
 
“This is love: to fly toward a secret sky, to cause a hundred veils to fall each moment.  First to let go of life.  Finally, to take a step without feet.”  
 
Secret Sky is inspired by the island community of Beaver Island, Michigan.  Robert Nordling and the Beaver Island Cultural Arts Center commissioned me to compose this piece as a part of the 2017 Baroque on Beaver Festival.  Having written for primarily chamber ensemble, this opportunity was beyond exciting for me!  Additionally, Robert is a friend, and like most of my creative endeavors, collaboration is critical.  His input has been integral to my process.
 
Beaver Island is an extremely ecologically diverse area.  As a consequence, there is a plethora of bird species inhabiting the island.  In tracking the bird patterns around the island, moving from the north end to the east side, around to the west side and back up the central, I discovered several sonic patterns (based on the bird calls themselves as well as their migration paths).  

The North end begins with a lighthouse, a beacon of sorts.  Then, migratory songbirds prevail with a brief encounter with a swan.  Sparrows and flutters dominate the east side of the island with marshy foul and woodpeckers leading us around to the west side.  Also, on the west side, we are introduced to the other lighthouse on the island, after which we move through a graveyard and then reach the highest bluff on the island.  Finally, circling around to the central area, we experience the greatest habitat diversity with bluebirds and osprey, indulgent in their wavering squeals.  An undercurrent of the piece is the subtle roll of a wave on the shoreline, moving interchangeably through the parts.

Secret Sky is dedicated to my uncle and godfather, James Gibson, 1949-2017.

A World Premiere

Secret Sky: one hundred veils to fall (2017)

Commissioned by the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, premiered by Michael Hall. 

CANOPY was inspired by Ferment, the recent Kansas City Roxy Paine installation at the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art. The piece premiered in April 2011 by Michael Hall in conjunction with the unveiling of the new Paine sculpture titled FERMENT. Paine’s outdoor installations blend landscape and architecture. Through the morphed neuron and tree imagery, the sculptural forms become a simulacrum of what we see outside in nature, and what we know about what we see in nature, between the real and the imaginary. The form of Ferment inspired the structure of CANOPY, highlighting the interconnections of seemingly opposing parts. 

Duration: 13 minutes
credits
released 21 May 2012 
Michael Hall, viola 
Bob Beck, recording engineer

Read review here: http://chambermusictoday.blogspot.com/2012/05/mara-gibsons-canopy-arborealneuronal.html

Canopy (2011)

A collaboration between composer, Mara Gibson, film-maker, Caitlin Horsmon and percussionist, Mark Lowry. Studio recording made at the UMKC Recording Studio with Bob Beck. Map of Rain Hitting Water was commissioned by the performer and inspired by a poem by Wayne Miller.

Duration: 16 minutes, 20 seconds

Map of Rain Hitting Water (2012)

White Ash is inspired by a longer-term study of the bassoon with Darrel Hale, my colleague and friend. This is the third piece I have composed for Megan Ihnen, and the first for Darrel.

White Ash is inspired by motherhood, register and poetry. It is part of a song cycle for Megan Ihnen to follow up on my piece One Voice (2016) for a series of pieces for mezzo and instrumentalist(s). This song premiered April 1, 2019.  It’s sister piece is The Clockmaker’s Doll (premiered April 7, 2019).

The Mothers by Rebecca Morgan Frank
It is supposed to come naturally.
The way you love a boy whose father held
a gun in his own mouth, as his mother
shouted, grab it and run! And the gun cracked
against the creek rocks, then washed away.
If I had a baby, I would hold it close, erase
the cuts that severed us. I would spoon
it stories and know my love was guzzled
whole, to be spit into the future like a tin can
hurdled across the lot. Something to be
excavated, examined. Every blizzard buries
something we’ve left, or worse: what we never
had. The white ash of love is no different.                                                                                                                                                                                         

Listen, I say, and the baby nods. Sleep,
and I’ll tell you another one.

White Ash premiere live performance with Megan Ihnen and Darrel Hale (2019)

Secret Sky perfromed by Chicago Composers Orchestra, Allen Tinkham conducting.Photo credit, Daniel Lory.  Hands down this past October was one of the best career months I have had to date.  Thank you!

Rumi’s words anchor Secret Sky:

“This is love: to fly toward a secret sky, to cause a hundred veils to fall each moment. First to let go of life. Finally, to take a step without feet.”

