Fogbound was written in the Spring of 2021. It explores a search through an obscured night, hunting for  an unknown entity, shrouded in fog. As the work progresses, different aspects of the entity become apparent while others are left unknown. An evening of mist and glowing lanterns is formed, and the tension of the uncertainty surrounding this entity builds until, at last, it finally emerges from the murk in the final seconds of the movement… but what is it?

The performers you are hearing are:
The Akropolis Reed Quintet:
Tim Gocklin - Oboe
Kari Landry - Clarinet
Matt Landry - Saxophone
Ryan Reynolds - Bassoon
Andrew Koeppe - Bass Clarinet

Fogbound

Written in the Summer of 2020. This piece was a collaboration with fellow artist, Brett Mooney. The work explores the fragility and beauty of the human condition. It was also my first completed project within the world of electronic music, utilizing my familiarity with acoustic harmony and cello and blending it with Brett's skill in mixing and editing.

Photo by Julian Böck on Unsplash

Thank you for listening, I hope you enjoy.

World In A Raindrop

The first movement of my concerto for Bassoon and Cello. The work explores a skybound journey of two characters as they travel through the endless possibilities their world has to offer. Divided into three movements, they each explore a different feature that could be found “between clouds”--opening with a bridge constructed by the two characters, followed by a stroll through the night cast in moonlight, and finally ending with a dance in the emerging sunlight.

This movement is described as, "A connector between two worlds; its architects yearn for someplace new, and escape across the passage they have made together."

The musicians you hear in this recording are:
Lauren Henning - Bassoon
Hannah Mohr - Piano
and myself on cello

Between Clouds - I. Bridge

This piece was written in the Spring of 2021. A snag is the name used to describe a standing dead or dying tree. This work explores the final moments of one such tree. Though still and unassuming for those on the outside, beneath its bark, an ancient life slowly comes to an end.

The performer you are hearing is:
Lauren Henning - Bassoon

Snag Song

The Road Traveled was written in the Spring of 2022 in collaboration with harpist, Jessica Martin. The work explores the idea of attempting to recall a formative memory in life; a memory which profoundly impacted the choices and turns taken along the way. Whether it is painful or pleasant, remembering such an event along the road is often influenced by our present position upon it. As a result, we never quite remember things exactly as they occurred, the memory is altered as our perspectives grow and shift in life.
The piece expresses this idea by having a main theme represent this memory. Vague and difficult to place at first, it shifts and changes; serving a different purpose and offering different insights as the work progresses, until finally returning to the obscurity of another simple cobblestone along the road traveled.

The performer you are hearing is:
Jessica Martin - Harp

The Road Traveled

This piece was written in the spring of 2023 in collaboration with Adam Warnke. In Julius Caesar’s writing on the Gallic Wars, he mentions the use of a trumpet to signal an attack during the battle of Alesia, “hearing the shout, Vercingetorix gave his troops the signal by trumpet, and led them out of the town.” Though a brief mention, the idea of representing this moment in a work for solo trumpet was interesting to me. Upon further research, I came across the magnificent instrument known as the carnyx, a massive Gallic trumpet which was used in ceremonies and war time. The piece follows the timeline of this final battle of the war. Opening with distant Roman signals in the encirclement of the town of Alesia, leading into the attack of the Gauls in three separate desperate attempts to relieve the town, and finally ending with the mourning call of a fading carnyx, defeated but not forgotten.

Special thanks to my brother Finn for assisting in finding the Latin sources used for some of the pitch material in the work. 

The performer you are hearing is:
Adam Warnke - Bb Trumpet

Carnyx

Quilt of Feathers was written in the spring of 2023. The work explores a tapestry of colors and characters. An initial blur of independent bird calls and murmurs coalesces as various instruments join in with their song. Traveling through a variety of environments, the call is passed on and shaped as it journeys. Having grown substantially inn number, united in their song, they finally take off and fly into the horizon.

This audio is a mix of the opening of the work recorded by the CIM Orchestra under the direction of Jake Taniguchi, and a MIDI mockup.

