Name: The Percussionists’ Grimoire-Pentagram by Ty Alan Emerson
Duration: 5 min 1 s
Description: For solo drum set and playback. A study in 5.

06 an evolving romance for flute and piano (2005)

For solo drum set and playback. A study in 5.

The Percussionists’ Grimoire-Pentagram

01 Of Fields Unfolding . . . Echoing Depths Of Resonant Light MAS 5Min

“Sie war schon Wurzel“ (excerpt) for Visual Arts Project - please use headphones -
for piano, toy piano, percussions and electronics (© 2018; r.v. 2020)

Sie war schon aufgelöst wie langes Haar
und hingegeben wie gefallner Regen
und ausgeteilt wie hundertfacher Vorrat.

Sie war schon Wurzel.
                            (Rainer Maria Rilke, “Orfeus. Eurydike. Hermes.”)

Comme de longs cheveux elle était dispersée,
comme une pluie tombée elle était allouée,
comme un immense avoir elle était répartie.

Car elle était déjà racine.
                         (trad. fr. Lionel-Édouard Martin)

Come una lunga chioma era già sciolta,
come pioggia caduta era diffusa,
come un raccolto in mille era divisa.

Ormai era radice.
                   (trad. it. Giacomo Cacciapaglia)


©Trihn Lo, Eurydice "Sie war schon Wurzel", (toile, technique mixte).

"Sie war schon Wurzel"

Character study for Ariel, from Shakespeare's The Tempest. Performed by the Cleveland Chamber Collective

Ariel

Premiered by Peabody Wind Ensemble.  A post 9/11 piece

PWE 121211

After Vietnam--after a poem by Jo McDougal

This is the original version with prepared piano

Caliban for flute and prepared piano

Inspired by the poem Ode to a Nightingale. Commissioned by No Exit for their 10th Anniversary.

Darkling I Listen

if the stars align...

I : Shooting Stars
II : La Terra
III : Sirian Highlife
Cadenza for Viola : Blue Companion Star
IV : Digitaria

Performed by the illustrious Brentano String Quartet at Princeton University in Taplin Fine Hall, Feb 2013. This four movement piece with a cadenza, illuminates the viola as a soloist in contrast and in conjunction with the quartet. It encompasses spectral and microtonal elements (i.e. crazy tunings are intentional), as well as polyrhythms inspired by the date 12/12/12 and Ghanaian highlife. 

(Program Note Excerpt) I came to see the Brentano String Quartet play in New Zealand on the invitation of Euan Murdoch, head of Chamber Music NZ. I was delighted to be able to meet the performers after the show, who kindly told me how I was going to love my upcoming time in Princeton for my composition PhD. Misha Amory, the viola player, said to me:
"If the stars align, you will write for us."

if the stars align...

Ty Alan Emerson is an award-winning composer based in Cleveland whose works span chamber music, dance, and interdisciplinary collaboration. His music has been praised for its emotional power, clarity, and responsiveness to contemporary issues.

In 2024, the Cleveland Chamber Collective premiered Emerson’s hour-long work Oath Breaker, for chamber ensemble and electronics, exploring the events of January 6 and their aftermath. Other recent premieres include Shelter-in-Place and Pan Songs (2023), as well as Caliban Ascendant (2021), a full-length ballet created in partnership with Inlet Dance Theatre and featured in the Ohio Channel documentary Creating, Community.

Emerson’s works have been performed by ensembles such as The Cleveland Jazz Orchestra, No Exit, Zeitgeist, ASSEM3LY, VERB Ballets, and Quorum New Music Ensemble, and have appeared at festivals including Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival (UK), New Music on the Bayou, and NEO Sonic. His music has also been featured on WCLV’s Fresh Innovations.

His honors include the ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Award, the Searle McCullum Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, a MacDowell Colony Fellowship, and multiple Ohio Arts Council grants.

The Percussionists’ Grimoire-Pentagram

Ty Alan Emerson

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