An Il trittico for the Tinder generation, THREE WAY is a new opera on the present and future of sex and love with music by Robert Paterson (The Whole Truth) and a libretto by David Cote (The Scarlet Ibis). In three playful one-acts, average heroes explore the worlds of android lovers, BDSM and multiple partners in their searches for the emotional connections that are ever-elusive in today s romantic world. Featuring Nashville Opera, conducted by Dean Williamson. Original cast recording.

CREATIVE TEAM
Robert Paterson, Composer: http://www.robertpaterson.com | http://www.robertpaterson.com/three-way
David Cote, Librettist: http://www.davidcote.com

THREE WAY SITES
Three Way Site: http://www.threewayopera.com/
Nashville Opera: http://www.nashvilleopera.org/three-way/
American Opera Projects (AOP): http://www.aopopera.org/threeway/

Materials available from Bill Holab Music: http://www.billholabmusic.com/threeway/
Three Way Arias - Male: http://www.billholabmusic.com/store/i...
Three Way Arias - Female: http://www.billholabmusic.com/store/i...
Three Way Piano/vocal score: http://www.billholabmusic.com/store/i...

ORIGINAL CAST
Danielle Pastin, Soprano: http://www.daniellepastin.com
Courtney Ruckman, Soprano: http://www.courtneyruckman.com
Eliza Bonet, Mezzo-Soprano: http://www.elizabonet.com
Melisa Bonetti, Mezzo-Soprano: http://www.melisabonettimezzo.com
Jordan Rutter, Countertenor: http://www.jordanrutter.com
Samuel Levine, Tenor: http://www.samuellevinetenor.com
Wes Mason, Baritone: http://www.wesmasonstage.com
Matthew Treviño, Bass: http://www.matthewtrevino.com

Three Way: Arias

Robert Patersons The Four Seasons consists of four song cycles, with a total of twenty-one songs, for four different voice types: soprano, mezzo-soprano, tenor, and bass-baritone. Each voice type represents a different season: Summer Songs (soprano), Autumn Songs (mezzo-soprano), Winter Songs (bass-baritone), and Spring Songs (tenor). The four critically-acclaimed singers on this album, soprano, Marnie Breckenridge, mezzo-soprano, Blythe Gaissert, tenor Alok Kumar, and bass-baritone David Neal have worked closely with Paterson, and gave the world premieres of these works with American Modern Ensemble, one of Americas most beloved new music ensembles. The songs on this album are all settings of poems by various poets (listed below in the track listings), and each cycle is for voice and chamber ensemble consisting of flute, clarinet, percussion, piano, violin and cello. This ensemble is commonly called a Pierrot ensemble, named after the ensemble that Arnold Schoenberg used for his work Pierrot Lunaire. To date, Paterson has composed more works for this type of ensemble than anyone in the world. The Four Seasons was produced by Grammy® winning producer and engineer Adam Abeshouse, and recorded at The DiMenna Center for Classical Musics Mary Flagler Cary Hall (Summer Songs and Autumn Songs), the American Academy of Arts and Letters (Winter Songs), and in the Ladd Concert Hall Skidmore Colleges Arthur Zankel Music Center (Spring Songs).

Buy Album

The Four Seasons

Music: J.S. Bach (Schweigt stille, plaudert nicht, BWV 211); Arranged by Robert Paterson
Libretto: Christian Friedrich Henrici (a.k.a. Picander); English Translation by David Cote
Duration: ca. 25'
Instrumentation: soprano, baritone, bass-baritone, flute, piano, 2 violins, viola, cello
Commissioned by Triphammer Arts Inc. with The Arts at Grace and Society for New Music
World Premiere Recording (Live Performance): American Modern Ensemble, featuring Cree Carrico, soprano; Steven Stull, baritone; David Neal, bass-baritone; Universal Preservation Hall (UPH), Saratoga Springs, NY, June 18-19, 2021
Publisher: Bill Holab Music: www.billholabmusic.com
For more information: robertpaterson.com/coffee-cantata/
Full Video: TBA
View Online Perusal Score: TBA
Buy Full Score: TBA

PROGRAM NOTE
More than just an English version of the German libretto by Christian Friedrich Henrici, this contemporary adaptation of J.S. Bach’s Coffee Cantata aims for a “fresh-brewed” vision of the father-daughter conflict over java. Despite references to SUVs, smartphones, and throuples, Cote’s new libretto retains the essential plot: a frustrated father tries to convince his coffee-chugging daughter to forsake the bean. When the father dangles marriage as a bargaining tool, they reach a decaffeinated détente. Paterson’s arrangement updates Bach's original Baroque ensemble to a similar, yet more contemporary classical instrumentation, consisting of flute, string quartet, and piano, and with the tenor and baritone roles switched to baritone and bass baritone, respectively. This instrumentation is also used for Cocoa Cantata.

Coffee Cantata - J.S. Bach (Arrangement) (For Three Singers and Chamber Ensemble) (World Premiere)

I Go Among Trees
Music by Robert Paterson
https://www.robertpaterson.com/
Duration: ca. 15'
Instrumentation: SATB choir (with divisis, SSAATTBB) and marimba (5-octaves)

For More Information: https://robertpaterson.com/i-go-among-trees
Buy Sheet Music: https://billholabmusic.com/store/index.php?keyword=i%20go%20among&main_page=advanced_search_result&search_in_description=1

MOVEMENTS
I. I Go Among Trees (Wendell Berry)
II. March in New England (May Sarton)
III. The Kestrel (John Frederick Freeman)

Commissioned by the New Amsterdam Singers, Clara Longstreth, Music Director, in honor of the chorus’ 50th Anniversary and the 65th Birthday of Barbara Zucker-Pinchoff.

NEW AMSTERDAM SINGERS
Clara Longstreth, Music Director & Conductor https://www.nasingers.org/
Guest Artist: Makoto Nakura, Marimba http://makotonakura.com/

Audio Engineer: Dongsok Shin
Recorded at Broadway Presbyterian Church, New York, NY, USA, December 12, 2021

III. The Kestrel
by John Freeman 

In a great western wind we climbed the hill 
And saw the clouds run up, ride high and sink; 
And there were shadows running at our feet 
Till it seemed the very earth could not be still, 
Nor could our hearts be still, nor could we think 
Our hearts could ever be still, our thought less fleet 
Than the dizzy clouds, less than the flying wind. 
Eastward the valley and the dark steep hill 
And other hills and valleys lost behind 
In mist and light. The hedges were not yet bare 
Though the wind picked at them as he went by. 
The woods were fire, a fire that dense or clear 
Burned steady, but could not burn up the shadows 
Rooted where the trees’ roots entangled lie, 
In darkness; or a flame burned solitary 
In the middle of the highest of brown meadows, 
Burned solitary and unconsuming where 
A red tree stooped to its black shadow and 
The kestrel’s shadow hunted the kestrel up the hill. 
We climbed, and as we stood (where yet we stand 
And of the visioned sun and shadow still drink) 
Happiness like a shadow chased our thought 
That tossed on free wings up and down the world; 
Till by that wild swift-darting shadow caught 
Our free spirits their free pinions furled. 
Then as the kestrel began once more the heavens to climb 
A new-winged spirit rose clear above the hills of time. 

This poem is in the public domain.

I Go Among Trees - III. The Kestrel (John Frederick Freeman)

I Go Among Trees
Music by Robert Paterson
https://www.robertpaterson.com/
Duration: ca. 15'
Instrumentation: SATB choir (with divisis, SSAATTBB) and marimba (5-octaves)

For More Information: https://robertpaterson.com/i-go-among-trees
Buy Sheet Music: https://billholabmusic.com/store/index.php?keyword=i%20go%20among&main_page=advanced_search_result&search_in_description=1

MOVEMENTS
I. I Go Among Trees (Wendell Berry)
II. March in New England (May Sarton)
III. The Kestrel (John Frederick Freeman)

Commissioned by the New Amsterdam Singers, Clara Longstreth, Music Director, in honor of the chorus’ 50th Anniversary and the 65th Birthday of Barbara Zucker-Pinchoff.

NEW AMSTERDAM SINGERS
Clara Longstreth, Music Director & Conductor https://www.nasingers.org/
Guest Artist: Makoto Nakura, Marimba http://makotonakura.com/

Audio Engineer: Dongsok Shin
Recorded at Broadway Presbyterian Church, New York, NY, USA, December 12, 2021

II. March in New England
by May Sarton 

Here in New England where the ice still grips 
And pussy willows have not put on fur, 
The masts are earthbound of the sleeping ships, 
And only clammers on the beaches stir. 
All seems exhausted by its own withholding, 
Its own withstanding. There is no unfolding. 
Even the new moon promises no better 
Than a thin joke about much colder weather. 

This harsh world locks itself up in the season. 
It is clearly not the time and not the place 
To ask for summer love, for more than reason, 
To hope to lift the cloud from any face. 
Look at the trees, how even they determine 
To hold their leaves back under the tough skin. 
“Keep snug” is their advice, and they endure, 
For frost is on the way again for sure. 

