Performed by Michael Nicolas, December 2022. Dedicated to the memory of Robert Brent.

Break

Cloud Shapes

A song about falling asleep, set to text from T.S. Eliot's "The Wasteland."

Soprano: Katherine Lerner Lee
Piano: Nomin Samdan

Text (From part one: The Burial of the Dead)

What are the roots that clutch, what branches grow
Out of this stony rubbish? Son of man,
You cannot say, or guess, for you know only
A heap of broken images, where the sun beats,
And the dead tree gives no shelter, the cricket no relief,
And the dry stone no sound of water. Only
There is shadow under this red rock,
(Come in under the shadow of this red rock),
And I will show you something different from either
Your shadow at morning striding behind you
Or your shadow at evening rising to meet you;
I will show you fear in a handful of dust.                      
                             Frisch weht der Wind                      
                             Der Heimat zu                      
                             Mein Irisch Kind,                      
                             Wo weilest du?
You gave me hyacinths first a year ago;
'They called me the hyacinth girl.'
—Yet when we came back, late, from the Hyacinth garden,
Your arms full, and your hair wet, I could not
Speak, and my eyes failed, I was neither
Living nor dead, and I knew nothing,
Looking into the heart of light, the silence.
Oed’ und leer das Meer.

Madame Sosostris, famous clairvoyante,
Had a bad cold, nevertheless
Is known to be the wisest woman in Europe,
With a wicked pack of cards. Here, said she,
Is your card, the drowned Phoenician Sailor,
(Those are pearls that were his eyes. Look!)
Here is Belladonna, the Lady of the Rocks,
The lady of situations.
Here is the man with three staves, and here the Wheel,
And here is the one-eyed merchant, and this card,
Which is blank, is something he carries on his back,
Which I am forbidden to see. I do not find
The Hanged Man. Fear death by water.
I see crowds of people, walking round in a ring.
Thank you. If you see dear Mrs. Equitone,
Tell her I bring the horoscope myself:
One must be so careful these days.

Hypnagogia

Rainbow Reflections

Flute -- Jillian Reed
Clarinet -- Marianne Gythfeld
Harpsichord --Renee Louprette
Piano -- Chris Oldfather
Violin -- Curtis Macomber
Cello -- Chris Gross

Sonnet For Schopenhauer

Birth of Pandora

The Dowry

Oboe/Voice: Rachel Marquez
Trombone: Alex Schwarte
Viola: Ally Keller
Piano: Grace Daley
Percussion: Mario Shaw, Liam Andrews
Conductor: Brian Junttila

A Swan Cries Murder

World Premiere of PAX by Garrick Neuner (Baritone) and The Orchestra Now in May 2024 conducted by Maestro Leon Botstein in the Fisher Center at Bard College.

PAX is dedicated to all victims of genocide and apartheid.

"To follow a god into the trees clouds the mind, silences the forest, and brings all the angels to tears."

Joe DeAngelo, Violin
Oliver Costello, Violin
Gabriel Ordas, Violin
Barbara Chiang, Violin
Jackson Pope, Violin
Rosie Myung, Violin
Emily Frederick, Conductor

Zeke Morgan

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