Secret Sky is inspired by the island community of Beaver Island, Michigan. Robert Nordling and the Beaver Island Cultural Arts Center commissioned me to compose this piece as a part of the 2017 Baroque on Beaver Festival where it received its premier.

Beaver Island is an extremely ecologically diverse area. As a consequence, there are a plethora of bird species inhabiting the island. In tracking the bird patterns around the island, moving from the north end to the east side, around to the west side and back up the central, I discovered several sonic patterns (based on the bird calls themselves as well as their migration paths).

The North end begins with a lighthouse, a beacon of sorts. Then, migratory songbirds prevail with a brief encounter with a swan. Sparrows and flutters dominate the east side of the island with marshy foul and woodpeckers leading us around to the west side. Also, on the west side, we are introduced to the other lighthouse on the island, after which we move through a graveyard and then reach the highest bluff on the island. Finally, circling around to the central area, we experience the greatest habitat diversity with bluebirds and osprey, indulgent in their wavering squeals. An undercurrent of the piece is the subtle roll of a wave on the shoreline, moving interchangeably through the parts.

Secret Sky is dedicated to my uncle and godfather, James Gibson, 1949-2017.  Secret Sky was the result of work started at the MacDowell Colony during my residency in 2016.

Secret Sky: one hundred veils to fall (Chicago Composers Orchestra performance October 2019)

I began the planning stages of this piece at the MacDowell Colony in August 2016.  The piece premiered August 6, 2017 in Beaver Island, Michigan.  It was recorded by the Athens Philharmonia Orchestra in fall 2019 and will soon be released on Naxos as a compilation of new pieces for orchestra.  

Thank you to Dr. Kelvin Jones, LSU Assistant Band Director, for asking me to arrange this for string quartet and band, performed on November 21, 2019.

On an emotional level, Rumi’s words anchor the piece for me: 

“This is love: to fly toward a secret sky, to cause a hundred veils to fall each moment.  First to let go of life.  Finally, to take a step without feet.”  

Facing fear and trusting intent lie at the heart of the piece.

Duration: approximately 8 minutes

Orchestration: 4464-4422, 4 percussionists, string quartet plus 2 double bass

Percussion details: Timpani, wood blocks (one large and one small), temple blocks (five high to low), suspended cymbal and vibraphone, 2 marimbas (one 4.3 and one 5 octave).

Secret Sky  One Hundred Veils To Fall, LSU Symphonic Winds

Shimmer (2016) for harpsichord and live electronics was inspired by several paintings in the Nelson’s 2016 spring exhibition, Reflecting Class in the Age of Rembrandt and Vermeer commissioned by the Nelson Atkins with a premiere performance by Alison DeSimone and Patrick Chan.

Specifically, the piece addresses themes of wealth and portraiture.  Drawing on musical ideas of Baroque composers including Torelli, Corelli and Sweelinck, I built my piece around a Chaconne – as Alex Ross describes ”a sexy swirling dance” which quickly spread across Europe, becoming popular in both elite courts and in the general population. The chaconne is a Spanish variation over short harmonic progression often involving a repetitive bass line in slow triple meter.  Similar to the 12-bar blues, the chaconne is always leaning towards the second beat, creating anticipation.  

Like the paintings from the era, vividly evoking sensory experiences, musically I tried to emphasize passing threads of melodic ideas, full of suspension and ornamentation.  Gesture is an important aspect to Shimmer.  The manipulation of small blocks of sound is a baroque technique that continues throughout contemporary music.  The function of light is most striking throughout this exhibition.  While Shimmer is inspired by many paintings in the exhibit, the following to works resonated with me.

