Concert Programs

USC Thornton Composition Recital concert program

November 3, 2024
7:00 p.m.

In this chamber music doubleheader, the outstanding, award-winning students of the USC Thornton Composition Program present ink-still-wet new works, full of surprises.

Program

things i don’t say

Makenna Harding-Davis

If we are trees

Gibson Mahnke

Invisible Keepsakes

Olivia Marckx

towards the lonely tree
II. country road
III. autumn chant
IV. thus in the winter

Benjamin Beckman

Is this an etude?

Victoria Lowe

Nachhall

Henryk Golden

Saxophone Music

Luc Edouard

Aortal Light

Caleb Palka

for jim

Ella Kaale

Scenes of Rain

Namratha V. Kasalanati

Program Notes

things i don’t say
Makenna Harding-Davis
 
This piece is the sonification of self-imposed restraint and the silent battle against things left unsaid.
 
 
If we are trees
Gibson Mahnke
 
“well, an old stump is good
for sitting and resting.
Come, Boy, sit down.
Sit down and rest.”
 
And the boy did.
 
And the tree was happy.
 
The Giving Tree
Shel Silverstein
 
 
Invisible Keepsakes
Olivia Marckx
 
Invisible Keepsakes is a song cycle setting of five poems by Carl Sandburg. Sandburg’s nature poetry consistently ventures beyond mere observation, offering an anthropomorphized conception of the natural world’s interaction with humanity. In this song cycle, the cello and voice mirror that level of interconnectivity, constantly trading motives and commenting on each other.
 
 
towards the lonely tree
Benjamin Beckman
 
This idea for this song cycle was born when mezzo-soprano Tyler Roberts, for whom the piece is written, shared with me Millay’s poem “What lips my lips have kissed”–the text of the fourth song in this cycle. I drew three other poems from Millay’s volume The Harp Weaver and Other Poems. With the four songs, I tried to create a sense of the narrative arc of a relationship from its genesis to eventual death.
 
 
Nachhall
Henryk Golden
 
“Nachhall” literally translates to “after sound.” The “after sound” is created by playing the strings of the instrument in such a manner that the fingers of the violinists left hand do not stop a certain string from sounding. This lack of stopping creates different drones throughout the piece. The piece is a dance for the fingers for the player as they have to carefully avoid the string that ought to be resonating, while rapidly moving around the fingerboard. This dance of resonance and movement is what you hear.
 
 
for jim
Ella Kaale
 
in memory of my late grandfather (1942-2024)

Ensemble

things i don’t say
Victoria Lowe, Lindsay LaFollette, Natalie Bradley, Julia Ruddy, sopranos
Camila Ruiz, Olivia Knowles, altos
 
If we are trees
Maya Irizarry Lambright, violin
 
Invisible Keepsakes
Theo Trevisan, bass-baritone
Olivia Marckx, cello
 
towards the lonely tree
Chloe Owens, mezzo-soprano
Benjamin Beckman, piano
 
Is this an etude?
Dora Meiwes, piano

Nachhall
Myra Hinrichs, violin
 
Saxophone Music
Ezequiel Castaneda, Sophia Flores, Collin Juniper, Josh Hebert, Julianna Townley, saxophones
 
for jim
Ella Kaale, cello
 
Scenes of Rain
Makenna Harding-Davis, violin
Evan Williams, cello
Dora Meiwes, piano
Namratha Kasalanati, electronics & spoken dialogue