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COMPOSITIONS

for VOCAL / CHORAL 

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Jabberwocky

for baritone voice with flute/piccolo, clarinet/bass clarinet, piano, percussion, violin, and cello.

Commissioned and premiered by the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble.

Text by Lewis Carroll, from “Through the Looking Glass.”

Duration—20”

 

A fantastical and theatrical setting, the vocal part features a wide range of techniques including singing, speaking, Sprechstimme, effects, and beat box.  The musical backdrop is equally varied, including atonal counterpoint, tonal melodies, extended techniques, a 5-part fugue, and references to Renaissance drinking songs, gypsy dances, hard rock, Bach, and Broadway.

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FRONT MATTER

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Sidewalk Songs

for male vocal octet.

Text by Shel Silverstein.

Duration—13”

This four-movement cycle is based on poetry from Shel Silverstein’s children’s book entitled ‘Where the Sidewalk Ends.’  Klezmer, barbershop quartet, jazz, pop, gospel, and classical music are just a few styles explored in this work.

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Evenly Spaced Waves of Irony

for baritone voice with piano.

also available for soprano or mezzo.

Premiered by Timothy Jones.

Text by Billy Collins.

Duration—12”

Song cycle based on the twisted texts of U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins.  Poems included are: The Willies, Flames, Weighing the Dog, and Embrace.

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SCORE SAMPLE

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Chestnut Branches in the Court (a cycle of the Holocaust)

for mixed choir, adult & children soloists and narrators, cantor, 2 percussionists.

Texts by Lynn Lifshin, children from the Terezin concentration camp, Anne Frank, and David Cutler.

Duration—20”

Though this composition deals with the Holocaust, it speaks to intolerance in all societies.  It was written in response to the shooting of a Korean man in front of his place of worship by a white supremacist. 

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On My Way to You 
for female choir (SSAA) and string quartet.

Also available for female choir and piano. 

Arrangement of music and text by Michel Legrand.

Duration—5”

A beautiful setting of this tender ballad.  It may feature a soloist performing the soprano 1 part.

SCORE SAMPLE

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None but the Lonely Heart 
for jazz choir (SSATBB). 

Arrangement of music and text by Michel Legrand.

Duration—5”

Jazz vocal arrangement of Tchaikovsky's
heart-wrenching sentimental ballad.

LISTEN

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