inspired by visual art – Nell Shaw Cohen

Sunbeams (2023)

nellshawcohen — Wed, 26 Jul 2023 15:26:40 +0000

Flute, violin, and cello. 2 ½ mins.

Live recording of the World Premiere by Juventas New Music Ensemble (Nicholas Southwick, flute; Ryan Shannon, violin; and Matthew Smith, cello):

Perusal Score

View perusal score.

Performance score and parts available for purchase. Please direct inquiries to Nell Shaw Cohen at nell@nellshawcohen.com.

Program Note

A miniature inspired by Edvard Munch’s 1912 painting “The Sun,” this World Premiere was composed for World Premiere at The Clark Art Institute’s Community Day.

Performance History

Juventas New Music Ensemble, The Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, MA, 7/16/23.

Transform the World with Beauty (2019)

nellshawcohen — Thu, 21 Mar 2019 18:25:32 +0000

SATB vocal ensemble (16 voices). 11 mins.

Commissioned by Skylark Vocal Ensemble. Inspired by the flowering of visual art and poetry in Victorian Britain during the 1840s-1870s.

Any of the three movements may be programmed separately as standalone works for performance.

NEW! Skylark Vocal Ensemble’s World Premiere live recording of Transform the World with Beauty (tracks 18-20, paired with Sauntering Songs) is available now on all major streaming music platforms (including Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Music, Pandora, and Tidal). The CD will be available in October, and may be pre-ordered from Skylark. Read the digital liner notes with essays and lyrics.

Perusal Score

View perusal score.

Performance score available for purchase. Please direct inquiries to Nell Shaw Cohen at nell@nellshawcohen.com.

NEW! Seeking repertoire for your choir or vocal ensemble? Check out my programming guide for choral directors.

Program Note

Transform the World with Beauty, commissioned by Skylark Vocal Ensemble, is inspired by the flowering of visual art and poetry in Victorian Britain during the 1840s-1870s.

“My First Camera” 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.

“In an Artist’s Studio” 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.

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 “transformed” through the beauty of nature and art.

Performance History

Skylark Vocal Ensemble at Fitchburg State University, Fitchburg, MA, 4/04/19.
Skylark Vocal Ensemble at Gloucester Meeting House, Gloucester, MA, 4/05/19.
Skylark Vocal Ensemble at Cole Memorial Chapel, Wheaton College, Norton, MA, 4/06/19.
Skylark Vocal Ensemble at St. John’s Episcopal Church, Georgetown Parish, Washington D.C, 4/07/19.
The Astoria Choir, “My First Camera” (except), Trinity Lutheran Church, Astoria, NY, 3/7/20. Call for Scores winner.

PRESS CLIPPINGS

Musical Portraits: The Skylark Ensemble Painted a Tapestry of Colors During Recent DC Concert

Transforming Forest (2018)

nellshawcohen — Fri, 04 Jan 2019 02:54:39 +0000

Violin, cello, and piano. 12 ½ mins.

A piano trio commissioned by Santa Fe’s Montage Music Society, inspired by Andy Goldsworthy‘s four land art installations in the Presidio of San Francisco, CA.

Perusal Score

View perusal score.

Performance score and parts available for purchase. Please direct inquiries to Nell Shaw Cohen at nell@nellshawcohen.com.

Program Note

Transforming Forest was commissioned by Montage Music Society for World Premiere at SITE Santa Fe in March 2019. In this work for violin, cello, and piano, each short movement is inspired by one of four site-specific installations created by British artist Andy Goldsworthy in the Presidio of San Francisco: a park and former U.S. Army military fort in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. These remarkable installations were created by Goldsworthy between 2008 and 2014 using organic, on-site materials such as tree branches and soil.

Sites of urban wilderness in the Bay Area have frequently served as points of reference in my creative process. The Presidio’s landscape of eucalyptus and cypress was formative: my childhood home was steps from the sites where these installations were later created. Having made countless pilgrimages to these works by Goldsworthy, I felt impelled to formulate a musical response to these powerful places.