Quilt of Feathers

Commissioned by Audrey Potter and Grace Jang, Fuse was written in the summer of 2022. The piece flies rapidly from place to place, carrying the listener through a variety of environments, and revolves around the duality of the word "fuse". The frantic textures explored in the opening represent the fiery activity of a lit fuse, while the slower singing melodies evoke the use of the word as a verb, a way of combining two separate entities. The dual meaning of this word, and its two definitions as they interact, serves as the basis of the music.

The performers you are hearing are:
Daniel Gilbert - Violin
Maeve Brophy - Piano

Fuse

Between Clouds was written in the winter of 2021. The work explores a skybound journey of two characters as they travel through the endless possibilities their world has to offer. Divided into three movements, they each explore a different feature that could be found “between clouds”--opening with a bridge constructed by the two characters, followed by a stroll through the night cast in moonlight, and finally ending with a dance in the emerging sunlight.

The performers in this video are:

Wolfgang Scheitinger - Bassoon
Mandy Lyman - Cello
Colin Arnett - Piano

Thank you for listening!

Between Clouds - III. Sundance

Between Clouds - II. Moonlight

A short tune I wrote for a series of video games being produced by the Northeast Ohio VA Hospital. The game had the goal of helping with the diagnosis and treatment of injuries related to patient's ability to focus their vision. This particular game tasked the player with catching falling fruit in a small basket, requiring them to gage the distance of the fruit in relation to the basket they needed to catch them in. 

I created a series of looping layers that together made up the soundtrack. The addition and subtraction of the layers related to how well the player was doing in their task. This arrangement demonstrates how all the layers would sound together.

Thank you for listening!

Fruit Catcher

Commissioned by Katherine Wynn, Out of the ash was written in the summer of 2022. It is inspired by the poem, “Lady Lazarus” by Sylvia Plath. The work mainly focuses around the ideas presented in the final stanza of the poem. I found the allusion to a phoenix at the end to be powerful, and decided to explore this idea musically. Opening with a dreary scene of falling ash, a character emerges slowly in a daze. As the piece progresses, we are introduced to the phoenix, which is represented musically through the use of natural harmonics on the cello. The harmonics and the traditional sonorities of the cello are heard calling to one another, with the harmonic phoenix presenting a way out of the daze. Despite a world of challenges against them, the two interact and blend until they finally emerge, out of the ash, as one.

The performer you hear in this recording is myself.

Out of the ash

Music from the film by Chris D'Addario, "Oceans Past". This scene follows the two main protagonists as they meet for the first time and go on a date in a simulated beach environment.

Thank you for listening!

Simulated Beach

Music from the film by Chris D'Addario, "Oceans Past". This scene presents the reading of a poem followed by a discussion between the two characters about their taste in music. The score initially remains reserved, but develops into an interaction between non-diegetic and diegetic music as one of the characters begins to play guitar.

Thank you for listening!

Poem

Music from the film by Chris D'Addario, "Oceans Past". This scene sees the two main characters having a discussion about past relationships and their respective views on love, exposing the main point of contention which will emerge later in the film.

Thank you for listening!

Oceans Past

Music from the film by Chris D'Addario, "Oceans Past". This music scores the final scene of the film which sees the somber conclusion to the main character's stories.

Thank you for listening!

The End

I cavalieri was written in the summer of 2021 for the Italian cello quartet, Quartetto Zuena. The music features a rhythmic ricochet technique that mimics the sound of a horse galloping–creating the imagery of a group of fearless riders traveling from one adventure to the next. The title translates to, “the riders” or “the knights”.

The performer you are hearing in this recording is:
me (Sean Penzo)

Thank you for listening!

I cavalieri

A Golden Keep was written in the Summer of 2023 through collaboration with the incredible bassoonist, Lauren Henning. Together, we created the concept for a work which would present a set of miniatures–each one following a different character that could be found in the keep of a castle. This first miniature introduces “The Monarchs”, boisterously kicking off an evening of festivities, and becoming progressively drunk on wine or power, or maybe both.

The performer you're hearing is:
Lauren Henning - Bassoon

Thank you for listening!