Shimmer

Composer Mara Gibson is originally from Charlottesville, VA, graduated from Bennington College and completed her Ph.D. at SUNY Buffalo. She also attended London College of Music as well as L’École des Beaux-Arts in Fontainebleau, France and the International Music Institute at Darmstadt, Germany. She has earned grants and honors from the American Composer’s Forum; the Banff Center; Louisiana Division of the Arts; Arts KC; the Banff Centre; Meet the Composer; the Kansas Arts Commission National Endowment for the Arts; the International Bass Society; ASCAP, the John Hendrick Memorial Foundation; Virginia Center for the Arts; and Yale University. Recently, she enjoyed a residency at the MacDowell Colony and was awarded an ATLAS grant (32K) through the Louisiana Board of Regents for her bassoon concerto (2021). Internationally renowned ensembles and soloists perform her music throughout the United States, Canada, South America, Australia, Asia, and Europe.  Dr. Gibson has also had performances of her works at prestigious festivals and universities around the country and the world, most notably Mostly Modern Festival (New York), the Bowling Green New Music Festival (Ohio), Amici Della Musica (Udine, Italy), University of Melbourne (Australia), Thailand International Composition Festival (performances in multiple consecutive years), Reaktorhallen (Stockholm, Sweden), Daegu International Computer Music Festival (Korea) and the Beijing Modern Music Festival. 

Gibson’s music has been described as “shocking, gripping and thought-provoking… conjuring a flurry of emotions” (PARMA recordings).   She is a regular cross-disciplinary collaborator, having worked with choreographers, visual artists, writers, film makers and musicians.  In 2015, Gibson released her first portrait CD, ArtIfacts, with her second recording, Sky-born, following in November 2017 through Navona/Parma Recordings.  The later presents works including Blackbird, which feature Cascade Quartet. The music draws inspiration from a variety of artistic mediums: “haunting and epic with visceral energy.” As Gramophone magazine describes, “repertoire on this recording was mostly inspired by poetry and paintings.  What binds these pieces are Gibson’s concise handling of musical materials and her spectrum of sonic approaches. Sky-born displays a compelling contemporary voice with a restless imagination, able to morph other forms of artistic expression into daring, musical odysseys.”

In August 2017, Gibson was selected as the first-annual commissioned composer for the Baroque on Beaver Orchestra led by Robert Nordling. The ensemble showcased her chamber orchestra piece, Secret Sky, music inspired by the bird migration patterns on the island. Collaboration is integral to Gibson’s process; whether through her music, collaborations or teaching, she hopes to achieve a relationship between the macro and micro. In 2019, Gibson premiered four new works White Ash, The Clockmaker’s Doll, Four Modes and Mirror, Mirror and traveled to Athens, Greece to record Secret Sky with the Athens Philharmonic Orchestra which was selected to be included on a compilation CD released by Navona in 2020 (Prisma IV).  Additionally, Secret Sky was included in the 10th annual season opener by the Chicago Composers Orchestra and a newly arranged version was included by LSU Symphonic Winds.  In 2020-21, Mara’s work was dedicated to her large-scale new bassoon concerto Escher Keys inspired by the work of M.C. Escher; “bassoonists will be thrilled to hear such imaginative new rep for the first time, as it represents a substantial new addition to the repertoire for the bassoon; it is highly inventive and profound.” (50 International Double Reed Society – IDRS, volume 44). The collaboration was declared a finalist for the American Prize. Additionally, as a part of this video premiere she presented Galatea’s Dream, a staged song cycle where “each song gains its haunting presence through an existential twist. A chilling atmosphere hangs over the performance, and Gibson’s music abstractly engages the three narratives, accentuating their mood of existential isolation, as felt by women.” (Fanfare Magazine).  In 2023, she released the film version of the song cycle.  Her most recent work incorporates extra-musical materials into vocal and instrumental performance and integrates increasingly challenging subject matter with effective (and often unusual) instrumental and vocal delivery styles; these techniques extend performance practice and portray strong emotional content that defines the heart of her overall concept — the arc of the musical and theatrical development.

Prior to LSU, Dr. Gibson taught as an Associate Teaching Professor at the UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance for over ten years, where she was founder of the UMKC Composition Workshop, co-director/founder of ArtSounds, and coordinated undergraduate composition.  She joined Louisiana State University as an Associate Professor of Composition.  She is now area coordinator with tenure and founded the Constantinides New Music Ensemble who had their debut performance at Carnegie Hall in April of 2022.  Since her arrival at LSU, the composition studio has more than doubled in size. Mara was awarded a sabbatical (fall 2023) when she began her first opera with Ann McCutchan (libretto) inspired by Lee Smith's novel “The Devil's Dream,” presumed to be roughly based on the country music powerhouse Carter family. Last fall, Mara composed at the prestigious Moulin a Nef in Auvillar, France.  Her 3rd portrait album was released fall 2024 including four new pieces composed since 2021 alongside Escher Keys.

Mara Gibson

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