UPDATE!
We reached our goal with 11 days left, time for a stretch goal!
If we reach $7000 dollars we will be able to double the pay of many of our musicians!:
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If we reach $8000 we will be able to pay for rehearsal space and percussion rental!
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The Impossible Will Take a Little While
The Impossible Will Take a Little While is a song cycle for Mezzo-Soprano, three ensemble voices
(Soprano, Tenor, Bass/Baritone), and a chamber orchestra comprised of
traditional acoustic and electronic instruments by Eric Lemmon. The work will be written for Highline Chamber Ensemble, Kate Maroney, and three voices to be premiered in Fall 2015. The work
is based on poetry from the collection of essays of the same title compiled and
edited by Paul Rogat Loeb.
Text for the piece includes poetry from the likes of W.H. Auden, Maya Angelou and Adrienne Rich. The full scope of the musical work encompasses a broad range
of characters representing the poet’s intended context and their personal
voices. In between sections of poetry, there will be orchestral interludes that
take inspiration from essays featured in the collection. The use of the text
will vary, with some poems being performed as art song and others as dramatic,
spoken text. The goal of the work is to demonstrate the impact that ordinary
people can achieve through small political acts. These acts mobilize and give hope
to others, which is the ultimate tale of political power through democratic
principles.
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What's Goin' On?
The project will consist of a public workshop in the spring of 2015 based at The Bloomingdale School of Music, where Eric is the ConEd Exploring the Metropolis Composer-In-Residence, and the world premiere performance. The workshop will be later in the spring and feature an open rehearsal of the work in progress with Kate Maroney and Eric Lemmon. The capacity for this workshop will be about 50 members of the public. Highline Chamber Ensemble's concerts typically have 175-200 audience members in attendance.
Rehearsals will take place in the summer of 2015, consisting initially of rehearsals with just the vocalists and a piano reduction, and then later on towards the concert date, with Highline Chamber. This concert will be open to the public ($25 and $20 for students, veterans and seniors) and will be a lynchpin of Highline’s 2015-16 season.
This project is fiscally sponsored by the Living Music Foundation, Inc., which is a tax-exempt, not-for-profit organization for the promotion of new music with an international membership of composers and performers working with others in supporting the creation and performance of relevant contemporary music.
Campaign Budget & Perks!
The money from the campaign will fund so many different facets of the premiere of the work! Below you can find a budget showing how the funds from the campaign will be apportioned. But before you check that out, look over to the right hand side and through all the amazing perks you get for your donations, which are named after the essays in The Impossible Will Take a Little While. These perks are being generously donated by the artists involved in the project.
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If we do not reach our goal, the primary items that this funding will go towards are the performing rights to texts and paying musicians for their time and effort.
Our Road Map
We've come a long way from the start of this project to where we are now. Here is where we've been, and where we're going:
We have...
- Negotiated the performing rights to all the texts in the work,
- Applied to six grants/awards,
- Put together work samples, and a lovely video about the project,
- Completed an entire residency,
- Planned public programming.
We will...
- Put on a late summer, early fall performance,
- Present residency public programming,
- Apply for two more grants. (Franklin Furnace and New Music USA),
- Go through the rehearsal process, with both singers alone and with Highline Chamber,
- Produce and market the concert,
- Deliver your perks!
How Can You Help?
Aside from contributing, here's what you can do to help:
- Share this campaign on other platforms by using the social media tools on top!
- Sign up for our mailing list so we can keep you up to date on the project.
- Click the 'follow' heart at the top left!
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The Collaborators
Highline Chamber Ensemble
Founded in New York City by musicians
of many professions, the Highline Chamber Ensemble revamps the perception of
stuffy concertizing by emphasizing the audience experience. Highline is a
conductorless string ensemble comprised of classically-trained musicians; the
group performs in spaces across New York City that include lofts, studios, and
bars.
Highline’s ticketed events showcase classical music as well as original arrangements of popular non-classical songs. The end result of Highline’s efforts is a convivial atmosphere for music lovers of all genres to mingle, drink, and – most importantly – enjoy the music! With a moniker inspired by Chelsea’s High Line Park in NYC, the Highline Chamber Ensemble aims to represent the merging of cultural preservation with contemporary society.
Kate Maroney
Versatile
Mezzo-soprano Kate Maroney is recognized for her rich and expressive tone,
clear articulation, and intelligent musicianship and for the past several
seasons was featured touring the world in over 75 performances of Einstein on
the Beach with the Philip Glass Ensemble.
In the new music realm, Kate debuted Damon Albarn’s Monkey:
Journey to the West at the David Koch Theatre during the Lincoln Center
Festival in 2013, with Ensemble Signal under Brad Lubman. She premiered Missy
Mazzoli’s Song From The Uproar at The Kitchen in 2012 and is heard on the
premiere cast recording on New Amsterdam Records with the Now Ensemble under
Stephen Osgood. Kate has also recorded songs by James Adler, Reflections upon a
September morn, for Albany Records. Upcoming soloist engagements include
Handel’s Israel in Egypt with Princeton Pro Musica and Rachmaninoff’s Vespers
with Monmouth Civic Chorus, a premiere of Rilke Songs by Michael Rose with the
Brooklyn Art Song Society, a debut appearance with the new music vocal ensemble
Ekmeles at the MATA Festival, and new premieres by Hannah Lash and Ted Hearne
with the Yale Choral Artists.
Eric Lemmon
The composer of the project, Eric Lemmon, is an original member and violist of the Highline Chamber Ensemble and knows the ensemble’s character intimately. His music has been described by Feast of Music as using “a broad range of extended techniques and complex rhythms to create [a] beautifully ethereal nebulousness of sound." He received his Bachelors in Music from New York University’s Music and Performing Arts Program, a Masters in Viola Performance from the Mannes Conservatory, and an Artist Diploma from University of Miami’s Frost School of Music where he was awarded a Mancini Fellowship. Eric is the founder and editor of the music criticism and review site OpenSourceMusic.org, founder of the composer’s collective Circles and Lines, and an artistic advisor to Nodes Performing Arts.
His works have appeared in venues ranging from underground bars (le) Poisson Rouge and SubCulture to the FIGMENT arts festival on Governor’s Island. They have been reviewed by the New York Times and featured on WQXR’s Q2. Eric has been awarded NYU’s Creative Collaboration Grant, Mannes’ Peter M. Gross Grant, MetLife’s Creative Connections Grant, and ConEd’s Exploring the Metropolis Residency. Recent commissions include works for Jacqueline LeClaire and the International Double Reed Society, Cadillac Moon Ensemble, and the flute-cello duo, MIGRATIONS.