Name: Songs for Joe Hill by Michaellanci
Duration: 21 min 38 s
Description: Five protest songs written in memory of labor rights activist and singer songwriter Joe Hill.

Michael, Congratulations on your BMP win 03/17/18

Performed by:  L'Orchestre de L'Université de Montréal
Conducted by:  Nadège Foofat
November 5th 2016 at Salle Claude-Champagne

les étourneaux (2016)

Five protest songs written in memory of labor rights activist and singer songwriter Joe Hill.

Songs for Joe Hill

Premiered June 16, 2017 as part of Cleveland Institutes of Music's Young Composers Program. Preformed by the new music ensemble, Ars Futura. 

This piece tells a story similar to that of Romeo and Juliet, forbidden love.  Forbidden depicts the anger and frustration that comes with this. While Romeo and Juliet portrays forbidden love in a purely romantic sense, this piece does not.  Forbidden was written to depict forbidden love in a variety of situations.  It could be applied to a passionate teenager whose style and dreams are criticized by family and peers, or a couple whose families don’t accept them because of their sexuality.  While yes, this piece can describe the romantic struggle of forbidden love, it does not have to.  No matter what it is, love should never be forbidden.

Forbidden - Jacob McFarland

Michael Lanci is a composer and educator currently residing in Brooklyn, New York. His music is viscerally engaging, stylistically diverse and draws from a wide range of influences. Recent projects include a collection of 5 protest songs dedicated to late nineteenth century singer-songwriter and labor rights activist Joe Hill, that was awarded the American Prize along with a new commission as part of the  Beth Morrison Projects Next Generation Competition that will be premiered at National Sawdust in February of 2019.

Michael’s works have been performed at festivals such as the Cortona Sessions,  Edmont Fringe Festival, Orford Festival, Detroit Bureau of Sound, Midwest Composers Symposium and the Vox Novus Festival. He has received commissions from the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Beyond Pluck, Unhread-of//Ensemble, Klangpar2, and the Vive! Ensemble. His works have been performed by the University of Iowa Symphony Orchestra, Contemporaneous, Hypercube, All Of The Above, Buffalo Chamber Players, Duo d’Entre Deux, and the Decho Ensemble. 

Michael holds a B.M. in piano performance from SUNY Albany, where he also studied composition with Max Lifchitz and a M.M. in composition from SUNY Fredonia, where he studied with Rob Deemer and Karl Boelter. Michael completed his D.M.A. in composition at the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati where he studied with Michael Fiday.

Songs for Joe Hill

Michaellanci

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