Goldsworthy’s four Presidio installations are transformed through the growth of surrounding vegetation, the elements, the passage of time, and visitor interactions. In my response, I sought to evoke different kinds of transformation connected to each of the four installations.

Wood Line is a long, curving line of eucalyptus branches (1,200 feet) placed along the forest floor. Many times, I’ve traced this path with my own feet—walking alongside it, or balancing on top of the branches themselves, the surfaces of which have become smooth from the wear of footsteps over the years. In my response, “Tracing,” a musical motif is continually “traced” through heterophony: picked up by each of the instruments in different tempi and registers.

Tree Fall is a tree trunk suspended from the roof of a small, disused military building. The trunk and roof were covered in wet clay, which developed intricate, cracking patterns on its surface while drying. In “Cracking,” a dark, chorale-like music, conveying the womb-like interior of the building, “cracks” open into a rhythmically dynamic middle section.

Goldsworthy created Earth Wall by burying and then excavating a sculpture made of eucalyptus branches from within a rammed earth wall at the Presidio Oﬃcers’ Club. A lively third movement, “Excavating,” evokes the spherical tangle of branches at the core of the wall through a building contrapuntal texture.

In the final movement, “Obscuring,” climbing gestures in the piano are juxtaposed with sustained notes in the strings to capture the spatial quality of Spire: a 100-foot structure made from Monterey cypress trunks thrusting dramatically into the open sky. Contrasting material in triple meter—tender at first, becoming increasingly robust—gradually takes over. This music reflects the stand of young trees surrounding Spire, which will eventually obscure it in years to come as these cypresses grow and mature.

Performance History

Montage Music Society at SITE Santa Fe, Santa Fe NM, 3/01/19.
Montage Music Society, Altazano Salon Series, Santa Fe NM, 3/16/19.
Montage Music Society, Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Durango, Durango, CO, 10/1/21.
Montage Music Society, Quail Run Clubhouse, Santa Fe, NM, 1/14/23.

PRess Clippings

Santa Fe New Mexican, “Beyond the frame: Music inspired by art” on World Premiere of Transforming Forest by Montage Music Society. (3/01/2019)

Mabel’s Call (2018)

nellshawcohen — Thu, 01 Mar 2018 17:00:06 +0000

Opera for 2 sopranos, mezzo-soprano, tenor, baritone, bass-baritone, and optional SATB chorus, with flute, oboe, clarinet/bass clarinet, violin, viola, cello, and double bass. 90 mins.

A chamber opera in one act inspired by the life of Mabel Dodge Luhan: an early 20th century writer, philanthropist, and international icon of the avant-garde.

Performance & Development History

Full-length Workshop Production presented by University of New Mexico, UNM Opera Theatre at Keller Hall, Albuquerque NM, 11/02 through 11/04/18.

Excerpts (20 minutes) from piano-vocal score presented in Fort Worth Opera’s Frontiers showcase. Megan Koch, soprano; Heather Weirich, mezzo-soprano; Sam Parkinson, baritone; and Emily Urbanek, piano. Bass Performance Hall, Fort Worth, TX, 5/3/18.

Summer 2017 Artist Residency at The Helene Wurlitzer Foundation of New Mexico, Taos NM.

Conversation and video screening of excerpts from Mabel’s Call with Nell Shaw Cohen, moderated by author Lois Rudnick, in celebration of Taos’s annual Mabel Dodge Luhan Day. Harwood Museum of Art, Taos NM, 6/18/17.

Excerpts (20 mins) from piano-vocal score presented in “Composers & the Voice: Six Scenes” program produced by American Opera Projects. Tookah Sapper, soprano; Blake Friedman, tenor; Kyle Guglielmo, baritone; and Mila Henry, piano. South Oxford Space in Brooklyn, NY, 9/29/16 and The National Opera Center in New York NY, 10/02/16.

