Written for and performed by Bent Frequency at the Charlotte New Music Festival, June 2016. Jan Baker, alto saxophone; Stuart Gerber, percussion.

The Common Thread
i. spathiphyllum
ii. aloe vera
iii. solanum lycopersinum
iv. chlorophytum cosmosum
v. crassula ovata

This piece is about my house plants. I love them very much.
"chlorophytum cosmosum" is based on the song "One Day" by Roy MacNeil. 

The Common Thread (2016)

Composer and soprano based in Northeast Vermont.

Praised for its “depth, beauty, and rich dimension” (The Courier), and “tremendous instrumental color, beautiful textures, [and] impressive formal structure” (ABLAZE Records), the work of Baltimore-based composer/pianist Adam D. O’Dell (b. 1992) seeks to combine classical, jazz, rock, theatre, and folk influences into music with humanistic and story-like qualities.

Recent commissions include the Dubuque Symphony Orchestra, Altered Sound Duo, the Oklahoma State University Symphony Orchestra, Ensemble 135, Just Duet, saxophonist Sean Garde, hornist Andrew Pelletier, and the Julien Chamber Choir. His works have been performed in the United States, United Kingdom, Czech Republic, Russia, Brazil, Germany, and Italy. He has won awards from ABLAZE Records, the Tri-State Wind Symphony, the Philharmonia of Greater Kansas City, Make Music Inc., and the Kennedy Center, among others.

O’Dell holds degrees from Bowling Green State University (MM) and Clarke University (BA). He has studied with composers Marilyn Shrude, Mikel Kuehn, Christopher Dietz, and Amy Dunker. He is currently pursuing his DMA in Music Composition at the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University as a student of Kevin Puts.

O'Dell is an internationally published academic writer, and has given lectures and masterclasses in composition, analysis, and biomusicology across the United States and Europe. O’Dell currently serves as the Artistic Director, composer-in-residence, and pianist with the Noise-to-Signal Ensemble, and is a licensed PARMA Recordings Artist. His music can be heard on the Navona and ABLAZE record labels, and his debut solo album “Clarinet and Percussion pieces I gone and done” is set to be released in November 2018 by the contemporary chamber music/sketch comedy duo Just Duet.

Elliott Grabill is a composer and math teacher from Baltimore City.  He offers a unique perspective to the new music community, having “a lot to say, both musically and verbally,” according to Ron Beckett. 

Elliott Grabill’s music has been described as hauntingly beautiful, with flowery textures and bittersweet emotions.  His work has been performed by Pique Collective, Dark in the Song, the Washington Men’s Camerata, L'Abri Trio, the Meridian Arts Ensemble, and numerous solo artists, including Melissa Lander, Lynn Hileman, Peter Sheppard-Skaerved, Shawn Earle, Andrea Cheeseman, Hila Zamir, and Tae Ho Hwang.  Prizes include the Dark in the Song Prize, 3rd place in the Peabody Prix d’Ete, and an honorable mention in the Arcady Emerging Composer Competition.  He holds degrees from the Peabody Conservatory and the University of Virginia.  His film and dance collaborations have been featured at the Rosebud Film Festival, the Windup Space, the Athens Film Festival, Temple University, American University, and Dance Place.  

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The Common Thread (2016)

Mavis MacNeil