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ARTEMISIA
an opera about Artemisia Gentileschi, fueled by passion, betrayal and art in 17th Century Italy
Left Coast Chamber Ensemble Proves That Great Opera Needn’t Be Grand
By Rebecca Wishnia , June 3, 2019
- Left Coast Chamber Ensemble; World premiere of chamber version, SF, Z Space June 1/ 2, 2019
NY Times review https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/08/arts/music/classical-music-youtube.html
INTERVIEW ON KDFC https://www.kdfc.com/2019/05/artemesia-from-left-coast-chamber-ensemble/
ON BBC Radio 3, a Jo Wheeler production, featuring Laura and Ginger Strand
@ https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000cyzs
With a libretto by Ginger Strand, Featuring: Artemisia: Bethany Cofland; Tomasso: Kyle Stegall; Susanna: Marnie Breckenridge; Abra/Tuzia: Nikki Einfeld ; Jonathan Smucker and Igor Vieira; Elder 1/ Tassi, Elder 2/ Cosimo, Matilda Hofman, conductor. With amazing projections by Andrew Lucia.

ARTEMISIA
Ginger Strand & Laura Schwendinger
were featured in online event from the
National Gallery of Art in London. Nov. 6th, 2020
"talent to burn..."-Fanfare



Orchestral world premiere by Trinity Wall Street NOVUS, with Christopher Alden - stage director and Lidiya Yankovskaya conductor,
Libretto by Ginger Strand
Artemisia received its orchestral premiere on the Time’s Arrow, Festival -- March 7 and was reviewed by the NEW YORK TIMES
https://www.trinitywallstreet.org/video/times-arrow-artemisia
FULL TRINITY PRODUCTION AT https://vimeo.com/334827356
Featuring: Augusta Caso – Artemisia Gentileschi; Heather Buck – Susanna; Oliver Mercer – Agostino Tassi/Elder 1,
Christopher Burchett – Cosimo di Medici/Elder 2, Richard Troxell – Tomasso/Oculist, and Melissa Baker Flute
"Artemisia” lasts just 80 minutes, but fits in big themes set to music of quivering intensity. The story of the rape is there, blended with Gentileschi’s unbearably compassionate painting of the biblical character Susanna, who was ogled and shamed in her bath. But larger questions of idea and form, image and projection, sight and gaze also find nuanced and intelligent treatment." CORINNA da FONSECA-WOLLHEIM
NY Times review https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/08/arts/music/classical-music-youtube.html
"The Genuine Article..onto the season's 'best list' it goes" -Boston Globe
"Left Coast Chamber Ensemble Proves That Great Opera Needn’t Be Grand"
"Laura Schwendinger's Artemisia, on the other hand, is sumptuous on every level...Schwendinger’s score is striking. ...
Tommaso’s aria, a breathtaking piece of worry and longing...Most memorably, the music underscores Artemisia’s
deteriorating vision." -SF Classical Voice
FULL LEFT COAST CHAMBER ENSEMBLE PRODUCTION AT https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkj70NE8LKg
WORKS BY INSTRUMENT
Works featuring
Winds
flute, oboe, clarinet,
bassoon
Strings
violin, viola, cello, bass
Brass
horn, trumpet, trombone
piano
percussion
voice
and choral
string quartets
mixed ensembles
in various sections here
with cl, fl, strings etc.