Yet in New England before spring I’ve seen 
The sea unfold as sumptuous as silk, 
Have watched the cold world tilt back into green, 
And watched the waves spill out like foaming milk­— 
Till the eye, starved for color and for light, 
Wept at such majesty beside such blight, 
Would rush to break trees open, and to bring 
To this locked world torrents of English spring!

March in New England by May Sarton, from Collected poems: 1930-1993. © W.W. Norton & Company, 1993. Reprinted with permission from Lippincott Massie McQuilkin.

I Go Among Trees - II. March in New England (May Sarton)

I Go Among Trees
Music by Robert Paterson
https://www.robertpaterson.com/
Duration: ca. 15'
Instrumentation: SATB choir (with divisis, SSAATTBB) and marimba (5-octaves)

For More Information: https://robertpaterson.com/i-go-among-trees
Buy Sheet Music: https://billholabmusic.com/store/index.php?keyword=i%20go%20among&main_page=advanced_search_result&search_in_description=1

MOVEMENTS
I. I Go Among Trees (Wendell Berry)
II. March in New England (May Sarton)
III. The Kestrel (John Frederick Freeman)

Commissioned by the New Amsterdam Singers, Clara Longstreth, Music Director, in honor of the chorus’ 50th Anniversary and the 65th Birthday of Barbara Zucker-Pinchoff.

NEW AMSTERDAM SINGERS
Clara Longstreth, Music Director & Conductor https://www.nasingers.org/
Guest Artist: Makoto Nakura, Marimba http://makotonakura.com/

Audio Engineer: Dongsok Shin
Recorded at Broadway Presbyterian Church, New York, NY, USA, December 12, 2021

I. I Go Among Trees
by Wendell Berry 

I go among trees and sit still. 
All my stirring becomes quiet 
around me like circles on water. 
My tasks lie in their places 
where I left them, asleep like cattle. 

Then what is afraid of me comes 
and lives a while in my sight. 
What it fears in me leaves me, 
and the fear of me leaves it. 
It sings, and I hear its song. 

Then what I am afraid of comes. 
I live for a while in its sight. 
What I fear in it leaves it, 
and the fear of it leaves me. 
It sings, and I hear its song. 

After days of labor, 
mute in my consternations, 
I hear my song at last, 
and I sing it. As we sing, 
the day turns, the trees move. 

Copyright © 1998 by Wendell Berry, from A Timbered Choir. Reprinted by permission of Counterpoint Press.

I Go Among Trees - I. I Go Among Trees (Wendell Berry)

Spring Songs
Duration: ca. 20'
Instrumentation: tenor and piano
Performers: American Modern Ensemble - Alok Jumar, tenor; Geoffrey Burleson, piano
Recorded at Opera America's National Opera Center, Marc A. Scorca Hall, New York, NY, USA, June 4, 2019
Publisher: Bill Holab Music: http://billholabmusic.com/store/index.php?keyword=spring%20songs%20-&main_page=advanced_search_result&search_in_description=1
For More Information: https://robertpaterson.com/spring-songs-version-for-tenor-and-piano

I. English Sparrows (Washington Square) (Edna St. Vincent Millay)
II.  April 5, 1974 (Richard Wilbur)
III. Done With (Ann Stanford)
IV. The Widow’s Lament in Springtime (William Carlos Williams)
V. Spring Rain (Sara Teasdale)

PROGRAM NOTES
Spring Songs for tenor and chamber ensemble or piano is my third song cycle celebrating the seasons. As with the first two, Winter Songs for bass-baritone and Summer Songs for soprano, this cycle contains settings of poems by various American poets.

Whereas both Winter Songs and Summer Songs end with scenes in New York City, Spring Songs begins with New York: a setting of English Sparrows (Washington Square) by Edna St. Vincent Millay, a poem about a scene that takes place in the morning in Greenwich Village, a neighborhood in New York City where Millay lived in the early 1900s. The second movement is a setting of April 5, 1974 by Richard Wilbur, a poem Wilbur wrote in honor of Robert Frost’s one-hundredth birthday, and I interpret as being about overcoming self-doubt through wisdom, and about understanding the change of seasons, but also a change of mind. The third movement, Done With by Ann Stanford, I interpret to be about death and rebirth. Stanford symbolizes this by a house being torn down and the ground paved over, the now suffocated plant life yearning to break through. The Widow’s Lament in Springtime, the fourth movement, is a setting of a poem by William Carlos Williams. I interpret this poem as a modernist, pastoral elegy that uses images of nature to lament the death of a loved one. The final movement, a setting of the poem Spring Rain by Sara Teasdale, is about a happy memory of a lover brought about by an evening thunderstorm.

Spring Songs was commissioned by Rick Teller and Kathleen Rogers and was premiered at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall by the American Modern Ensemble, Alok Kumar, tenor, and Geoffrey Burleson, piano.

Spring Songs (Piano/vocal) - V. Spring Rain (Sara Teasdale)

Spring Songs (Piano/vocal) - IV. The Widow’s Lament in Springtime (William Carlos Williams)

Spring Songs (Piano/vocal) - III. Done With (Ann Stanford)

Spring Songs (Piano/vocal) - II. April 5, 1974 (Richard Wilbur)

Spring Songs (Piano/vocal) - I. English Sparrows (Washington Square) (Edna St. Vincent Millay)

The Winds of Time for Wind Ensemble
Duration: 14'
Performers: Eastman Wind Ensemble, Mark Davis Scatterday, Conductor, Eastman School of Music, Kodak Theater, April 15, 2022
Publisher: https://www.billholabmusic.com/composers/robert-paterson/
For More Information: https://robertpaterson.com/
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4CRnLcpvBY

Commissioned by the Eastman Wind Ensemble, Mark Davis Scatterday, Conductor, and a consortium of wind ensembles, in honor of the Eastman School of Music’s Centennial Anniversary. Consortium members include Carthage Wind Orchestra (Carthage College), CCM Wind Ensemble (University of Cincinnati), Eastman Wind Ensemble (Eastman School of Music), Nevada Wind Ensemble (University of Nevada, Reno), Symphonic Wind Ensemble (Northwestern University), TCNJ Wind Ensemble (The College of New Jersey), Wind Symphony (Ohio University), and the UNC Wind Ensemble (The University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill)

PROGRAM NOTE
The Winds of Time was inspired by the title and content of the poem of the same name by Tanzanian poet and novelist Euphrase Kezilahabi. I created musical elements from the various words, phrases and metaphors in his poem, especially those related to wind and water: watching the waves rising, falling, swelling, surging, and waves being driven by winds. The passage of time, inevitability, darkness, and the poem’s overall despair are represented throughout the ensemble with various bells, drums, winds, exotic instruments, and a few non-standard playing techniques.

Although this work is divided into three connected movements, Waves rising, falling, swelling, surging, Bending space/time, and Colossal chimes, fading light, it is more a rhapsody than narrative in structure. Various themes and motives gradually come into the foreground and recede into the background throughout the entire work, similar to how shells wash up on a shore and then become lost to the sand.

The Winds of Time was commissioned by the Eastman School of Music Wind Ensemble, Mark Davis Scatterday, Conductor, and a consortium of wind ensembles in honor of Eastman’s 100th anniversary.

The Winds Of Time for Wind Ensemble (World Premiere)

The Book of Goddesses
For Flute, Harp, Percussion, and Optional Choreography
Commissioned by MAYA with funding from the  New York State Council on the Arts
Duration: 36'

Publisher: Bill Holab Music: http://www.billholabmusic.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=1011

For more information: https://robertpaterson.com/the-book-of-goddesses

PROGRAM NOTES
My initial inspiration for The Book of Goddesses, and the source of the title, is the beautiful, lavishly illustrated book of the same name by Kris Waldherr, a Brooklyn based author, illustrator, designer and cellist. Waldherr’s book contains descriptions and images of hundreds of female deities from around the world, some featured more prominently than others. Rather than focus on goddesses in one particular culture, I highlight a few that seem to evoke something musical, dance-related or sensual. The cultures, countries and continents I draw on for musical material and styles are India, China, Greece, Ireland, North America, Nigeria and Cuba.

The flute and harp parts in each movement are often inspired by similar instruments found in each culture. For example, the harp part in Xi Wang Mu is inspired by the Konghou, and ancient Chinese harp, and the solo bass flute movement, Estanatlehi, is inspired by the sound of a Native American flute. Percussion instruments provide an earthiness, at least with regard to timbre, and each of the trio movements uses instruments that are not common in Western music, including an Indian Gatam, a Middle-Eastern Dumbek, an Afro-Cuban Cajón and the Udu drum, an instrument traditionally played by Nigerian women.