Excerpts (40 mins) from piano-vocal score presented in workshop reading, in conjunction with exhibit Mabel Dodge Luhan & Company: American Moderns and the West. Shelley Jackson, soprano; Andre Garcia-Nuthmann, tenor; Carlos Archuleta, baritone; and Kristin Ditlow, piano. Harwood Museum of Art, Taos NM, 8/12/16.

Summer 2016 Artist Residency at The Helene Wurlitzer Foundation of New Mexico, Taos NM.

Aria Tony Teaches Me (ca. 4 mins) performed by Tookah Sapper, soprano, and Charity Wicks, piano, on “Composers & the Voice: First Glimpse” presented by American Opera Projects. South Oxford Space, Brooklyn NY, 5/13 & 5/14/16.

Press Clippings

The Taos News, “Mabel’s Call to debut” on University of New Mexico workshop production. (11/01/18)

KUNM Radio, “UNM Opera Looks At A New Mexico Maverick” on University of New Mexico workshop production. (10/31/18)

Albuquerque Journal, “Mabel Dodge Luhan focus of UNM opera” on University of New Mexico workshop production. (10/29/18)

THE COLUMN, Review of Frontiers showcase at Fort Worth Opera, featuring Mabel’s Call. (5/07/18)

Fort Worth Star-Telegram, “Two women and 207,000 baguettes. Here’s what else is new on the ‘Frontiers’ opera scene” on Mabel’s Call in Forth Worth opera’s Frontiers showcase . (4/26/18)

Broadway World, “Six Composer-Librettist Teams Selected for Fort Worth Opera’s Diverse 2018 Showcase” on selection of Mabel’s Call for Frontiers showcase. (3/16/18)

The Taos News, “Mabel’s life in song: New chamber opera explores the early Taos life of Mabel Dodge Luhan” on Mabel’s Call presentation at the Harwood Museum of Art. (6/15/17)

The Taos News, “Mabel Dodge Luhan, as operatic vision” on Mabel’s Call at the Harwood Museum of Art. (8/11/16)

The Mabel Dodge Luhan House Blog, “Mabel Dodge Luhan Inspires Nell Shaw Cohen Opera” on Mabel’s Call workshop concert at the Harwood Museum of Art. (8/10/16)

New Mexico Magazine, “Creator of Creators” on Mabel Dodge Luhan exhibit at the Harwood Museum of Art, with reference to Mabel’s Call. (May ’16)

Praise

On Frontiers showcase at Fort Worth Opera: “The most mysterious and probably most affecting of the three works was Mabel’s Call, an opera whose trio of excerpts were so subtle and arresting they exemplified a sort of waking-dream feeling Nell Shaw Cohen’s characters each seemed to be lost in.” —Ryan Maffei, THE COLUMN

On workshop at Harwood Museum: “[Mabel’s Call] was a triumph of beauty, power, and art. To live to see this was a gift from the muse of music. We wept…Nell Shaw Cohen will take this opera all the way to the top!” —Lois Rudnick, Biographer of Mabel Dodge Luhan

Lead On and Up (2016)

nellshawcohen — Mon, 07 Mar 2016 17:00:16 +0000

Mezzo-soprano and piano. 5 mins.

Written for American Opera Projects‘ Composers & the Voice fellowship. Aria inspired by the life, paintings, and memoirs of Emily Carr (1893-1945). Libretto by Nell Shaw Cohen.

Score not available for purchase at this time.

Performance History

Performed by Blythe Gaissert, mezzo soprano, and Kelly Horsted, piano, in private workshop. Brooklyn NY, 3/7/16.

Dai-Shizen (Great Nature) (2014)

nellshawcohen — Sat, 28 Jun 2014 16:00:31 +0000

Flute and guitar. 10 1/2 mins.

Inspired by the woodblock prints and paintings of Japanese-American artist Chiura Obata. Commissioned by Alicia Mielke and Devin Ulibarri for the 9th Annual Boston GuitarFest 2014, “American Odyssey.”

