mark-barden.com

This piece was one of my earliest loves in the piano repertoire. Such drama! I’d forgotten about it for years until Ligia Lewis, a friend of mine who is a choreographer, began exploring the connections between Rachmaninov’s oeuvre for her own (brilliant) work on melodrama and pantomime. There is escapism, poetry, and even hope in this unabashedly over-the-top gestural language. 

kyle-adam-blair.com

I have an addiction to trying my best to fully and clearly communicate complex ideas. For me, in music, that means friction…intricate (poly)rhythmic interplay, closely rubbing counterpoint, and dissonant harmonies. I LOVE and chose Stuart Saunders Smith’s Thicket because it is chock-full of all of those intricacies, but lets the performer decide HOW to say those complex ideas by letting them choose all the phrasing, articulations, and dynamics.

P.S. Listen into the third movement. IMHO, it’s one of the most crushingly beautiful sets of notes and rhythms ever penned.

This is part 2 of a 4-part piece for piano and video titled, "Novena, I'll Fly Away." At the time I was thinking a lot about the concentration of energy by repetition of a sound or thought over a period of time. Meditation and Novena are obvious choices, though they often come from different motivations. I composed several pieces titled "Novena" - in this one death and dying are considered. I chose this piece to share because it was such a personal project and kind of stands apart from what I usually write.

alisonluedecke.com

I chose two different pieces for the harpsichord instead of including the organ, simply because mine is going away for a while to be regulated and returned to its fullest self. It’s done a lot of work for me and it just needs a little tune-up! The specific pieces I chose represent two different moods that I have experience during this COVID-19 crisis. Henry Purcell’s A New Ground is more melancholic and introspective, and C.P.E. Bach’s Variations on Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star is just some thing to lighten the mood!

adamneiman.com

I chose to share my own original composition, “Vision" for solo piano, composed in 2004. It is a mystical work that emanates from a well of emotion deep within me. “Vision” brings to mind the spiritual freedom of the soul to wander across the multiverse, a message that may resonate in the our present time of confinement.

brendannguyen.com

Part of the pleasure of working with advanced students is suggesting pieces that I have always wanted to play for myself, but have little time to rehearse. It is ultimately a selfish act, but one that provides growth for both parties involved. As I am allowed to live vicariously through their hard work, together we craft beautiful shapes, find surprising colors, and recite exquisite narratives. During these uncertain times, I permitted myself the chance to touch these pieces with my own hands.

Franz Schubert has always been and remains a cornerstone of my repertoire. His compositions are famous for their emotional depth and intelligence, buttressed by expansive musical structures. I often return to his works to center my spirit and expand my inner spaces. 

chetantierra.com

I chose this piece because I wanted to share my latest composition. It's about: A journey faster than the speed of light that takes you through portals and dimensions of the universe not yet seen. You may arrive in the center of everything where you are greeted by the divine mother, comforted, and excited in an awe inspiring way that may be frightening. You get to feel the tapestry of souls, all souls that have lived before and will live after now. There is no time or space; it is all now and made of 1 spirit both unexplainable and yet crystal clear. There is no good or evil, happy or sad, all forms of consciousness just exist.

melissaevanstierra.com

I discovered this piece and composer recently after searching for compositions by living composers to perform on an upcoming concert. It’s simple, yet evokes so many emotions - something that I feel I’m going through daily as I grapple with the ‘new normal.’ In addition to performing the music, I am also painting it in this video. I began painting music as I see it in my mind a few years ago. I had a very visual dream of a Muse album that haunted me, and I felt the need to get it out in a tangible form…so I painted. As this has evolved through the years, I have gotten more colorful at showcasing what is going on in my mind. I wanted to share with everyone how the different emotions of ‘Modetudes’ look when they overtake my thought process.

jonathan-hepfer.com

I keep a vibraphone in my apartment because I have nowhere else to store it. It's not any more intentional than that. I don't actually use it very often, except as a table to organize papers. But one Christmas, I woke up and I got to thinking: I've always liked that little celesta melody from the Nutcracker. I wonder if I could play it on my vibraphone? So, I looked on the internet and found sheet music and learned the piece that morning. I recorded a little video of me playing in my apartment (it was quiet and pleasant, so I figured I could get away with it) and posted it on instagram. I expected to delete it in a few hours, but later discovered that 100,000 people had seen the video. That was interesting. I've noticed that people seem to love these videos, even those who don't have any prior affinity to classical music. I learn a lot about music from the responses I see. The Glass, Richter and Reich are all gentle and quiet enough for me to learn and record in my apartment. I love these pieces, and now seemed like the right time to work on them. They're my best attempt at creating something beautiful with the limited resources I have available to me at the moment.

bmacadamsomer.com

Paper Tigers is the fourth movement of the song cycle for my voice and violin, Some Dragons. There are seven movements total, and this video is my "premier" of Paper Tigers. It sits at the heart of the piece- three songs before it and three songs after. It is the shortest movement and in some ways the simplest. Simple, for me, never means easier. So far, it is challenging to channel the vibe I'm seeking in the opening section. I'm working to get the right kind of bow momentum to sustain the long pitches in the violin and feel free with it while singing. The text material itself is very earnest; reading it, I feel it could potentially sound like a platitude. Tuning into my own sense of fear, and even embarrassment of singing and playing the violin together, seems to stave that off- along with Carolyn's nuanced and subtly foreboding setting.

THE ARCHITECTURE OF SILENCE

There is a music in which the time-space of sound and the time-space of silence appear in their own particular realms. Even when the sounds are often very soft, the music is not about falling into silence. The sounds are clear, direct and precise. Because they have left musical rhetoric behind, there is instead a sensitivity for the presence of sound and for the physicality of silence. There are long time spans for the presence of sound, and long time spans for the absence of sound. The two together form the "time present" of the piece. read more…

Recently, I have been experimenting with long-breathing (circular breathing) using a set of physical constraints. In this durational work, I am interested in the naturally occurring structures that result from physical strain and decomposition of performance technique. This music therefore represents my first explorations through the well-trodden valley between improvisation and composition. 

“For Anqi” was written for my friend, and meant to convey a more lyrical side of this approach. This is also what I hope to be the beginning of new chapter of my music-making, one where I prioritize my own listening, and a more intimate economy of personal gesture and connectivity. 

christinetavolacci.com

These days I find myself leaning heavily on meditation and mindfulness to help keep me (mostly) grounded in the midst of uncertainty. For that reason I wanted to share with you all three pieces for low flutes that explore different aspects of meditation and stillness. Composed in 1953, Quays is a work centered upon the dimensions of a single pitch, taking the listener up to the edge of its boundaries and into surrounding liminal spaces. Polyaigos (1992), a work of familiar and haunting stillness, was inspired by an uninhabited island of the same name in the Aegean sea. Finally, Light and Chant Study (2018) is one of my favorite newer works for bass flute (and voice) that allows the performer to meditate upon and explore at will fragments of the Trisagion, the ancient thrice-holy hymn. 

tashasmithgodinez.com

For the last couple years I have had an ongoing project of arranging Chick Corea’s solo piano and even some of his ensemble music for the harp.   I finished recording an album of his music just before the quarantine began and have spent this time designing the album artwork and preparing for album release which is scheduled for May 30, 2020.