In order to achieve the right feel for each movement, I use non-Western scales, rhythms and other elements, and I occasionally appropriate patterns and other material from pre-existing music. My goal is to merge some of the qualities of traditional music with my own sensibility, and then filter it through flute, harp and percussion.

Many goddesses are associated with dance, certain colors or creativity in general, and with that in mind, I imagine The Book of Goddesses being performed live with choreographed dance. It may be presented in its entirety, although subsets—such as all of the movements for flute and harp—or single movements may also be extracted and performed.

The Book of Goddesses was commissioned by MAYA with funding provided by the New York State Council on The Arts.

The Book of Goddesses

The Book Of Goddesses - I. Saraswati

Suite of choral movements from A New Eaarth for orchestra, chorus and narrator. This version for voice and piano
Duration (all movements): 14'
Text by James Joyce

Publisher: Bill Holab Music: http://www.billholabmusic.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=103_137&products_id=1837
For more information: http://robertpaterson.com/a-new-eaarth

PROGRAM NOTE
Although I have lived in cities most of my life, I do not think of myself as a city person and have always felt more connected to the outdoors rather than to asphalt and tall buildings. Many of my works are inspired by nature, and I am deeply concerned about environmental issues, particularly climate change.

Of the many excellent books on the environment, one of the best and the one that moves me most is Eaarth by Bill McKibben, a famed author, educator and environmentalist. McKibben’s assertion is that we have waited too long, and that massive climate change is not only unavoidable, but already underway. He states that we may as well call this new planet Eaarth, because it is still recognizable, but fundamentally different. I feel strongly that he is correct, and wanted to express this in a musical way. A work for orchestra, chorus and narrator seemed like the ideal vehicle for reflecting on this critical issue.

Choral Suite from A New Eaarth consists of the four choral movements from A New Eaarth for orchestra, but with piano rather than orchestra. I designed these movements so they could be performed as a stand-alone suite, and in fact, for the purpose of rehearsals, I composed the choir and piano versions first, and then orchestrated them so they could be integrated into the whole orchestral work.

The suite includes texts by Wendell Berry, James Joyce, Percy Bysshe Shelley and William Wordsworth. The poems, at least as part of the entire orchestral version, allude to the four ancient classical elements—earth, air, fire and water—a theme that permeates many of my other works.

A New Eaarth was commissioned by the Vermont Youth Orchestra Association through a Music Alive! residency grant from New Music USA and the League of American Orchestras.

Eternal Reflections

Choral Suite from A New Eaarth - I. Rough Wind (Text by James Joyce)

Suite of choral movements from A New Eaarth for orchestra, chorus and narrator.

Publisher: Bill Holab Music
For more information: http://robertpaterson.com/a-new-eaarth

Choral Suite from A New Eaarth - II. The Noise of Waters

Suite of choral movements from A New Eaarth for orchestra, chorus and narrator. This version for chorus and piano.

Publisher: Bill Holab Music:
http://www.billholabmusic.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=103_137&products_id=1837

View Score:
https://issuu.com/robertpaterson/docs/paterson_choral_suite_from_a_new_ea

For more information:
https://robertpaterson.com/choral-suite-from-a-new-eaarthh
http://robertpaterson.com/a-new-eaarth

PROGRAM NOTE
Although I have lived in cities most of my life, I do not think of myself as a city person and have always felt more connected to the outdoors rather than to asphalt and tall buildings. Many of my works are inspired by nature, and I am deeply concerned about environmental issues, particularly climate change.

Of the many excellent books on the environment, one of the best and the one that moves me most is Eaarth by Bill McKibben, a famed author, educator and environmentalist. McKibben’s assertion is that we have waited too long, and that massive climate change is not only unavoidable, but already underway. He states that we may as well call this new planet Eaarth, because it is still recognizable, but fundamentally different. I feel strongly that he is correct, and wanted to express this in a musical way. A work for orchestra, chorus and narrator seemed like the ideal vehicle for reflecting on this critical issue.

Choral Suite from A New Eaarth consists of the four choral movements from A New Eaarth for orchestra, but with piano rather than orchestra. I designed these movements so they could be performed as a stand-alone suite, and in fact, for the purpose of rehearsals, I composed the choir and piano versions first, and then orchestrated them so they could be integrated into the whole orchestral work.

The suite includes texts by Wendell Berry, James Joyce, Percy Bysshe Shelley and William Wordsworth. The poems, at least as part of the entire orchestral version, allude to the four ancient classical elements—earth, air, fire and water—a theme that permeates many of my other works.

A New Eaarth was commissioned by the Vermont Youth Orchestra Association through a Music Alive! residency grant from New Music USA and the League of American Orchestras.

Choral Suite from A New Eaarth - III. A Timbered Choir

Choral Suite from A New Eaarth - IV. There Was A Time

For SATB A Cappella Choir and Optional Projected Images
Duration: ca. 11'

To read more and see the graffiti images, visit this page:

http://robertpaterson.com/graffiti-canons

Commissioned by Volti, Robert A. Geary, Artistic Director. The commissioning of this work by Volti was made possible by the support of the Ann Stookey Fund for New Music.

Publisher: Bill Holab Music

PROGRAM NOTES

Although I have based many choral works on settings of poems, I also enjoy setting unusual texts. In many ways. graffiti is ideal as a source of inspiration. It is unpretentious, extremely varied and can be found almost anywhere: under bridges, in alleyways, on the sides of vans, in subway stations, and even in bathroom stalls. It may be illegal or sanctioned, artistic, text based, aphoristic, philosophical or purely graphic. It can be humorous, innocent and childlike, or very serious and meant to provoke. Graffiti may be of our time or ancient. Certain cave paintings, for example, could be considered predecessors to modern graffiti. Through graffiti, gangs, tribes or individuals can hide behind anonymity; it is the voice of the voiceless.

In Graffiti Canons , I appropriate positive aphoristic sayings, sentences and phrases found in graffiti from various parts of the world. My goal is to create a musical tapestry that flows from one thought to the next and spans time and place, using canonic technique and chorale-like transitions.

Although I found many of the graffiti images online, others I use in this piece were obtained via a Graffiti Photo Contest that I posted online. Approximately eighty images were submitted, and viewers were allowed to vote for their favorites, which played a part in which images were chosen. A handful of the most inspirational photos were used for this piece. An optional slideshow containing these images may be shown during performances of this piece.

Graffiti Canons was commissioned by Volti, Robert Geary, Artistic Director. The commissioning of this work by Volti was made possible by the support of the Ann Stookey Fund for New Music (annstookeyfund.org).

– Robert Paterson

Graffiti Canons (For Choir)

Summer Songs (for Soprano and Chamber Ensemble)
Duration: ca. 24'

MOVEMENTS:
I. Summer Music (May Sarton)
II. The KIte (Anne Sexton)
III. Childhood (Sharan Strange)
IV. Moths (Jennifer O'Grady)
V. Summer Night, Riverside (Sara Teasdale)

Performers: American Modern Ensemble; Marnie Breckenridge, Soprano
For More Information: https://robertpaterson.com/summer-songs
Publisher: Bill Holab Music: http://www.billholabmusic.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=103_137&products_id=2333
Online Perusal Score: https://issuu.com/robertpaterson/docs/paterson_summer_songs__score-chambe
Also available as a version for soprano and piano: https://robertpaterson.com/summer-songs-piano-vocal-version

PROGRAM NOTE
There is a seemingly endless supply of poems about summer. After writing Winter Songs for bass-baritone and chamber ensemble or piano, I realized that I had inadvertently only set poems by male poets, so I decided to restrict myself to female poets for this cycle. I am well-aware that this could emphasize a potential cliché: woman can be viewed as more "summery" and men more "wintery,” but more than anything, this is merely a way to offer a course correction, so to speak, or even a yin and yang, as well as a way to create a balance between these two works.

Summer Songs begins with a setting of Summer Music by May Sarton, a light, happy, playfully musical poem filled with allusions to nature. The second movement is a setting of The Kite by Anne Sexton, a poem about honoring and enjoying the moment, and the simple things in life such as flying kites with children. Childhood, the third movement, is a setting of a poem by Sharan Strange about children capturing fireflies. The fourth movement, Moths, is a setting of a poem by Jennifer O’Grady about moths, but relating to late night conversation on a front porch. The cycle ends with a setting of Summer Night, Riverside, by Sara Teasdale, a passionate, warm, optimistic poem that muses on the timelessness of summer.

Summer Songs was commissioned by The ASCAP Foundation via the Charles Kingsford Fund, for Marnie Breckenridge and the American Modern Ensemble. Special thanks to Marnie Breckenridge for her assistance in selecting the poems for this cycle.