Score available for purchase. Please direct inquiries to Nell Shaw Cohen at nell@nellshawcohen.com.

Performance History

Alicia Mielke, flute and Devin Ulibarri, guitar. Boston GuitarFest, NEC Jordan Hall, Boston MA. 6/28/14.

Alicia Mielke, flute and Devin Ulibarri, guitar. Democracy Center, Cambridge MA. 2/13/15.

Alicia Mielke, flute and Devin Ulibarri, guitar. Advent Library Concert Series, Boston MA. 4/15/16.

Gabriela Ruiz, flute and Devin Ulibarri, guitar. Unitarian Church of Marlborough and Hudson, Hudson MA. 4/02/17.

The Coming of Spring (2014)

nellshawcohen — Tue, 29 Apr 2014 16:00:59 +0000

Monodrama for tenor with flute/piccolo, oboe/English horn, clarinet/bass clarinet, horn, bassoon, and piano. Available for performance in piano-vocal reduction. 36 mins.

A dramatic work in one act with libretto by Nell Shaw Cohen based on the writings and paintings of Charles E. Burchfield (1893-1967).

Synopsis

The Coming of Spring is a one-act monodrama based on the writings of visionary American painter Charles E. Burchfield (1893-1967). A series of poignant chronological episodes reveal how perceptions of nature framed Burchfield’s life experience: from days collecting insects during his rural Midwestern childhood, to the years in which he supported his large family by producing popular images of industrial and suburban scenery in Buffalo.

Burchfield’s mission to develop the expressive power of his art—and, in particular, to convey the transition from winter to spring in a single image—leads to a revelation in 1943 with the completion of the monumental titular painting, which he first began in 1917.

The text of my libretto is adapted from transcriptions of Burchfield’s journals, essays, and letters, and even a few quotations from a 1936 LIFE Magazine profile of the painter. Original text forms connective tissue between these sources, helping to dramatize events in Burchfield’s life.

Originally scored for tenor with a six-piece chamber ensemble, The Coming of Spring may also be performed in piano-vocal reduction.

Performance & Development History

Burchfield Penney Art Center, semi-staged production with piano reduction score, Buffalo Opera Unlimited (Joe Dan Harper, tenor and Matthew Marco, piano), Buffalo, NY, 8/4/24.

Semi-staged workshop production of full score. Featuring David Rosenmeyer, conductor; Herschel Garfein, stage director; and Tyler Lee, tenor. NYU Provincetown Playhouse, New York NY, 4/29/14.

Excerpt “Collecting” performed on recital by Tyler Lee, tenor, and Ben Baker, piano. NYU Black Box Theatre, New York NY, 5/19/14.

Excerpt “Prologue: Two Hollows” performed by Tyler Lee, tenor, and Alice Hargrove, piano. UrbanAnimals NYU, NYU Provincetown Playhouse, New York NY, 11/24/14.

Press Clippings

The East Hampton Star, ‘The Coming of Spring’ on monodrama workshop at NYU’s The Provincetown Playhouse. (4/22/14)

Praise

“Nell Shaw Cohen deserves superlative praise for her compositions inspired by art, particularly her understanding of [painter] Charles E. Burchfield’s rapport with nature.” —Nancy Weekly, Head of Collections and Curator, Burchfield Penney Art Center

Point Reyes from Chimney Rock (2014)

nellshawcohen — Mon, 03 Mar 2014 17:00:12 +0000

Orchestra (piccolo, flute, 2 oboes, clarinet in Bb, bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, timpani, 3 percussion, harp, strings). 7 mins.

Commissioned by the New York University Symphony. An orchestral tone poem inspired by the coastal landscape of the San Francisco Bay Area where I was born and raised, this piece takes its title from a woodblock print by contemporary artist Tom Killion.

Score and parts available for purchase. Please direct inquiries to Nell Shaw Cohen at nell@nellshawcohen.com.

Performance History

New York University Symphony; David Rosenmeyer, conductor. Skirball Center for the Performing Arts, New York NY, 3/03/14.

