classical

We're pleased to announce the addition of composer Steven Mark Kohn to the E. C. Schirmer catalog. Kohn is known particularly for his American Folk Song arrangements, which were premiered by David Daniels and Martin Katz in 2002 at Carnegie Hall. Since then, they have been performed in festivals and on recitals across North America and Europe, and appeared on the NPR series "Song of America." The songs reside in many university music libraries and continue to be featured on professional concerts and university recitals worldwide.

In the first week of January, the National Opera Association gathered in New Orleans for its annual conference. An association of mainly college and university operas, the NOA is an important market for new operas. The three day gathering featured a performance at Loyola Opera Theatre of composer Tom Cipullo and librettist David Mason’s After Life. Their work was the winner of the NOA’s 2016-2018 Dominick Argento Chamber Opera Competition--more on this production here. Competition Guidelines for the next cycle can be found here.

In January 2018, Loyola University New Orleans gave an excellent production of composer Tom Cipullo's and librettist David Mason's opera, After Life. The piece won the Dominick Argento Chamber Opera Competition, granted by the National Opera Association (NOA) and was attended by the public as well as members of NOA.

About the Competition

From NOA: "The Dominick Argento Chamber Opera Competition encourages the composition and performance of short operas especially useful in opera workshops and other training venues. The competition runs in two-year cycles. In the first year, composers submit scores for preliminary judging. Three finalists are chosen and excerpts from those operas are presented at the annual convention (odd years) for competition. The winning opera, chosen from among the three finalists, is produced in its entirety at the NOA convention the following year

The National Opera Association hosted their annual conference in New Orleans last week. Composers Michael Ching and Tom Cipullo collaborated to give a great session on getting new opera produced, complete with Ching singing a selection from his hit opera, Speed Dating Tonight. Both Cipullo and Ching have experienced great success in getting their operas performed, with several dozen productions to each of their names.

Here are their lists!

This month we're featuring American art song composer Juliana Hall (b. 1958). A prolific and highly-regarded composer of vocal music, her songs have been described as “brilliant” (Washington Post), “beguiling” (Times of London), and “the most genuinely moving music of the afternoon” (Boston Globe). The NATS Journal of Singing wrote that “Hall’s text setting is spot on and exquisite”, and Voix des Arts noted that Hall “perpetuates the American Art Song tradition of Beach, Barber, and Bolcom with music of ingenuity and integrity.”

November and December are always busy months for concerts! Here's a run-down of just some of what our composers have been up to.

The Boston-based chamber music group Radius Ensemble performed a concert with works by E. C. Schirmer composers Elena Ruehr and Libby Larsen. Both works were programmatic in nature, with Ruehr's Lucy titled after the famous Australopithecine. Larsen's work, Yellow Jersey, depicts racing through the Tour de France.