Commissioned by Tim Hurtz, Professor of Oboe, Penn State School of Music.
Premiered at the International Double Reed Society Conference, June 25, 2013.

In moments of reflection, disparate memories gather, mingle, intertwine, and disperse, coloring each other in the process, sometimes turning unpleasant, but ultimately finding some form of resolution.

Copyright 2013 Mark Ballora (ASCAP). Published by BRS Music, Inc., USA. <www.brsmusic.net>

Leaves of Memory (for solo oboe)

This piece was commissioned by Naomi Seidman and the Penn State Flute Choir for a performance at the 2013 National Flute Association Convention in New Orleans.

The Zydeco Genre
Zydeco is a style of dance music originating from the Creole populations of rural Louisiana. It fuses of a variety of genres, including Cajun, blues, and soul. It is characterized by the accordion and the frottoir, a kind of breastplate adapted from a washboard, which people play by wearing thimbles on their fingers and brushing and scraping it, often adding extra adornments such as cymbals. This piece synthesizes quotations from artists Roy Carrier, Beau Jocque, and Rockin’ Dopsie, Jr.

Penn State University Flute Choir
Dr. Naomi Seidman and Laura Clapper, directors

Performers:
Laura Clapper, Michael Marini, Dan Sánchez, Megan Recio, Alex Burdette, Ammi Lopez, Cynthia Vong, Kelly Myers, Theresa Bunger, Samantha Staffieri, Anne Pauley, Hurlie Yang, Maya Waide, Katy Sun, Rebecca Longworth, Ashley Hilton

Copyright 2013 Mark Ballora (ASCAP). All rights reserved. Published by BRS Music, Inc., USA (www.brsmusic.net).

Flauto Zydeco (for flute choir with percussion)

A montage of soundscapes created for the series of animated shorts "Paradise Workshop," which was conceived by Jeffrey Lerer. I added sounds to the world he created.

Paradise Workshop

Underground was commissioned by modern dance choreographer Errol Grimes in 1986. It was created from recordings of New York City’s street population, gathered over a period of several months with a pocket cassette recorder, transferred to reel to reel multitrack, and spliced together to create the backing montage, over which various musical themes were applied.


Underground

A montage of pieces created for the Errol Grimes Dance Group's production RED. Features Max Zorin in violin, Agatha Wang on flute, and the Penn State Concert Choir.

Red Suite

The precarious balance at an event horizon
Gradually succumbs and
Crosses the threshold
Beyond divisions and tensions
Only to yearn for their peculiar comforts

Code, score, and more:
http://www.personal.psu.edu/meb26/singularity/

Singularity (for flute and live electronics)

Commissioned by Naomi Seidman and Agatha Wang in honor of flutist and “giraffe-o-phile” Eleanor Duncan Armstrong.

Published by BRS Music, Inc. WW#524

This brief pleasantry is inspired by the noble and endearing characteristics of our animal cousin, the giraffe. Overseers of the savannahs, they are formidable, magnanimous, and quirky, with an irregular, stumbling gait that is surprisingly agile. As we gaze up at them in curiosity, they return our gaze quizzically. One can’t help but wonder how we must look to them.

Giraffe Minuet

This piece was written as an homage to the deep sea squid, those magnificent, calculating, eerie dwellers of the depths.

A number of their unique characteristics are portrayed:

They have three hearts:
Two for the gills and tentacles, one for the brain, body, and nervous system.

They are extremely agile: 
With fins that can flap to move them in any direction, or to hover in place. To move particularly quickly, they take water through the gills and then shoot it out through a "funnel," either to the front or rear.

They are colorful:
Many squids can change color instantaneously, communicating territorial warnings or social invitations through patterns on their skin. 

They are violent:
Their fights (typically over mates or food) are both fascinating and horrific, as two opponents lock together, tentacles wrapped around each other, spinning into oblivion.

They are mesmerizing:
The effect of their ten tentacles, undulating together in quasi-regular patterns, is hypnotic. 

They seem perfectly adapted for life in the world of deep, cold, dark waters.

Recorded by the Penn State Flute Choir:
Naomi Seidman, director
Piccolo/C Flute - Alex Burdette
C Flutes - Laura Clapper, Ammi Lopez, Kelly Myers
Alto Flute - Cynthia Vong
Dan Sánchez - Bass Flute
Engineered by Elliot Kermit-Canfield in Penn State's Studio A

Published by BRS Music (www.brsmusic.net)

Dedicated to Andrew Klinger, squidophile extroardinaire.

Squid Sarabande (for flute choir)

Associate professor of music technology, Penn State University.
Composer, designer of data sonifications.

Mark Ballora

Popular tracks