Mixed Ensembles, Sextets
Works featuring flute
Aurora (7:00)
for flute and piano
A National Flute Association Young Artist Commission 2017
Performed 7 times at the NFA 2017, conference in Minneapolis
Alison Fierst, Victor Wang, Hannah Leffler, Pauline Jung
Daniel Gallagher and officially premiered by Adam Kuenzel
http://www.nfaonline.org/Resources/Commissions/Index.aspx
http://www.presser.com/shop/aurora.html
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Constellations
for flute and percussion (7:00)
(doubling flute, alto and bass; percussion includes vibraphone, crotales and glockenspiel)
premiered by Due East, Composers Consortium Chicago, June 26, 2013, Flatiron Arts Building Chicago
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Iridos for solo flute (2011) Written for Dawn Lawler
Premiere June at WPR stage, Madison, WI
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About a Mountain (2011)
for Mezzo Voice and Flute (C, Alto, Bass, Picc)
Premiere Jan. 2011, De PaulUniversity and subsequent performances at the, Music Institute of Chicago and WFMT Chicago
About a Mountain was commissioned by Julia Bentley and premiered at De Paul College in Chicago with flutist Mary Stolper
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Rapture (1999)
for flute and piano. (7:00)
Written for Cathy Comrie
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Rumor (1992)
for flute and cello (7:45)
Performances include: IAWM Annual concert at the National Museum of Women and the Arts, Washington D.C.,
co-winner of score search, and the New York Camerata
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Duo for flute and piano (1986) (4:00)
https://soundcloud.com/leschwend/flute-duo-copy
a version for flute, harp and piano, premiered Nov. 8, 2016 NY
Berlin Philharmonic Mathieu Dufour, Principal flute and
Principal harpist Marie-Pierre Langlamet
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Mixed Ensembles with flute...
Eclipse (6:26)
for flute, clarinet, alto sax, trumpet, trombone, percussion, piano, violin, viola and cello (2018)
For Durward Music, premiered January 30, 2018
http://www.durwardmusic.com/news/
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Sinfonietta (2013) (17 players)
chamber orchestra (has wonderful flute solos!)
for flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, french Horn, trumpet, trombone, tuba, strings, percussion, harp and piano (13:00)
premiered and commissioned by the New Juilliard Ensemble, Alice Tully Hall April 12, 2013
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The Artist’s Muse
-for flute, clarinet, cello, piano and percussion
A Koussevitsky Commission (has wonderful flute solos!)
Reviews; May 21, 2017, Boston Music Intelligencer
Chameleon Paints With Music
http://www.classical-scene.com/2017/05/21/chameleon-paints/
by Leon Golub
"The Artist’s Muse for flute, clarinet, cello, piano and percussion, a world premiere Koussevitsky Commission from Laura Elise Schwendinger, followed. Without the mediation of words, the composer proceeded directly to the inspiration behind the painter’s work, bringing to life the women behind seven famous masterpieces, as though honoring but also contesting the visual surface. Throughout, Boldin’s flute served beautifully as the ongoing voice of the perennial muse, the elusive “Other” constructed by the gaze of male painters. A short introduction took us out of linear time, William Manley’s percussion especially effective in plunging us into vanished realms, from the enigmatic interiority of a 15th-century Young Girl by Petrus Christus, to the concluding gold-patterned swirl of Klimt’s Adele Bloch-Bauer. Picasso’s Jacqueline appeared with all of her modernist angst, Cézanne’s wife moved bodily in a poignant waltz, Leonardo’s Cecilia Gallerani stroked her elegant carnivorous ermine, and Vermeer’s Girl with a Pitcher appeared with staccatos in the piano and pizzicatos in the strings, bathed in the light of percussion as she poured her milk. With a sudden twist of waltz, so to speak, the mood darkened as the eternal muse took the form of Sargent’s Madame X, cosmopolitan and scandalous, high-priestess of intoxication and city lights, followed in conclusion by her more vulnerable sister, gold-shimmering Adele Bloch-Bauer, vestal and victim, muse and mourner. Schwendinger’s delightful piece effectively transformed my own gaze on the Artist’s Muse by introducing a competing muse of flesh and bone, hardship and failure, grievance and glory, behind the painter’s still-life effigy."