Praise

“[Point Reyes from Chimney Rock] sounded like an impressionist fantasy – a tone poem – and was most appealing sonically.” Mark Greenfest, SoundWordSight

Three Decorations (2013)

nellshawcohen — Sun, 13 Oct 2013 16:00:55 +0000

Percussion trio. 5 mins.

Three short movements for three percussionists. Each movement is a musical response to, or evocation of, a favorite image from European decorative arts. Winner of NYU Percussion Ensemble Call for Scores.

Perusal Score

View perusal score.

Performance score and parts available for purchase. Please direct inquiries to Nell Shaw Cohen at nell@nellshawcohen.com.

Program Note

Each movement in Three Decorations is a musical response to or evocation of a favorite image of mine from European decorative art: first, the tree-like vertical extensions of cathedral columns; second, the colorful, asymmetrical style of mosaic popularized by Antoni Gaudí; third, the image of a grand tapestry covered in millefleur designs warming the walls of a dark 15^th century castle. Three Decorations was my first foray into writing for drum set in a chamber music context. A former rock drummer myself, I opted to utilize the kit in similar ways I would in a popular music idiom: to create groove, accentuating and supporting the interlocking syncopations heard in the pitched instruments.

Performance History

Pacific Percussion Ensemble, Jonathan Latta, Director; University of the Pacific, Faye Spanos Concert Hall, Stockton, CA, 11/30/22.
NYU Percussion Ensemble; Jonathan Haas, Director; NYU Frederick Loewe Theatre, New York NY. 10/13/13.

Setsugekka (2011)

nellshawcohen — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 16:00:10 +0000

Violin and piano. 5 ½ mins.

Inspired by the 19th century woodblock prints of Ando Hiroshige.
Score available for purchase. Please direct inquiries to Nell Shaw Cohen at nell@nellshawcohen.com.

Performance History

Samantha Bennett, violin and Wesley Chu, piano. New England Conservatory Pierce Hall, Boston MA, 10/25/11.

Samantha Bennett, violin and Wesley Chu, piano. Beyond the Notes: Music Inspired by Art composer portrait recital.New England Conservatory Pierce Hall, Boston MA, 11/02/12.

inspired by visual art – Nell Shaw Cohen

Sunbeams (2023)

Flute, violin, and cello. 2 ½ mins.

Perusal Score

Program Note

Related Content

Performance History

Transform the World with Beauty (2019)

SATB vocal ensemble (16 voices). 11 mins.

Perusal Score

Program Note

Related Content

Performance History

PRESS CLIPPINGS

Transforming Forest (2018)

Violin, cello, and piano. 12 ½ mins.

Perusal Score

Program Note

Related Content

Performance History

PRess Clippings

Mabel’s Call (2018)

Opera for 2 sopranos, mezzo-soprano, tenor, baritone, bass-baritone, and optional SATB chorus, with flute, oboe, clarinet/bass clarinet, violin, viola, cello, and double bass. 90 mins.

Related content

Performance & Development History

Press Clippings

Praise

Lead On and Up (2016)

Mezzo-soprano and piano. 5 mins.

Performance History

Dai-Shizen (Great Nature) (2014)

Flute and guitar. 10 1/2 mins.

Related Content

Performance History

The Coming of Spring (2014)

Monodrama for tenor with flute/piccolo, oboe/English horn, clarinet/bass clarinet, horn, bassoon, and piano. Available for performance in piano-vocal reduction. 36 mins.

Synopsis

Performance & Development History

Press Clippings

Praise

Point Reyes from Chimney Rock (2014)

Orchestra (piccolo, flute, 2 oboes, clarinet in Bb, bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, timpani, 3 percussion, harp, strings). 7 mins.

Related Content

Performance History

Praise

Three Decorations (2013)

Percussion trio. 5 mins.

Perusal Score

Program Note

Related Content

Performance History

Setsugekka (2011)

Violin and piano. 5 ½ mins.

Related Content

Performance History