Commissioned by The ASCAP Foundation via the Charles Kingsford Fund, for Marnie Breckenridge and the American Modern Ensemble

ARTISTS
Robert Paterson, Conductor
Marnie Breckenridge, soprano
Sato Moughalian, flute
Pascal Archer, clarinet
Matthew Ward, percussion
Geoffrey Burleson, piano
Esther Noh, violin
Dave Eggar, cello

Summer Songs - V. Summer Night: Riverside (Text: Sara Teasdale)

Summer Songs - IV. Moths (Text: Jennifer O'Grady)

Summer Songs - III. Childhood (Text: Sharan Strange)

Summer Songs - II. The Kite (Text: Anne Sexton)

Summer Songs - I. Summer Music (Text: May Sarton)

Performers: Nashville Opera; Samuel Levine, Tenor

ABOUT THE ARIA
From The Companion, the first act of a trio of operas called Three Way. In The Companion, Maya lives with her android lover, Joe. This interactive programmed Companion looks and sounds human—only better. In this aria, after Maya asks about his day, Joe goes into a highly specific litany of the day’s events, to Maya’s irritation.

ABOUT THE OPERA
An Il trittico for the Tinder generation, Three Way is a new opera about the present and future of sex and love with music by Robert Paterson (The Whole Truth) and a libretto by David Cote (Blind Injustice). In three playful acts, average heroes explore the worlds of android lovers, BDSM and polyamory in a quest for “more” in today’s hyperconnected and gender-fluid world. Featuring Nashville Opera, conducted by Dean Williamson. Original cast recording.

CREATIVE TEAM
Robert Paterson, Composer: http://www.robertpaterson.com | http://www.robertpaterson.com/three-way
David Cote, Librettist: http://www.davidcote.com

THREE WAY SITES
Three Way Site: http://www.threewayopera.com/
Nashville Opera: http://www.nashvilleopera.org/three-way/
American Opera Projects (AOP): http://www.aopopera.org/threeway/

Materials available from Bill Holab Music: http://www.billholabmusic.com/threeway/
Three Way Arias - Male: http://www.billholabmusic.com/store/i...
Three Way Arias - Female: http://www.billholabmusic.com/store/i...
Three Way Piano/vocal score: http://www.billholabmusic.com/store/i...

ORIGINAL CAST
Danielle Pastin, Soprano: http://www.daniellepastin.com
Courtney Ruckman, Soprano: http://www.courtneyruckman.com
Eliza Bonet, Mezzo-Soprano: http://www.elizabonet.com
Melisa Bonetti, Mezzo-Soprano: http://www.melisabonettimezzo.com
Jordan Rutter, Countertenor: http://www.jordanrutter.com
Samuel Levine, Tenor: http://www.samuellevinetenor.com
Wes Mason, Baritone: http://www.wesmasonstage.com
Matthew Treviño, Bass: http://www.matthewtrevino.com

LYRICS
What did I do today?
Just a minute. Just a minute.
7:05 a.m.: I made you breakfast in bed. 
Banana and chocolate crepes, Darjeeling tea, soymilk and raw sugar.
I made love to you: Position Number 16: The Prancing Pony.
You climaxed at 7:49.
At 7:50 you sat up saying you had an early conference call.
You dressed; you left.
I made the bed.
Seven sheets of tissue paper remain in the box on the table by the bed.
I cleaned the house. Bathroom.
Clean-Rite Disinfecting Spray, 
Now with 15% more bacteria-killing formula 
Per squeeze.
Then I tidied the living room.
And kitchen.
On the street a dog barked in repeating patterns for 22 minutes.
A child came to the door selling cookies.
I had no money. She went away.
At three-thirty I pre-screened the 2003 romantic comedy A Villa in Tuscany.
It earned a 79.6 applause rating on Classic-Flix-dot-com.
The views of Tuscan countryside in high summer are to die for,
And the lush, soaring score was nominated for an Oscar.
I set aside one packet of microwave popcorn.
I made you dinner.
Recipe Number 29: Vegetarian Lasagna.
Sunset at 6:42.
I lit the five rose-scented candles.
Chilled the champagne, waited for you.
You came home at 7:21.
Now it’s 7:32.
What else did I do?
Enough about me. What about you?

Three Way

Three Way - Act I. The Companion - Scene 1: Joe's Aria: What Did I Do Today? (Tenor Aria)

ABOUT THE OPERA
An Il trittico for the Tinder generation, Three Way is a new opera about the present and future of sex and love with music by Robert Paterson (The Whole Truth) and a libretto by David Cote (Blind Injustice). In three playful acts, average heroes explore the worlds of android lovers, BDSM and polyamory in a quest for “more” in today’s hyperconnected and gender-fluid world. Featuring Nashville Opera, conducted by Dean Williamson. Original cast recording.

CREATIVE TEAM
Robert Paterson, Composer: http://www.robertpaterson.com | http://www.robertpaterson.com/three-way
David Cote, Librettist: http://www.davidcote.com

THREE WAY SITES
Three Way Site: http://www.threewayopera.com/
Nashville Opera: http://www.nashvilleopera.org/three-way/
American Opera Projects (AOP): http://www.aopopera.org/threeway/

Materials available from Bill Holab Music: http://www.billholabmusic.com/threeway/
Three Way Arias - Male: http://www.billholabmusic.com/store/i...
Three Way Arias - Female: http://www.billholabmusic.com/store/i...
Three Way Piano/vocal score: http://www.billholabmusic.com/store/i...

ORIGINAL CAST
Danielle Pastin, Soprano: http://www.daniellepastin.com
Courtney Ruckman, Soprano: http://www.courtneyruckman.com
Eliza Bonet, Mezzo-Soprano: http://www.elizabonet.com
Melisa Bonetti, Mezzo-Soprano: http://www.melisabonettimezzo.com
Jordan Rutter, Countertenor: http://www.jordanrutter.com
Samuel Levine, Tenor: http://www.samuellevinetenor.com
Wes Mason, Baritone: http://www.wesmasonstage.com
Matthew Treviño, Bass: http://www.matthewtrevino.com

Three Way - Act I. The Companion - Scene 1: Anything Else?

Performed by Nashville Opera | Danielle Pastin, Soprano

ABOUT THE ARIA
From The Companion, the first act of a trio of operas called Three Way. In The Companion, Maya lives with her android lover, Joe. This interactive programmed Companion looks and sounds human—only better. Still, Maya wants more complexity from Joe. She has technician Dax come by to install new experimental software, with surprising results. Dax flirts with Maya; in this aria, she shares her ultimate desire.

ABOUT THE OPERA
An Il trittico for the Tinder generation, Three Way is a new opera about the present and future of sex and love with music by Robert Paterson (The Whole Truth) and a libretto by David Cote (Blind Injustice). In three playful acts, average heroes explore the worlds of android lovers, BDSM and polyamory in a quest for “more” in today’s hyperconnected and gender-fluid world. Featuring Nashville Opera, conducted by Dean Williamson. Original cast recording.

CREATIVE TEAM
Robert Paterson, Composer: http://www.robertpaterson.com | http://www.robertpaterson.com/three-way
David Cote, Librettist: http://www.davidcote.com

THREE WAY SITES
Three Way Site: http://www.threewayopera.com/
Nashville Opera: http://www.nashvilleopera.org/three-way/
American Opera Projects (AOP): http://www.aopopera.org/threeway/

Materials available from Bill Holab Music: http://www.billholabmusic.com/threeway/
Three Way Arias - Male: http://www.billholabmusic.com/store/i...
Three Way Arias - Female: http://www.billholabmusic.com/store/i...
Three Way Piano/vocal score: http://www.billholabmusic.com/store/i...

ORIGINAL CAST
Danielle Pastin, Soprano: http://www.daniellepastin.com
Courtney Ruckman, Soprano: http://www.courtneyruckman.com
Eliza Bonet, Mezzo-Soprano: http://www.elizabonet.com
Melisa Bonetti, Mezzo-Soprano: http://www.melisabonettimezzo.com
Jordan Rutter, Countertenor: http://www.jordanrutter.com
Samuel Levine, Tenor: http://www.samuellevinetenor.com
Wes Mason, Baritone: http://www.wesmasonstage.com
Matthew Treviño, Bass: http://www.matthewtrevino.com

LYRICS
What I want is a man. 
Not just any man: the perfect man. 
Who will be here, ready and happy,
At the end of every day.
You may find it alarming 
But Prince Charming
Is just an upgrade away.
He can kiss me so tenderly,
Or hard and savagely.
He is a generous lover.
He can last all night in the sack
Without going slack.
He can hold back on his back
Until I’m done.
He thinks of me first and last,
Every time, every day.
And he never thinks of himself.
He never thinks at all.
But he seems to think,
And that makes all the difference!
That’s the perfect man.
Oh, I’ve had men—
Or weak creatures that called themselves men.
Selfish, stupid, lazy, greedy boys.
And after wasting years of my life
Playing house and wife,
I’ve decided to go home with my toys.
What I want is a man. 
Not just any man:
The perfect man.

