APRIL 19, 2023 : UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA SCHOOL OF MUSIC
Virtual Class Presentation about Composing Vocal Music
with special guest Juliana Hall, composer of art songs and works of vocal chamber music
I’m looking forward to speaking with masters and doctoral voice and composition students at the University of Nebraska’s Glenn Korff School of Music, and am grateful to Dr. Jaime Reimer for her kind invitation to share my work and my life as a composer. I’ll talk about everyday life as a composer of vocal music, inspiration vs. discipline, choosing and setting texts, interplay between voice and piano, and much more…can’t wait!
MAY 29, 2022 : THE LIVING LEGACY SERIES
I loved speaking with Audrey Johnson about my musical journey as part of her wonderful Living Legacy Series of interviews with living composers. Many thanks to Audrey for this special opportunity to speak about my compositions, and my thanks to her for a beautiful performance of my song on a letter of Edna St. Vincent Millay, To Mother.
Watch the interview and performance.
Read about the Living Legacy Series.
APRIL 3, 2022 : BOSTON NEW MUSIC INITIATIVE
Prismatic Congruency 1-5 Composer Chat
with guest composers Phivos-Angelos Kollias, Robert Kendall, Simon Hutchinson, Melika Fitzhugh, Daniel Zlatkin, Juliana Hall, Cory Brodack, Richard Derby, Samn Johnson, and Anthony Lai, by interviewer Beth Ratay and soprano Danielle Aldach
I loved making the acquaintance of the folks at the Boston New Music Initiative, and was thrilled that for five concerts in their Prismatic Congruency series of concerts for solo pieces, works of mine were chosen to be presented on three of them. Two songs from my unaccompanied soprano song cycle on poems by E. E. Cummings, In Spring, were performed beautifully by Danielle Aldach and the solo viola version of my piece The Ballad of Barnaby was performed forcefully by violist Arjun Mudan.
Many thanks to BNMI for programming my music, and for this special opportunity to speak about my compositions!
FEBRUARY 21, 2022 : VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY BLAIR SCHOOL OF MUSIC
Virtual Class Presentation about Composing Vocal Music
with special guest Juliana Hall, composer of art songs and works of vocal chamber music
I had such a nice time speaking to the voice students at Vanderbilt University’s Blair School of Music, and thank Dr. Amy Jarman for her gracious invitation to speak to her class about American art song and, more specifically, my vocal works. The class also watched the amazing performance by Maggie Finnegan of my early song cycle Night Dances from the excellent Calliope’s Call series in Boston.
In addition to sharing my life as a working composer, I enjoyed answering the students’ excellent questions from the perspective of both voice study and composition.
FEBRUARY 16, 2021 : ON SITE OPERA | VIRTUAL DISCUSSION
Making Anne Sing: How Her Words Became Music
with special guest Juliana Hall, composer of A World Turned Upside Down
I was very pleased to participate in the second of two virtual discussions with the founder and artistic director of New York’s On Site Opera, Eric Einhorn, and its musical director, Geoffrey McDonald, continuing where we left off in the January 5th discussion.
We discussed my soprano song cycle A World Turned Upside Down, based on excerpts from The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank. As part of the discussion, I showed various aspects of decision making in the composition process, including areas of text setting, vocal melodies, the creation of atmosphere using the piano, and more.
Watch the Virtual Panel Discussion.
On Site Opera : The Beauty That Still Remains: Diaries in Song
FEBRUARY 9, 2021 : GEORGIA COLLEGE DEPARTMENT OF MUSIC
Virtual Class Presentation about Composing Vocal Music
with special guest Juliana Hall, composer of art songs and works of vocal chamber music
I had such a fun time speaking to the singers and composers studying at Georgia College, and thank Dr. Jennifer Piazza-Pick for her gracious invitation to speak in anticipation of her upcoming recital Anonymous Was a Woman, which presented a full program of music by composers who are women – including a stunning performance of my monodrama Sentiment.
In addition to sharing my life as a working composer, I enjoyed answering the students’ excellent questions from the perspective of both voice study and composition.
JANUARY 5, 2021 : ON SITE OPERA | VIRTUAL DISCUSSION
Making Anne Sing: How Her Words Became Music
with special guest Juliana Hall, composer of A World Turned Upside Down
I was very pleased to participate in the first of two virtual discussions with the founder and artistic director of New York’s On Site Opera, Eric Einhorn, and its musical director, Geoffrey McDonald, in which I discussed my life as a composer. Giving examples, I went through the song cycle A World Turned Upside Down and spoke about how I choose text and create a libretto for a theatrical song cycle like this one.
I showed various aspects of decision making in the composition process, including text setting, how vocal melodies are created, and the use of harmony and rhythm to develop atmosphere that supports the meaning of the text and its context within the entire cycle, among other topics. In addition, we spoke of my studies with the great vocal composer Dominick Argento, who following my studies became a beloved friend for the last 30 years of his life, as we exchanged correspondence sharing our family news and the ups and downs of musical life.
The wonderful audience was engaged, and presented me with quite interesting questions about my work and my life as a composer. This has been a wonderful project, and it’s been such an honor for my work to be presented by this extraordinary organization.
Watch the Virtual Panel Discussion.
On Site Opera : The Beauty That Still Remains: Diaries in Song
NOVEMBER 24, 2020 : MANHATTAN SCHOOL OF MUSIC
Virtual Class Presentation about Composing Vocal Music
with special guest Juliana Hall, composer of art songs and works of vocal chamber music
I had a great time speaking about my music and coaching voice students on my songs for Paul Sperry’s American Vocal Literature Class, and thank Paul for this second invitation to speak at the Manhattan School of Music.
Fine performances by all the students, excellent questions, and a warm inviting musical atmosphere…a real pleasure to visit MSM again!
JUNE 16, 2020 : COLLABORATIVE PIANO INSTITUTE
Virtual Interview with host Korliss Uecker
with special guest Juliana Hall, composer of art songs and works of vocal chamber music
Always a delight to speak with soprano Korliss Uecker…I had a wonderful time visiting with voice students at the Collaborative Piano Institute at Louisiana State University. This was my second visit, and these students are sharp. We discussed life as a woman composer, composing music for the voice, and how to approach living composers and new vocal works.
My thanks to Korliss and to Artistic Director Ana María Otamendi and Program Director Elena Lacheva for their gracious invitation to return.