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Waking Dream (2009)
for flute and chamber orchestra
Premiered by Christina Jennings and the UW Chamber orchestra, Nov. 14, 2009
For small or large chamber orchestra. On Albany records. (9:00)
Performed by -Mary Boodell, principal flute of the Richmond Symphony on thier Altria Masterworks series April 1, 2
Lindsey Goodman with the Lindsey Goodmam, with the Charleston Chamber Orchestra, May 9, 2017
https://soundcloud.com/leschwend/waking-dream-by-laura-elise
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Works featuring Oboe
Far over the Misty Mountains (2017)
For Juan Pechuan Ramirez
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Lontano
for oboe, cello and percussion (7:00)
Commissioned and premiered by CUBE, Chicago
March 13, 2004
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Luna (2020)
Duet for Oboe and English Horn (7:20), For Katherine Needleman, principal oboist of the Baltimore Symphony orchestra
Works featuring Clarinet
Treetop Studio (2012) for Clarinet and Cello
in memory of Andrew Imbrie
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-Two adapted version of High Wire Act, original for flute, violin, viola, cello and piano
High Wire Act (2009) for clarinet, cello and piano
Adapted and premiered on The Orion Ensemble's March 2009
High Wire Act (2009) for Flute, clarinet, cello and piano
Adapted and premiered, performed by Delfians Project, Cal State Fresno New Music Festival, Oct. 2009
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Wet Ink (2014)
for clarinet, violin, viola, cello and piano (6:00)
A Bennington Chamber Music Conference Commission
https://soundcloud.com/leschwend/01-track-1-1
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Celestial City (2002) (18:01)
for clarinet, violin, viola, cello and piano
For Spectrum Concerts of Berlin. Koussevitzky Foundation Commission. Premiere was 1/22/03: Berlin Philharmonic recital Hall
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After the Sunrise (2016)
for flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano and percussion (6:00)
for Lakeshore Rush
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Mise-en-Scene (2010)
for flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano and percussion (14:00)
for Boston Musica Viva
and review in Boston Musical Intelligencer
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Works with Brass
Nonet for flute, oboe, clarinet, horn, violin, viola, cello, bass and percussion
On High Wire Acts, Centaur CD (17:35)
A Fromm Foundation Commission, On Centaur CD: High Wire Acts CRC 3098
for the Chicago Chamber Musicians premiere on WFMT 2004
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Rapture for Horn and piano (2015)
for Dan Grabois (7:00)
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Three's a Crowd (2007)
for Trumpet, Trombone and Tuba
commissioned by the B3+ ensemble (3:16)
With bass trombonist Dave Taylor,trumpeter Franz Hackl and the John Clark on horn
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Works featuring Violin
The Violinists in My Life for violin and piano (2011)
1. Eleanor Bartsch
2. Wei He
3; Miranda Cuckson
4. Desiree Ruhstrat
5. Curtis Macomber
Eleanor Bartsch and Thomas Kasdorf performing
II. Wei from Violinists in My Life by Laura Schwendinger
https://soundcloud.com/leschwend/ii-wei-from-violinists-in-my-life-performed-by-eleanor-bartch
IV. Miranda from Violinists in My Life by Laura Schwendinger
https://soundcloud.com/leschwend/miranda-from-violinists-in-my-life
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Chiaroscuro Azzurro
a violin concerto
a "Pocket Concerto" commission from Miller Theater
work can also be for standard orchestra (32:29)
For Jennifer Koh, Premiere March 2008, Miller Theater, New York City
On Albany CD with Curtis Macomber, violin soloist, and Nicole Paiement conductor
Excerpt Mov 2
https://soundcloud.com/leschwend/chiaroscuro-azzurro-for-violin
LOVE SONNETS
For mezzo soprano and violin (14:55) (2016)
For Ari Streisfeld and Rachel Calloway, The Cortona Duo
116: Let me not to the marriage of true minds
147: My love is as a fever, longing still
18: Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxhYeCq0DU0
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Sonata for solo violin (1992), in three movements (13:00)
Written for and premiered by Victor Schultz at the Ives Center for American Music
On Centaur CD, with Katie Wolfe
on High Wire Acts
https://soundcloud.com/leschwend/solo-violin-sonata-movement-2-by-laura-schwendinger
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2 little whos (2004) for violin and guitar (7:00) On Centaur CD Hgh Wire Acts