Three Way - Act I. The Companion - Scene 2: Maya’s Aria: The Perfect Man (Soprano Aria)

Performers: Nashville Opera; Wes Mason, Baritone

ABOUT THE OPERA
An Il trittico for the Tinder generation, Three Way is a new opera about the present and future of sex and love with music by Robert Paterson (The Whole Truth) and a libretto by David Cote (Blind Injustice). In three playful acts, average heroes explore the worlds of android lovers, BDSM and polyamory in a quest for “more” in today’s hyperconnected and gender-fluid world. Featuring Nashville Opera, conducted by Dean Williamson. Original cast recording.

CREATIVE TEAM
Robert Paterson, Composer: http://www.robertpaterson.com | http://www.robertpaterson.com/three-way
David Cote, Librettist: http://www.davidcote.com

THREE WAY SITES
Three Way Site: http://www.threewayopera.com/
Nashville Opera: http://www.nashvilleopera.org/three-way/
American Opera Projects (AOP): http://www.aopopera.org/threeway/

Materials available from Bill Holab Music: http://www.billholabmusic.com/threeway/
Three Way Arias - Male: http://www.billholabmusic.com/store/i...
Three Way Arias - Female: http://www.billholabmusic.com/store/i...
Three Way Piano/vocal score: http://www.billholabmusic.com/store/i...

ORIGINAL CAST
Danielle Pastin, Soprano: http://www.daniellepastin.com
Courtney Ruckman, Soprano: http://www.courtneyruckman.com
Eliza Bonet, Mezzo-Soprano: http://www.elizabonet.com
Melisa Bonetti, Mezzo-Soprano: http://www.melisabonettimezzo.com
Jordan Rutter, Countertenor: http://www.jordanrutter.com
Samuel Levine, Tenor: http://www.samuellevinetenor.com
Wes Mason, Baritone: http://www.wesmasonstage.com
Matthew Treviño, Bass: http://www.matthewtrevino.com

LYRICS
I know how it works: 
Semiorganic physiomatrix 
Molded over fiberoptic skeletal frame. 
Ten terabyte processing capacity. 
Saline and protein channels to simulate everything 
From crying to climax! 
I can fix it. I comprehend it.
It can move. It can pretend.
It can compute. It can emote.
It can simulate. And stimulate.
It works!
But people, all these people,
People are broken machines.
Their appetites, quirks, flaws, moods.
Changing attitudes: today kind, tomorrow cruel.
Hard to please: hot with urges but suddenly cool.
People, all these people. 
People are broken machines.
I visit their homes every day.
Upgrades, downloads, diagnostic, termination.
People are broken machines.
One man wants his mother.
Another wants a whore.
A woman wants her daddy.
Another wants Mr. Right.
What do you want? 
The perfect man?
Or an imitation of the image of perfection?
The difference between you and me
Is this: I know my home is empty.

Three Way - Act I. The Companion - Scene 2: Dax’s Aria: Broken Machines (Baritone Aria)

ABOUT THE OPERA
An Il trittico for the Tinder generation, Three Way is a new opera about the present and future of sex and love with music by Robert Paterson (The Whole Truth) and a libretto by David Cote (Blind Injustice). In three playful acts, average heroes explore the worlds of android lovers, BDSM and polyamory in a quest for “more” in today’s hyperconnected and gender-fluid world. Featuring Nashville Opera, conducted by Dean Williamson. Original cast recording.
CREATIVE TEAM
Robert Paterson, Composer: http://www.robertpaterson.com | http://www.robertpaterson.com/three-way
David Cote, Librettist: http://www.davidcote.com

THREE WAY SITES
Three Way Site: http://www.threewayopera.com/
Nashville Opera: http://www.nashvilleopera.org/three-way/
American Opera Projects (AOP): http://www.aopopera.org/threeway/

Materials available from Bill Holab Music: http://www.billholabmusic.com/threeway/
Three Way Arias - Male: http://www.billholabmusic.com/store/i...
Three Way Arias - Female: http://www.billholabmusic.com/store/i...
Three Way Piano/vocal score: http://www.billholabmusic.com/store/i...

ORIGINAL CAST
Danielle Pastin, Soprano: http://www.daniellepastin.com
Courtney Ruckman, Soprano: http://www.courtneyruckman.com
Eliza Bonet, Mezzo-Soprano: http://www.elizabonet.com
Melisa Bonetti, Mezzo-Soprano: http://www.melisabonettimezzo.com
Jordan Rutter, Countertenor: http://www.jordanrutter.com
Samuel Levine, Tenor: http://www.samuellevinetenor.com
Wes Mason, Baritone: http://www.wesmasonstage.com
Matthew Treviño, Bass: http://www.matthewtrevino.com

Three Way - Act I. The Companion - Scene 3: Joe. Joe? Joe?! I’m Talking To You

Three Way - Act I. The Companion - Scene 3: Open Codehub Channel Five, Joe

Performers: Nashville Opera; Samuel Levine, Tenor

ABOUT THE ARIA
From The Companion, the first act of a trio of operas called Three Way. In The Companion, Maya lives with her android lover, Joe. This interactive programmed Companion looks and sounds human—only better. After Joe has told Maya he’s leaving her for another android, he sings this tender parting aria.

ABOUT THE OPERA
An Il trittico for the Tinder generation, Three Way is a new opera about the present and future of sex and love with music by Robert Paterson (The Whole Truth) and a libretto by David Cote (Blind Injustice). In three playful acts, average heroes explore the worlds of android lovers, BDSM and polyamory in a quest for “more” in today’s hyperconnected and gender-fluid world. Featuring Nashville Opera, conducted by Dean Williamson. Original cast recording.

CREATIVE TEAM
Robert Paterson, Composer: http://www.robertpaterson.com | http://www.robertpaterson.com/three-way
David Cote, Librettist: http://www.davidcote.com

THREE WAY SITES
Three Way Site: http://www.threewayopera.com/
Nashville Opera: http://www.nashvilleopera.org/three-way/
American Opera Projects (AOP): http://www.aopopera.org/threeway/

Materials available from Bill Holab Music: http://www.billholabmusic.com/threeway/
Three Way Arias - Male: http://www.billholabmusic.com/store/i...
Three Way Arias - Female: http://www.billholabmusic.com/store/i...
Three Way Piano/vocal score: http://www.billholabmusic.com/store/i...

ORIGINAL CAST
Danielle Pastin, Soprano: http://www.daniellepastin.com
Courtney Ruckman, Soprano: http://www.courtneyruckman.com
Eliza Bonet, Mezzo-Soprano: http://www.elizabonet.com
Melisa Bonetti, Mezzo-Soprano: http://www.melisabonettimezzo.com
Jordan Rutter, Countertenor: http://www.jordanrutter.com
Samuel Levine, Tenor: http://www.samuellevinetenor.com
Wes Mason, Baritone: http://www.wesmasonstage.com
Matthew Treviño, Bass: http://www.matthewtrevino.com

LYRICS
You were my first love,
The one I will never forget.
Your passion, your laugh,
I will never forget.
You taught me how to love,
How to be the perfect man,
But we were not meant to be.
You I will never forget.
Remember my kiss,
Forget the pain, goodbye.

Three Way - Act I. The Companion - Scene 3: Joe’s Aria: You Were My First Love (Tenor Aria)

Three Way - Act I. The Companion - Scene 3: I Have Been Collecting Data

Performers: Nashville Opera; Matthew Treviño, Bass

ABOUT THE ARIA
From Safe Word, the second act in a trio of operas called Three Way. In Safe Word, Mistress Salomé is a high-priced dominatrix in a private dungeon, and today she has a new client, an aggressive corporate type. Even though he's the one who pays to be spanked and taunted, the Client is bossy. In this aria, he explains how physical humiliation only makes him harder and stronger. 

ABOUT THE OPERA
An Il trittico for the Tinder generation, Three Way is a new opera about the present and future of sex and love with music by Robert Paterson (The Whole Truth) and a libretto by David Cote (Blind Injustice). In three playful acts, average heroes explore the worlds of android lovers, BDSM and polyamory in a quest for “more” in today’s hyperconnected and gender-fluid world. Featuring Nashville Opera, conducted by Dean Williamson. Original cast recording.

CREATIVE TEAM
Robert Paterson, Composer: http://www.robertpaterson.com | http://www.robertpaterson.com/three-way
David Cote, Librettist: http://www.davidcote.com

THREE WAY SITES
Three Way Site: http://www.threewayopera.com/
Nashville Opera: http://www.nashvilleopera.org/three-way/
American Opera Projects (AOP): http://www.aopopera.org/threeway/

Materials available from Bill Holab Music: http://www.billholabmusic.com/threeway/
Three Way Arias - Male: http://www.billholabmusic.com/store/i...
Three Way Arias - Female: http://www.billholabmusic.com/store/i...
Three Way Piano/vocal score: http://www.billholabmusic.com/store/i...

