A very beautiful arrangement! Listening to this gave me a certain feeling of tranquility! Very well composed!

I like that you get the sound of the room on this piece. Lovely instrumentation as always. Beautiful vocal performances!

Beautiful work as usual and amazing gorgeous voices that you always choose. Great piece ,Robert!

Soaring highs and fluttering flute trills, with dense lows that I feel represent the physicality of the soprano's experience. Another superb musical narrative.

Awesome classical music, Robert. Thanks for sharing. Really enjoyed listening. Perhaps you are interested in my intrumental music too :-) Musical greetings Tobias

I particularly love the way you use the strings in this Rob.

Libretto by David Cote
Aria Featuring Cree Carrico, soprano
Full Duration: ca. 24'/ Aria Duration: ca. 5'
Full 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/cocoa-cantata/
Full Video: TBA
View Online Perusal Score: https://issuu.com/robertpaterson/docs/paterson_cocoa_cantata__score-perusal_
Buy Full Score: TBA

ABOUT COCOA CANTATA
Cocoa Cantata is a 21st-century response to J.S. Bach’s Coffee Cantata, one of his secular cantatas, c. 1734. A mini-drama with colorful, comical roles for soprano, baritone, and bass-baritone, this work imitates Bach's instrumentation and explores politics and optics in the multibillion-dollar chocolate industry.

Two chocolate executives, one from a global brand, the other a boutique chocolatier, square off over a corporate takeover, when a food scientist introduces a scientifically engineered "Total Cacao." One bite of it, and each chocolate executive is transformed.

Cocoa Cantata runs approximately 22 minutes, incorporating arias for each character, duets, and a final trio. The tone is lightly satirical, with contemporary allusions to fair-trade practices, the chemistry and symbolism of chocolate, and the marketing of pleasure. Cocoa Cantata will be delicious to anyone who loves chocolate—or tries to control their craving for it!

PROGRAM NOTE
Cocoa Cantata is a 21st-century response to J.S. Bach’s Coffee Cantata. Written for soprano, baritone, and bass-baritone, the work explores politics in the multibillion-dollar chocolate industry. Musically, the piece imitates Bach’s instrumentation, but not his Baroque style. The paternalism of Bach’s secular cantata is replaced by a more evolved (yet humorous) attitude toward issues of patriarchy, fair-trade practices, and the marketing of pleasure.

Cocoa Cantata - Ambrosia (Soprano Aria)

American composer Robert Paterson is a true New Yorker—born and bred in Buffalo, he lived in Rochester and Ithaca for over ten years, in New York City for over twenty years, and now lives in Saratoga Springs, near the Adirondacks. Paterson’s colorful music embraces a wide variety of themes, everything from goddesses and online dating to mathematics and the environment. His music is filled with emotion and fierce rhythmic energy, marked by elegance, wit, and meticulous craftsmanship. Named Composer of The Year by the Classical Recording Foundation at Carnegie Hall, Paterson is the winner of the Alfred I. DuPont Award, and his opera Three Way won the Grammy® under Best Classical Producer of the Year. His music is often a Best of the Year pick on National Public Radio. His orchestral tone poem, Dark Mountains, regularly airs on NPR’s Performance Today. Three Way premiered with Nashville Opera, then BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music), and across the United States. Minnesota Orchestra, Louisville Orchestra, The Oratorio Society of New York, Buffalo Philharmonic, Albany Pro Musica, Albany Symphony, Musica Sacra, Austin Symphony, Vermont Symphony, and ensembles worldwide perform his works. Paterson gives masterclasses at the Curtis Institute of Music, New York University, the Aspen Music Festival, the Cleveland Institute of Music, and more. He is the Artistic Director and house composer for Mostly Modern Projects. Robert is a lifelong vegan and advocates for animals and the environment, celebrating the natural world with ground-breaking works such as his Triple Concerto, A New Eaarth, Listen, and I Go Among Trees.

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