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Works featuring Viola
For Paris (5:00) (2017)
for Solo Viola and Wordless Chorus
Premiere on April 28, 2017
featuring Sally Chisholm and the UW Choir
directed by Beverly Taylor
http://www.music.wisc.edu/event/uw-concert-choir-4-matt-haimovitz/
to listen
https://uwmadison.app.box.com/s/ax3l44x10rzn85xz2tdrmwp91n49bxl5
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Respiro (2005)
for viola and piano, for Sally Chisholm
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Works featuring Cello
Treetop Studio (2012) for Clarinet and Cello
in memory of Andrew Imbrie
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Rapture (2003)
for cello and piano. (8:30)
Adapted for Jens Peter Maintz, principal cellist of the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin. Premiere 5/24/03
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Rumor (1992)
for flute and cello (7:45)
Performances include: IAWM Annual concert at the National Museum of Women and the Arts, Washington D.C.,
co-winner of score search, and the New York Camerata
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Esprimere, Concerto for cello and orchestra (2005) (29:30)
Written for Matt Haimovitz and the UW Symphony Orchestra. Premiere March 28, 2007
Move. 1 (5:20)
Move. 2 (10:00)
Move. 3 (4:35)
Move. 4 (8:30)
Available on Albany CD: 3 Works for solo instruments and orchestra
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Arc of Fire (24:00)
for violin, cello and piano
A Chamber Music America Commission, premiered March 2014, on WFMT Relevant Tones by the Linocln Trio,
and Bryant Park New York City on August 8, 2014
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C’è la Luna Questa Sera? (2004)
for violin, cello,and piano (5:48)
for the Lincoln Trio and recorded on "Notable Women", on Cedille Records
(sound sample at Archivmusic)
Performed at Ravinia, and others
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Works featuring Bass
Basso Non-Profundo for bass solo (2006)
Written for David Murray and the Chicago Composer's Consortium. Premiere 2006 (4:00)
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Piano Works
Van Gogh Nocturnes for piano (2006)
Premiered by Christopher Taylor (8:12)
(excerpt sound file movement 1, Starry Night Over the Rhone)
(excerpt sound file movement 2, Night Cafe at Arles)
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Magic Carpet Music (2002)
for piano (13:00)
Adapted for Jenny Lin. Premiere was on April 12, 2003 at Galapagos Art Space, NYC
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Pointillisms (1997)
for solo piano includes Point of Departure, Pedal-Point, Point of Balance,
Boiling Point and Exclamation Point, a work for Leslie Amper (12:00) available alone Point of Balance (1991) for Piano (2:45)
Performances include Vancouver New Music and the University of California at Santa Cruz New Music Festival.
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Mixed Chamber Works with Voice
(3-8 players)
LOVE SONNETS for mezzo-soprano voice and violin (14:55) (2016)
For Ari Streisfeld and Rachel Calloway, The Cortona Duo
116: Let me not to the marriage of true minds
147: My love is as a fever, longing still
18: Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
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Kay Ryan Settings (2014)
for soprano, cello and piano (9:00)
For Nanette McGuinness Jewish Music & Poetry Project commission, SF Music Thursdays (sponsoroed by SFFCM)
https://soundcloud.com/leschwend/kay-ryan-songs-by-laura-schwendinger-2-if-the-moon-happened-once
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Lady Lazarus (2005) for mezzo-soprano
flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano and percussion
A setting of the Sylvia Plath poem, Commissioned by Nicole Paiement and the Ensemble Parallele for the opening
concert of the Blueprint series at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music
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Songs of Heaven and Earth (1998)
for mezzo-soprano, flute (picc.,alto), clarinet (bass),
violin, cello, piano, percussion,
and harp (28:00)
Written and premiered by The Theater Chamber Players, John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
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These Verses Hold... (1995)
Setting of Petrarch for soprano, clarinet, cello, piano and percussion (4)
For performance at the Contemporary Music Program, Norfolk Chamber Music Festival (9:10)
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Voice and Piano
Chansons Innocentes (1996, 2004)
Three song set includes In Just Spring- , Hist whist, little ghost things (2000) and Tumbling-hair for voice and piano.