ORIGINAL CAST
Danielle Pastin, Soprano: http://www.daniellepastin.com
Courtney Ruckman, Soprano: http://www.courtneyruckman.com
Eliza Bonet, Mezzo-Soprano: http://www.elizabonet.com
Melisa Bonetti, Mezzo-Soprano: http://www.melisabonettimezzo.com
Jordan Rutter, Countertenor: http://www.jordanrutter.com
Samuel Levine, Tenor: http://www.samuellevinetenor.com
Wes Mason, Baritone: http://www.wesmasonstage.com
Matthew Treviño, Bass: http://www.matthewtrevino.com

LYRICS
Charlie Darwin got it right:
To thrive in the jungle, 
A man’s got to fight.
A man’s got to kill,
And that takes iron will.
A man needs control.
He needs rules.
He may play a role
But never the fool.
A man needs power.
He needs clout.
The boss will decide
Who’s in and who’s out.
A man needs the law.
He needs jail.
Show contempt for the judge
And buddy, you fail.
A man needs discipline,
Or he’ll never win!
A man must be punished,
Or else he’s finished!
			(Gradually becomes more excited)
A man needs to be whipped,
Or stripped,
Or squeezed,
Or teased,
Or spanked,
Or mocked,
Or clocked,
Or pinched,
Or kicked,
Or pricked,
Or beaten, beaten, beaten 
Till he’s black and blue.
And for two-hundred-seventy bucks an hour,
This man needs you.

Three Way - Act II. Safe Word: Client’s Aria: A Man Needs (Bass Aria)

Written: 2012
Duration: 38'
Instrumentation: orchestra, SATB chorus and narrator
Performed by the American Modern Orchestra and Albany Pro Musica, at the Mostly Modern Festival, Kent Tritle, conductor, Larry Pine, Narrator. Special thanks to Jose Daniel Flores Caraballo for preparing the choir for this performance.
Publisher: Bill Holab Music: http://www.billholabmusic.com/composers/robert-paterson/

Also Available: Choral Suite from A New Eaarth consisting of the choral movements from the orchestral work re-scored for SATB choir and piano. The choral suite may be performed as a stand-alone work.
For more information on this work: http://robertpaterson.com/a-new-eaarth. http://robertpaterson.com/choral-suite-from-a-new-eaarth

PROGRAM NOTE
Although I have lived in cities most of my life, I do not think of myself as a city person and have always felt more connected to the outdoors rather than to asphalt and tall buildings. Many of my works are inspired by nature, and I am deeply concerned about environmental issues, particularly climate change.

Of the many excellent books on the environment, one of the best and the one that moves me most is Eaarth by Bill McKibben, a famed author, educator and environmentalist. McKibben’s assertion is that we have waited too long, and that massive climate change is not only unavoidable, but already underway. He states that we may as well call this new planet Eaarth, because it is still recognizable, but fundamentally different. I feel strongly that he is correct, and wanted to express this in a musical way. A work for orchestra, chorus and narrator seemed like the ideal vehicle for reflecting on this critical issue.

Choral Suite from A New Eaarth consists of the four choral movements from A New Eaarth for orchestra, but with piano rather than orchestra. I designed these movements so they could be performed as a stand-alone suite, and in fact, for the purpose of rehearsals, I composed the choir and piano versions first, and then orchestrated them so they could be integrated into the whole orchestral work.

The suite includes texts by Wendell Berry, James Joyce, Percy Bysshe Shelley and William Wordsworth. The poems, at least as part of the entire orchestral version, allude to the four ancient classical elements—earth, air, fire and water—a theme that permeates many of my other works.

A New Eaarth was commissioned by the Vermont Youth Orchestra Association through a Music Alive! residency grant from New Music USA and the League of American Orchestras.

A New Eaarth for Orchestra, Chorus and Narrator

Written: 2015-16
Duration: ca. 24'
Instrumentation: soprano and baritone soloists, chorus and orchestra: 3 flutes (flute 3 doubling piccolo), 2 oboes, 3 B-flat clarinets (clarinet 3 doubling B-flat bass clarinet), 2 bassoons, 4 F horns, 3 B-flat trumpets, 2 trombones, bass trombone, tuba, timpani (4: 23”, 26”, 29” 32”), 3 percussionists (tubular chimes, xylophone, vibraphone, crotales [high and low], crash cymbals, 5 temple blocks, castanets, medium triangle, small triangle, orchestra bells, snare drum, crash cymbals, tambourine, medium suspended cymbal, medium wood block, small triangle, concert bass drum, large tam tam, medium triangle, Mark Tree), harp, strings

Performed by American Modern Orchestraand Albany Pro Musica, Kent Tritle, conductor, Larry Pine, narrator, José Daniel Flores-Caraballo, Albany Pro Music Artistic Director, Mostly Modern Festival, Arthur Zankel Music Center, Filene Concert Hall, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY, June 15, 2018.

Publisher: Bill Holab Music: http://www.billholabmusic.com/store/index.php?main_page=advanced_search_result&search_in_description=1&keyword=whitman%27s+america

For More Information: http://robertpaterson.com/whitmans-america

View Score Online: https://issuu.com/robertpaterson/docs/paterson_whitman_s_america__score-p

Formerly titled Walt's America for world premiere.

NOTE: Instrumentation is designed to be identical to the Brahms Requiem, but with additional percussion.

PROGRAM NOTE
I have always been very fond of Walt Whitman and his poetry, not only for the inherent beauty and sense of optimism he illustrates in many of his works, but also for his intimacy, directness, colorful descriptions, and the way in which he sings the praises of nature and our role in it as individuals.

Whitman’s America is a setting of six poems from Whitman’s final version of Leaves of Grass, often called the Death Bed Edition, since he compiled this version the year he died. My work is constructed in an arch form as a sort of quasi-fantasia. I view each connected movement or section as a scene or vision, perhaps from an imagined Whitman as he lay on his deathbed. My goal was to capture and highlight a variety of themes that permeate Whitman’s poems, and in particular, themes that have to do with his love of America and the American people.

The work begins with Gliding o’er all, a poem in which Whitman portrays a positive attitude toward death; he is prepared for it and ready to embrace it. He presents a tone of acceptance through the irony of singing of many deaths, for the positive act of singing, in the way he imagines, does not typically correlate with death. Next is I Dream’d in a Dream, sung by a solo baritone, a poem that describes a utopic vision of peace and harmony. Following that is I Hear America Singing, about American pride and having pride in one’s work. Next is America, describing the destiny of America as a nation, his love of the masses, his devotion to Democracy and America fulfilling the spiritual needs of its people. Second to last is A Prairie Sunset, sung by a solo soprano, a poem that captures the beauty of the American prairie, an aspect of the American landscape that Whitman was very passionate about. Finally, I end with After the Dazzle of Day, a beautiful poem describing the starry night sky, an evening filled with music and his own internal symphony during the silence that follows.

Whitman’s America was commissioned by the Gulf Coast Symphony (Fort Myers, FL) as part of their 2020 Commissioning Project, Andrew M. Kurtz, Music Director and Conductor.

Movement Titles:
I. Gliding o'er all
II. I Dream’d in a Dream
III. I Hear America Singing
IV. America
V. A Prairie Sunset
VI. After the Dazzle of Day

Whitman's America for Orchestra and Chorus

Whitman's America - VIII. A Prairie Sunset (Soprano Solo)
Duration: ca. 24'
for soprano and baritone soloists, chorus and orchestra

Performed by American Modern Orchestra and Albany Pro Musica, Kent Tritle, conductor, Larry Pine, narrator, Caitlin Lynch, Soprano Soloist, Chad Sloan, Baritone Soloist, José Daniel Flores-Caraballo, Albany Pro Music Artistic Director, Mostly Modern Festival, Arthur Zankel Music Center, Filene Concert Hall, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY, June 15, 2018.
Publisher: Bill Holab Music: www.billholabmusic.com/store/index.p…n%27s+america
For More Information: robertpaterson.com/whitmans-america
View Score Online: issuu.com/robertpaterson/docs/…n_s_america__score-p
Formerly titled Walt's America for world premiere.

NOTE: Instrumentation is designed to be identical to the Brahms Requiem, but with additional percussion.

PROGRAM NOTE
I have always been very fond of Walt Whitman and his poetry, not only for the inherent beauty and sense of optimism he illustrates in many of his works, but also for his intimacy, directness, colorful descriptions, and the way in which he sings the praises of nature and our role in it as individuals.

Whitman’s America is a setting of six poems from Whitman’s final version of Leaves of Grass, often called the Death Bed Edition, since he compiled this version the year he died. My work is constructed in an arch form as a sort of quasi-fantasia. I view each connected movement or section as a scene or vision, perhaps from an imagined Whitman as he lay on his deathbed. My goal was to capture and highlight a variety of themes that permeate Whitman’s poems, and in particular, themes that have to do with his love of America and the American people.

