Selected numbers from a chamber opera in 4 scenes, written by Lili Tobias and Rebecca Regan. Performed on February 10th, 2024 in Appel Hall at Hunter College.


Synopsis

Apple Of My Eye is set in a near-future defined by climate change. Forty years prior, apples were struck by a climate-driven blight that drove them extinct. Now, a biologist has engineered the apple back to life, and the story centers on a mother and child waiting on line to obtain one of the first new apples. As the hours drag on and worsening circumstances pressure them to give up and leave, the mother attempts to rationalize her deep desire for an apple. The opera explores personal emotions in the midst of a changing world and the intensity with which we can care about mundane things.


Musicians

Music by Lili Tobias
Words by Rebecca Regan

Conducted by Bryan Lin

Mom: Siobhán Sterrett, baritone
Kid: Hannah Cai Sobel, soprano
Dr. Gina Selewski: Alexa Letourneau, tenor

Chorus: Grace Tyson, Francesca Lionetta, Crys/ta Song, Alexa Letourneau, Simon Moore, Gene Volel-Witkowski, Nathaniel Ziv Stern

Lara Lewison, violin
Jacob Rollins, viola 1
Sathvi Ramaseshan, viola 2
Danielle Lee, cello

Momologue

Premiered on July 7, 2018 at Atlantic Music Festival 2018, Colby College, Waterville ME 

Dean Whiteside, Conductor
Emma Resmini, Flute(doubling Piccolo) 
Jarrett Hoffman, Bb Clarinet(doubling Bass Clarinet)
Anat Kardontchik, Violin
Georgia Bourderionnet, Cello
Zachary Webb, Percussion
Peng-Chian Chen, Piano

How the Sky Holds the Sun(2018) - Akari Komura

Original piece, performed during Choral Chameleon's 2019 Summer Institute. 

For scores/performance rights, go to https://laurenlynnmusic.com/

I have left pieces of my heart 
All across the world 
And I have been working my whole life 
Just to leave where I've come from

Searching for answers to the questions I didn't know
Craving freedom from the black and white routine

Some have the path fall before them 
Some are caught, entangled 
Venturing to make a way through a journey not forseen

And now that I've wandered a distance away
I don't even know where I'd go
Besides the places that I've been 
Or the one that I call home 

Taking for granted the wide open spaces 
Ignoring the sky brimming with kaleidoscope sunsets

I have left pieces of my heart 
All across the world 
But they're not left in the places I've been
They're with the people I've met

Pieces Of My Heart

Babel (2019)
for Mixed Choir SATB

Written during 2019 Choral Chameleon Institute under the guidance of Joseph Stilwell, Steve Smith and Dale Trumbore.

In in the Bible on Genesis 11: 1-9, the story of the creation of the Tower of Babel is narrated. Seeing that this monument was getting so tall that it was almost reaching the heavens, God decided to scatter humanity through the world and gave them different languages so that they would not be able to communicate with each other.
Through this piece, using an already “scattered” poem by Edward Einhorn based on this story and translations of it over into 20 languages, and by creating scales based on the division of the major 7th (11 semitones) from 1 to 9 I try to, respectively, symbolically illustrate the scattering of one language (in this case English) into a multitude of others and generate the form and pitch material for this piece based on the section of the Bible in which this story is told.
I wholeheartedly thank all these amazing people for translating and helping with the translation process of Edward Einhorn’s poem: Armando Possante, Bjorn Vandenneucker, Carmen Artaza, Carolina Alexandra, Christos Callow Jr., Giovanni Zaniol, Jack Wong, Jean-Phillippe Drécourt, Julia Owczarek, Junzuo Li, Laura Farré Rozada, Laura Hildebrandt, Margarida Espiguinha, Maria Clara Costa, Maria VA Soares, Mia Søndergaard Nielsen, Nasr-Eddine Lalaoui, Nilufar Habibian, Ofer Ben- Amots, Pedro Manuel Finisterra, Rosa van Alphen, Tari, Vova, Vova’s mum & Yana. Without them this piece would not exist.


"BABEL

Lost

Lost the

Words are

Lost

Tower went too high

Babel

Do you understand me?

Babel

Babel

Words are

Went too high

Do you understand?

Lost

Words are

Went too

Babel

Words are

Understand me

Words are

Words are

Babel

Babel

Ba – Ba

Ba"


Poem: Edward Einhorn
Music: Pedro F. Finisterra

Conduction: Matthew Oltman
Choral Chameleon

2019 Choral Chameleon Institute Concert
St. Paul's Episcopal Church
Brooklyn, New York City, New York, United States of America
29th of June, 2019

Painting: "The Tower of Babel", by Joos de Momper & Frans Francken

Website: www.pedroffinisterra.com

Where to find my scores:
Portfolios: https://portfolios.esml.ipl.pt/compositor/pedro-f-finisterra/
Scherzo Editions: http://www.scherzoeditions.com/?page_id=6957#ffs-tabbed-11

Follow me on social media:
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/pedroffinisterra
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/pedroffinisterra
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pedroffinisterra/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/PedroFinisterra
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pedroffinisterra/

Contact me:
pedroffinisterra@gmail.com

Follow Choral Chameleon on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdUUNAw1ti61uOYb_E2ooFg
Follow Edward Einhorn on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqvjexPf1QBOHnmfqs16fGw

Momologue

Lili Tobias

Related tracks