Hildegard Publishing, available from Theodore Presser
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from Chansons Innocentes-
In Just Spring- (1988) for soprano and piano
Taken on tour (1997-2002) by Dawn Upshaw and Gilbert Kalish, venues include Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall- London,
Veteran's Wadsworth- Los Angeles, Theatre du Chatelet- Paris, Herbst Theater- San Francisco and
The Tanglewod Music Festival.
Also available on "Voices of Our Time" a recital video of Dawn Upshaw at The Theatre du Chatelet in Paris
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the sky a silver dissonance (1990)
A setting of the poem by E.E. Cummings (3:50)
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Choral Works
STARS, text by Marjorie Pickthall for SSAA (5:20)
Artemisia with Kaitlin Foley, Diana Lawrence, Alexandra Olsavsky
with guest artist Beena David Chicago Composer's Consortium
Ganz Hall, Chicago, April 30, 2021
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Seven Choral Settings (1994) +V
Commissioned by the Boston University Marsh Chapel Choir, Julian Wachner, Director (revised in 1994) current title Six Choral Settings (15:00)
Repeat performance with Trinity Choir at Zankel in May 2012
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Llorona from the old Mexican Song
for chorus and Guitar (2014) +V
Written for the UW Concert Choir, Beverly Taylor, Director (15:00)
Repeat performance May 2016
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For Paris (5:00) (2017) Viola+Choir
for Solo Viola and Chorus
Premiere on April 28, 2017
featuring Sally Chisholm and the UW Choir
directed by Beverly Taylor
http://www.music.wisc.edu/event/uw-concert-choir-4-matt-haimovitz/
to listen
https://uwmadison.app.box.com/s/ax3l44x10rzn85xz2tdrmwp91n49bxl5
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More Mixed Chamber Works, SEXTETS (6 players)
Brushstrokes (2013) (6)
for flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano and percussion (12:00)
Commimsioned by the StonyBrook Premiere Series
Symphony Space, N
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Mise-en-Scene (2010) (6)
for flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano and percussion (14:00)
for Boston Musica Viva
and review in Boston Musical Intelligencer
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Footfalls (2012) (6)
for flute, oboe, guitar, mandolin, violin and cello. For Cygnus
Commission for Sounding Beckett
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Garden of Earthly Delights (2008) (6)
for flute, oboe, guitar, mandolin, violin and cello. For Cygnus
https://soundcloud.com/leschwend
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Fable (1994) (6)
for flute (alto, piccolo), clarinet (bass), violin, cello, piano and percussion (15:00) (6)
Performances include Aspen Music Festival, San Francisco Conservatory of Music New Music Ensemble, June in Buffalo and Bowdoin Festival
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Works featuring Percussion
Elements for Percussion Ensemble (2006) (8:00)
Written for Anthony Di Sanza and the Western Percussion Ensemble May 2006
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Aviary (14:00) (2015)
or the songs of imaginary birds, after the birdhouse closes
-for Percussion Quartet and piano
written for and premiered by Clocks in Motion
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Equatorial Jungle (9:00) (2013)
for piano and percussion
Commissioned and premiered by Sole Nero
Anthony Di Sanza and Jessica Johnson
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Constellations
or flute and percussion (7:00)
for flute doubling picc, alto and bass flute
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String Quartets/ Trios
Creature Quartet (2015)
12 short movements on Endagered, Extint and Mythological Creatures (27:00)
A Vias Associate supported work, from UW-Madison
Premiered by the JACK Quartet as part of the Union Concert Series, Released on QUARTETS from Albany records, recorded by JACK
https://vimeo.com/212965750/c91e399726
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Song for Andrew (2008)
for violin, viola, cello and piano (2008) for Young-Nam Kim and Sally Chisholm, in memory of Andrew Imbrie* (4)
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String Quartet in three movements (2001)
A Harvard Musical Association. Commission, The Arditti String Quartet,
1/24/03. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA. (17:36)
subsequent performance with the JACK Quartet 2010, University of Iowa
Released on Albany CD QUARTETS, featuring the JACK QUARTET