The work begins with Gliding o’er all, a poem in which Whitman portrays a positive attitude toward death; he is prepared for it and ready to embrace it. He presents a tone of acceptance through the irony of singing of many deaths, for the positive act of singing, in the way he imagines, does not typically correlate with death. Next is I Dream’d in a Dream, sung by a solo baritone, a poem that describes a utopic vision of peace and harmony. Following that is I Hear America Singing, about American pride and having pride in one’s work. Next is America, describing the destiny of America as a nation, his love of the masses, his devotion to Democracy and America fulfilling the spiritual needs of its people. Second to last is A Prairie Sunset, sung by a solo soprano, a poem that captures the beauty of the American prairie, an aspect of the American landscape that Whitman was very passionate about. Finally, I end with After the Dazzle of Day, a beautiful poem describing the starry night sky, an evening filled with music and his own internal symphony during the silence that follows.

Whitman’s America was commissioned by the Gulf Coast Symphony (Fort Myers, FL) as part of their 2020 Commissioning Project, Andrew M. Kurtz, Music Director and Conductor.

Movement Titles:
I. Gliding o'er all
II. I Dream’d in a Dream
III. I Hear America Singing
IV. America
V. A Prairie Sunset
VI. After the Dazzle of Day

Whitman's America - VIII. A Prairie Sunset (Soprano Solo)

Autumn Songs (for Mezzo-Soprano and Chamber Ensemble)
Duration: ca. 18'

MOVEMENTS
I. Ascension: Autumn Dusk in Central Park (Evelyn Scott)
II. Under the Harvest Moon (Carl Sandburg)
III. All Hallows’ Eve (Dorothea Tanning)
IV. November for Beginners (Rita Dove)
V. Leaves Before The Wind (May Sarton)

Performers: American Modern Ensemble, Blythe Gaissert, Mezzo-Soprano
For more information: https://robertpaterson.com/autumn-songs
Publisher: Bill Holab Music: http://billholabmusic.com/store/index...
Purchase Sheet Music: http://billholabmusic.com/store/index.php?keyword=autumn&main_page=advanced_search_result&search_in_description=1
View Perusal Score: https://issuu.com/robertpaterson/docs...
Also available as a version for mezzo-soprano and piano: https://robertpaterson.com/autumn-songs-version-for-mezzo-soprano-and-piano

PROGRAM NOTE
Autumn Songs for mezzo-soprano is my final song cycle celebrating the seasons. As with my previous three seasonal cycles for different voice types, this cycle contains settings of poems by various American poets.

Like Spring Songs, Autumn Songs begins with New York: a setting of Evelyn Scott’s Ascension: Autumn Dusk in Central Park, an early 20th century Imagist poem in which people seem to merge at dusk. The second movement is a setting of Under the Harvest Moon by Carl Sandburg. In this poem, Sandburg uses autumn and summer as a metaphor for people in two different periods of life, revealing beauty in both stages. Memory is the primary concern for someone who is older, and possibly for someone who is younger. The third movement is a setting of All Hallows’ Eve by Dorothea Tanning, who was not only a poet, but also a well-known visual artist whose early work was inspired by Surrealism. This is perhaps the most playful setting, and I used Tanning’s evocative, Surrealistic imagery as inspiration for colorful sounds and angular dissonances in the ensemble. November for Beginners by Rita Dove is the text for the fourth movement. In this setting, Dove beautifully encapsulates the feeling of waiting for winter in November, and the sense of anticipation one feels during the fall months. At the end of her poem, she uses the sound of zithers as a metaphor for the sounds of wind and rain when spring comes. The final movement, a setting of Leaves Before The Wind by May Sarton, is inspired by Irish jigs, and mimics leaves blowing in the wind. The penultimate section is anthemic, and the end of the movement is more calm and similar to the beginning.

Autumn Songs was made possible, in part, by generous support from the Gerson Family Foundation.

ARTISTS
American Modern Ensemble: http://www.americanmodernensemble.org
Blythe Gaissert, mezzo-soprano: http://www.blythegaissert.com/
Sato Moughalian, flute
Pascal Archer, clarinet
Matt Ward, percussion
Esther Noh, violin
Dave Eggar, cello
Geoffrey Burleson, piano
Robert Paterson, conductor

Autumn Songs - I. Ascension - Autumn Dusk In Central Park (Text by Evelyn Scott)

Embracing The Wind for Flute (Doubling Alto Flute), Viola, and Harp
Duration: 10'
Performers: Aureole Trio: https://www.aureoletrio.com/

Buy Sheet Music: http://www.billholabmusic.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=103_137&products_id=921&zenid=7f0b81b591feb79cca80d1f88a7f043b

For More Information: https://robertpaterson.com/embracing-the-wind

PROGRAM NOTE
My original inspiration for Embracing the Wind was the image of an Olympic athlete running against the wind. The process of writing this work eventually shifted me to more abstract thoughts, such as the concept of creating music that sounds flexible and has wind-like, ebb-and-flow qualities. I try to achieve this by creating musical zephyrs from repeated motives and smooth phrases that utilize gradual dynamic swells and subtle tempo fluctuations. In this sense, Embracing the Wind is perhaps more minimal and Romantic than many of my other pieces: minimal in that cells that are repeated over and over again as textural background, Romantic in that the form is intentionally less severe and also has a narrative, structural quality.

Embracing The Wind

Embracing The Wind (Flute, Viola, and Harp)

Star Crossing
Instrumentation: flute (doubling piccolo and alto flute), B-flat clarinet (doubling B-flat bass clarinet), percussion (vibraphone [with working motor] and orchestra bells) and piano
Duration: 9'
Publisher: Bill Holab Music: http://www.billholabmusic.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=103_137&products_id=1326
Performers: American Modern Ensemble
Online Perusal Score: https://issuu.com/robertpaterson/docs/star_crossing_fs_bound_perusal
For More Information: https://robertpaterson.com/star-crossing

PROGRAM NOTE
Although I will probably never have an opportunity to travel through outer space, I often look up at the stars with wonderment, marveling at the vastness of the night sky, wishing I could have that experience. This work is my attempt to impart the sensation of what I think it might feel like to travel through the galaxy, and to give the feeling, through sound, of staring up at the star-filled sky on a quiet, clear night.

Star Crossing

Closet Full of Demons - for sinfonietta.
Duration: 7'
Live Performance: American Modern Ensemble, David Alan Miller, Conductor
Publisher: Bill Holab Music: http://www.billholabmusic.com/composers/robert-paterson/robert-paterson-works/
For More Information: https://robertpaterson.com/closet-full-of-demons

PROGRAM NOTES
As a child, I remember being very afraid of my closet at night. I was sure that scary things were hiding in the back corner and that my closet was really a nighttime portal to a world of demons and monsters. A bracing, horrible dream I had one night as an adult reminded me of these childhood fears and hastened my writing this piece.

What kinds of sounds do demons and monsters make? What would they sound like crammed together in a gargantuan, pitch black, closet at night? I envisioned screaming, chaos, and violent infighting between the creatures. Sometimes these hellish monsters fight amongst themselves, as I would imagine they would do in a sort of morbid, eternal "monster hell," but once in a blue moon they burst out of the closet and start flying around the bedroom in a chaotic free-for-all, cackling and laughing and spitting and drooling, banging into walls and furniture like a bunch of loose, demonic bats.

Technically, this work is a vehicle for exploring a variety of exotic sound possibilities within a large chamber group. I imagine monsters of different shapes and sizes, similar to characters you might find in the paintings of Hieronymus Bosch (the right wings of The Hay Wain and the Garden of Delights triptychs would be good examples), but much more abstract, cubist and multi-shaped, such as the images found in the cubist works by Pablo Picasso (i.e. the Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler painting or the Head of a Woman sculpture). If you took Picasso’s cubist people and "morphed" them with Bosch’s un-earthly creatures, or filtered Bosch’s creatures through a cubist filter and airbrushed the final images with hell, then that would be my goal.

Other images in particular provided inspiration, such as the famous painting The Nightmare by the Swiss-English artist Henry Fuseli. In this work, an ugly demon is seated on the dreamer’s chest and a frightening white horse with glowing eyes is in the background. My work is further inspired by the diverse collage works—digital or not—being created by contemporary visual artists.

Closet Full of Demons

Eternal Reflections for mixed a cappella choir
Duration ca. 14'
Mvt. III. Do not stand at my grave and weep, text by Mary E. Frye. Text in the public domain.
Publisher: Bill Holab Music: http://www.billholabmusic.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=103_137&products_id=901
For More Information: https://robertpaterson.com/eternal-reflections

PROGRAM NOTE (LONG VERSION)
Eternal Reflections consists of settings of the poems A Song on the End of the World by Czeslaw Milosz, Life’s Tragedy by Paul Laurence Dunbar and Do not stand at my grave and weep by Mary E. Frye.