A Golden Keep - I. The Monarchs

A Golden Keep was written in the Summer of 2023 through collaboration with the incredible bassoonist, Lauren Henning. Together, we created the concept for a work which would present a set of miniatures–each one following a different character that could be found in the keep of a castle. This second miniature introduces “The Jester”, providing a comical satire of the chaotic situation, wowing a captive audience with daring acrobatics. 

The performer you're hearing is:
Lauren Henning - Bassoon

Thank you for listening!

A Golden Keep - II. The Jester

A Golden Keep was written in the Summer of 2023 through collaboration with the incredible bassoonist, Lauren Henning. Together, we created the concept for a work which would present a set of miniatures–each one following a different character that could be found in the keep of a castle. This third miniature introduces "The Sorcerer", a more devious character, casting spells of illusion to entice outsiders with prestige, bathing the keep in a wash of glittering gold. Much of the thematic material for this section is derived from Paul Dukas's The Sorcerer's Apprentice.

The performer you're hearing is:
Lauren Henning - Bassoon

Thank you for listening!

A Golden Keep - III. The Sorcerer

A Golden Keep was written in the Summer of 2023 through collaboration with the incredible bassoonist, Lauren Henning. Together, we created the concept for a work which would present a set of miniatures–each one following a different character that could be found in the keep of a castle. This fourth miniature introduces, “The Princess”, a character who feels rather trapped by the happenings of the keep, singing a song of longing and ambition. The music presents a lyrical melody which breaks into emotional vocalizations.

The performer you're hearing is:
Lauren Henning - Bassoon

Thank you for listening!

A Golden Keep - IV. The Princess

A Golden Keep was written in the Summer of 2023 through collaboration with the incredible bassoonist, Lauren Henning. Together, we created the concept for a work which would present a set of miniatures–each one following a different character that could be found in the keep of a castle. This fifth and final miniature introduces, “The Fairy Godmother”, who steps in to help out the princess of the previous movement--helping transform longing wishes into reality.

The performer you're hearing is:
Lauren Henning - Bassoon

Thank you for listening!

A Golden Keep - V. The Fairy Godmother

"The only being who could speak at will in the hall of The Mountain King without losing his head. He’s kept it above his shoulders for now, but how much longer can he continue his charade?"

A piece I wrote in the summer of 2018 for the cello studio at the State University of New York at Fredonia. The piece was originally written for six celli but in this recording, you'll hear thirteen. 

The musicians you hear in this recording are:
Dr. Natasha Farny
Sean Penzo
Scott Sgueglia
Gregory Stebbins
Tori Carter
Cloe Shan
Helen Lewis
Mateo Wojtczack
Sarah Fortais
Autumn Hobel-Furrer
Shawn Colacchio
Cloe Hall
Randy Leon

Having this piece performed by such talented and accomplished performers was a real honor. Playing with them every day is an even greater one.

Thank you for listening, I hope you enjoy.

The Mountain Jester - 13 Celli

Daydream was written in the Spring of 2020. Written while under quarantine during the coronavirus pandemic, it explores a persistent and pleasant recurring thought through gentle lulling motion.

The performer you are hearing is:
Steve Beck

Thank you for listening, I hope you enjoy.

Daydream

This piece was written in the Summer of 2020. It explores the internal issues that we all face in our day to day lives, seemingly on our own. Our perceived inability to discuss these issues is what prevents us from finding support through them. The song discusses a storm, symbolizing these struggles, as the narrating soprano warns us of it. The nature of this storm remains consistent, although its sounds develop into discernible patterns. Despite our ability to recognize these patterns, the storm ultimately ends in silence. Through our inability to discuss them, we find ourselves facing them alone.

The musicians you hear in this recording are:
Amie Adams - Soprano
Jenna Eschner - Bb Clarinet
Lauren Henning - Bassoon
Holly Zimmerman - Violin
Hannah Mohr - Piano
Johnny Viviani - Timpani
and myself on Cello

Moment

Composer, Cellist, and Writer—Want to collaborate or commission a piece? Message me!

Sean Lorenzo Penzo

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