{"id":399,"date":"2019-03-21T13:57:57","date_gmt":"2019-03-21T17:57:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nellshawcohen.com\/blog\/?p=399"},"modified":"2019-03-21T14:05:19","modified_gmt":"2019-03-21T18:05:19","slug":"skylark-premieres-transform-the-world-with-beauty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nellshawcohen.com\/blog\/2019\/03\/skylark-premieres-transform-the-world-with-beauty\/","title":{"rendered":"Skylark Premieres\u00a0“Transform the World with Beauty”"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Skylark<\/a>Skylark Vocal Ensemble.\u00a0Photo:\u00a0Sasha Greenhalgh.<\/em>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

I am thrilled that brilliant GRAMMY Award-nominated vocal ensemble Skylark will premiere my work\u00a0Transform the World with Beauty<\/em>\u00a0on\u00a0April 4, 5, 6, and 7 during their tour of Massachusetts and Washington, D.C.! Concert details are listed below.<\/p>\n

Skylark is one of the leading vocal ensembles in the U.S., praised for their \u201cawe-inspiring<\/em>\u201d\u009d performances (Boston Music Intelligencer), and their \u201coriginal<\/em>\u201d\u009d (BBC Radio 3), \u201cimaginative<\/em>\u201d\u009d (Limelight Australia), and \u201cengrossing<\/em>\u201d\u009d (WQXR NYC) programming.<\/p>\n

Skylark commissioned me to write a piece for their program\u00a0Masterpiece<\/a><\/em>, offering musical reflections and reactions to the visual arts.\u00a0Transform the World with Beauty,\u00a0<\/em>an 11-minute work in three movements, is inspired by the flowering of visual art and poetry in Victorian Britain during the 1840s-1870s.<\/p>\n

\"Julia<\/p>\n

The first movement, \u201cMy First Camera,\u201d\u009d celebrates avant-garde photographer, Julia Margaret Cameron. In my adaptation of an excerpt from Cameron’s autobiography, this pioneering artist describes the power of her creative impulse when she first took up the camera as a 48-year-old wife and mother. (Image:\u00a0Julia Margaret Cameron, “Pomona,” 1872.)<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"\u201cIn an Artist’s Studio\u201d\u009d is a setting of a poem by Christina Rossetti. She offers an incisive, feminist critique of her brother, Pre-Raphaelite painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and his obsessive depictions of an idealized woman.\u00a0(Image:\u00a0Dante Gabriel Rossetti, “The Annunciation” (detail), 1849.)<\/span><\/p>\n

\"William<\/p>\n

The final, title movement is inspired by the work and ideas of William Morris. The botanical and mythological titles of Morris’ sensuous textiles and wallpaper designs are juxtaposed with lofty sentiments from his philosophical lectures and essays. These two strands of Morris’ world, disparate at first, come together into a hopeful vision of society \u201ctransformed\u201d\u009d through the beauty of nature and art.\u00a0(Image: William Morris, “Strawberry Thief” wallpaper design, 1883.)<\/span><\/p>\n

Transform the World with Beauty\u00a0will be recorded during Skylark’s tour, and I look forward to sharing it\u00a0with you all!\u00a0Sadly, I can’t attend the Massachusetts dates myself, but I’m thrilled to hear the concert in D.C.\u00a0See the links below and visit\u00a0Skylark’s website<\/a>\u00a0for more information.<\/p>\n

THURSDAY, APRIL 4, 2019 AT 7:00PM<\/strong>
\nFitchburg State University, Fitchburg, MA<\/strong>
\nTickets<\/a><\/p>\n

FRIDAY, APRIL 5, 2019 AT 7:00PM<\/strong>
\nGloucester Meeting House, Gloucester, MA<\/strong>
\nTickets<\/a><\/p>\n

SATURDAY, APRIL 6, 2019 AT 3:00PM<\/strong>
\nCole Memorial Chapel, Wheaton College, Norton, MA<\/strong>
\nTickets<\/a><\/p>\n

SUNDAY, APRIL 7, 2019 AT 4:00PM<\/strong>
\nSt. John’s Episcopal Church,\u00a0Georgetown Parish, Washington DC<\/strong>
\nTickets<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Skylark Vocal Ensemble.\u00a0Photo:\u00a0Sasha Greenhalgh. I am thrilled that brilliant GRAMMY Award-nominated vocal ensemble Skylark will premiere my work\u00a0Transform the World with Beauty\u00a0on\u00a0April 4, 5, 6, and 7 during their tour of Massachusetts and Washington, D.C.! Concert details are listed below. Skylark is one of the leading vocal ensembles in the U.S., praised for their \u201cawe-inspiring\u201d\u009d … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Skylark Premieres\u00a0“Transform the World with Beauty””<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,28],"tags":[81,34,23],"class_list":["post-399","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-art-and-music","category-performances","tag-art-and-music","tag-choral-music","tag-concerts-and-events"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nellshawcohen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nellshawcohen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nellshawcohen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nellshawcohen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nellshawcohen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=399"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nellshawcohen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nellshawcohen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nellshawcohen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=399"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nellshawcohen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}