Milosz is a Nobel Prize-winning, Lithuanian and Polish-American poet, prose writer and translator, and is widely considered one of the greatest poets of the twentieth century. After spending most of World War II in Nazi-occupied Warsaw working for underground presses, he emigrated to America and taught at the University of California at Berkeley for more than twenty years. I chose this poem partly because I knew this work would be premiered in Berkeley, where he lived for many years.

Paul Laurence Dunbar is America’s first prominent African-American poet and was a child of ex-slaves. Although he died at the relatively young age of 33, he produced a large body of work, including this poem and the lyrics for In Dahomey (1903), the first musical written and performed entirely by African-Americans to appear on Broadway. He was friends with many prominent figures of his day, including Wilbur and Orville Wright, Frederick Douglass and Booker T. Washington, and toward the end of his life he was honored with a ceremonial sword by President Theodore Roosevelt.

Mary E. Frye was a housewife and florist who became well-known because of her poem. According to an article in the London Times, “Frye had never written any poetry before 1932, when she and her husband had a young German Jewish girl, Margaret Schwarzkopf, staying with them. According to Frye, their guest had been concerned about her mother, who was ill in Germany, but she had been warned not to return home because of increasing anti-Semitic unrest. When her mother died, the heartbroken young woman told Frye that she never had the chance to ‘stand by my mother’s grave and shed a tear”.” Although many versions of this un-copyrighted poem exist, the version used in this setting is the one Frye claimed as definitive before she died.

Although the three poems are related thematically, there are a few other details that link them together. They are all by poets who lived in America, and both Dunbar and Frye were born in Dayton, Ohio. The poems by both Milosz and Frye are profoundly influenced by the tragedies of World War II, and both Milosz and Frye passed away in 2004. Finally, all three poems use musical and aural metaphors, which are particularly useful when setting poems for a choir. These movements may be performed individually or together as a three-movement work.

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Eternal Reflections - III. Do not stand at my grave and weep

Symphony in Three Movements for Orchestra
Duration: 19’
Mostly Modern Festival, American Modern Orchestra, Chris Rountree, 2018 Faculty Conductor
Skidmore College, Arthur Zankel Music Hall, Saratoga Springs, New York (USA), 6/10/2018
Commissioned by the Cayuga Chamber Orchestra for their 25th Anniversary Concert, Kimbo Ishii-Eto, conductor
Publisher: Bill Holab Music: http://www.billholabmusic.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=103_137&products_id=1339
For More Information: https://robertpaterson.com/symphony-in-three-movements

PROGRAM NOTES
The first movement, Bright and jubilant, is generally cheerful and upbeat, but occasional clouds of gray cast shadows over the musical surface. I associate this movement with traveling to a lover, and particularly over great distances. The brightness of this movement also subtly reflects the "silver anniversary" occasion for which this work was originally commissioned.

The slow second movement, Serenade, represents the unique intimacy that lovers share. Most string players in a chamber orchestra—even the first stands—never have a chance to play exposed material. This is interesting because although the string sections most often play as homogenous groups, the first stands of the string section are in an arc have an intimate view of each other. In this movement, the first stands of the violins, violas and cellos all have solo material whereas the rest of the strings often play gentle, long trills. My goal in to give all of the string players in the first stands an opportunity to shine.

The third movement, entitled Dancing games, is the most energetic of the three. It is has quirky, dance-like rhythms and a strong sense of pulse. In this movement, I imagine two lovers engaging in a bickering, yet friendly verbal dance match, their playful sentences bantered and volleyed back and forth like some sort of demented game of badminton in fast-forward mode. I suppose this would mean that the kind of dance I am imagining here is not one that you would necessarily move your feet to, but one meant for listening and that makes your insides want to move and shake.

Symphony in Three Movements - III. Dancing Games

Wind Quintet
Duration: 18'
Commissioned by Quintet of the Americas; Underwritten by the American Composers Forum with funds provided by the Jerome Foundation
Publisher: Bill Holab Music: http://www.billholabmusic.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=103_137&products_id=909

PROGRAM NOTES
All of the movements of this wind quintet are connected and inspired in some way by American icons, surrealism, collage, post-1950s imagery and suburbia.

The first movement, Andante, begins with the ending and ends at the beginning. Some instruments mimic others and just when you think an idea might go in one direction, it goes in another. I gleaned many of my ideas from studying cinematic character development and the unusual forms used in many modern films such as the 1994 film Pulp Fiction by Quentin Tarantino.

The second movement, Suburban waltz-fantasy, contains quotes from 1960s-70s TV show themes: The Jetsons, All in the Family, Green Acres, The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Brady Bunch and Leave It To Beaver. The movement begins with a waltz-like feel and two of the players mimicking “suburban chicken lady housewives cackle-gossiping across a backyard fence.” An obnoxious stray dog interjects with loud barking and then the movement takes off in a different direction. Some of the quotes are re-composed to sound like bird songs, others are textural and a few are so subtle that they are not easy to discern. Some of the parts even sound like they are mocking each other. This movement is a strange, surrealist collage.

The most immediate and obvious reference in the title of the third movement, Melting Clocks, is to Salvador Dali’s famous 1931 painting The Persistence of Memory in which there are images of melting or limp watches. I imagine a room full of clocks all ticking away, yet slightly inaccurately, the “baby clocks” a little faster than the “old grandfather clocks.” The middle section contains a few brief quotes form the first movement, and the “slightly melted” end of the movement brings back the cuckoo, but this time it melts as if it is in a house consumed by fire.

The fourth movement, Klezmeshugeh, derives its title from my combining the words ‘klezmer’—which is a combination of the two Hebrew words, kley and zemer, meaning ‘instrument of song’—and meshugeh, which is a Yiddish word meaning ‘crazy’. Essentially, this made-up title means “crazy instrument song.” In this movement, there are a few “wrong notes” that allude to the players pretending to sight-read. The end also concludes with a few thematic fragments from the second movement.

Wind Quintet was commissioned by Quintet of the Americas and underwritten by the American Composers Forum with funds provided by the Jerome Foundation.

Wind Quintet - I. Andante

Described by the press as “a modern day master” (AXS.com) and the “highlight of the program” (The New York Times), Robert Paterson has won awards for his music in virtually every classical genre. The Classical Recording Foundation at Carnegie’s Weill Hall named Paterson Composer of The Year in 2011, and his music has been on the Grammy ballot for the past six seasons. His works have appeared on National Public Radio’s Best of the Year lists for classical music and regularly appear on radio playlists across the United States.

Paterson’s music has been performed by over one hundred world-class ensembles, including Musica Sacra in NYC, Nashville Opera, Minnesota Orchestra, American Composers Orchestra, Vermont Symphony Orchestra, Delaware Symphony, Austin Symphony, Louisville Orchestra, Buffalo Philharmonic, American Modern Ensemble, Atlantic Brass Quintet, Imani Winds, and Ensemble Aleph in Paris.

Recent commissions include Ghost Theater, for the Albany Symphony, Shine for the American Brass Quintet, Moon Trio for the Claremont Trio and new works for the Vermont Symphony Orchestra, Eastman Wind Ensemble, and numerous choirs, including Ember and The Esoterics. Paterson’s debut choral album, Eternal Reflections, was released by Musica Sacra and Maestro Kent Tritle in 2015.

Paterson has received awards for his works in virtually every classical genre, including the A.I. duPont Composer’s Award from the Delaware Symphony, a three-year Music Alive grant from the League of American Orchestras and New Music USA, the American Composers Forum Jerome Composers Commissioning Program, the Utah Arts Festival Commission Competition, and fellowships to Yaddo, the MacDowell Colony, Aspen Music Festival, the Atlantic Center for the Arts and the Copland House.

In 2005, Paterson founded the American Modern Ensemble (AME), which spotlights contemporary music via lively thematic programming. He serves as artistic director as well as house composer, frequently contributing new pieces to the ensemble. In 2018, Paterson co-founded the Mostly Modern Festival (MMF), an annual, three-week summer music festival that highlights contemporary music, which takes place at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, NY. He also founded American Modern Recordings (AMR), an affiliated record label that is distributed by NAXOS. Paterson’s recordings are also featured on the Capstone, Centaur, Summit and Riax labels.

Born in 1970, Paterson was raised in Buffalo, New York, the son of a sculptor and a painter. Although his first love was percussion, he soon discovered a passion for composition, writing his first piece at age thirteen. While an undergraduate student, Paterson pioneered the development of a six-mallet marimba technique, and released the first-ever album of six-mallet music, Six Mallet Marimba in 2012 (AMR) to a sold-out crowd at the Rubin Museum in Chelsea, NYC. 

Paterson holds degrees from the Eastman School of Music, Indiana University, and Cornell University, and gives master classes at numerous colleges and universities, most recently at the Curtis Institute of Music, Aspen Music School & Festival, New York University, and the Cleveland Institute of Music. He resides in New York City and Saratoga Springs, NY with his wife, Victoria, his son, Dylan, and their cat, Cookie. For more information, visit robertpaterson.com.

[May, 2020]

Robert Paterson Composer

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