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The Impossible Will Take a Little While

A new work for voices and Highline Chamber Ensemble: Music|Activism

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The Impossible Will Take a Little While

The Impossible Will Take a Little While

The Impossible Will Take a Little While

The Impossible Will Take a Little While

The Impossible Will Take a Little While

A new work for voices and Highline Chamber Ensemble: Music|Activism

A new work for voices and Highline Chamber Ensemble: Music|Activism

A new work for voices and Highline Chamber Ensemble: Music|Activism

A new work for voices and Highline Chamber Ensemble: Music|Activism

Eric Lemmon
Eric Lemmon
Eric Lemmon
Eric Lemmon
1 Campaign |
New York City, United States
$6,660 USD 53 backers
111% of $6,000 Flexible Goal Flexible Goal

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!:

If we reach $8000 we will be able to pay for rehearsal space and percussion rental!

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 EnsembleKate 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. AudenMaya 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.

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.  

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!

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.

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Choose your Perk

featured

Freedom Songs

$100 USD
All of the perks from 'To Love the Marigold' and lower funding levels, PLUS! a video download of selections from the premiere of The Impossible Will Take a Little While.
Estimated Shipping
October 2015
3 out of 50 of claimed

Ordinary Resurrections

$10 USD
With a donation of $10, your name will be recognized in the program at the premiere of the work.
Estimated Shipping
September 2015
4 claimed

Mountain Music

$25 USD
An electronic download of recorded selections from The Impossible Will Take a Little While's premiere, in addition to recognition in the program for your donation.
Estimated Shipping
September 2015
7 claimed

Not Deterred

$50 USD
All of the above perks, plus a vintage postcard of the concert art signed by the lead roles!
Estimated Shipping
October 2015
5 out of 250 of claimed

Come September

$60 USD
All of the perks from 'Mountain Music' and lower funding levels, plus a ticket to the concert!
Estimated Shipping
October 2015
2 out of 100 of claimed

Getting Our Gaze Back

$75 USD
All of the perks from 'Come September' and lower funding levels, plus a poster of the concert art signed by all the principal roles.
Estimated Shipping
September 2015
1 out of 50 of claimed

To Love the Marigold

$75 USD
All of the funding levels from 'Come September' and lower funding levels, plus an autographed score by the composer.
Estimated Shipping
October 2015
1 out of 50 of claimed

Rough Translation

$250 USD
All of the perks from 'Freedom Songs' and lower funding levels, plus a digital download of behind-the-scenes footage/blooper reel!
Estimated Shipping
November 2015
0 out of 30 of claimed

Road to Redemption

$250 USD
All of the perks from 'Freedom Songs' and lower funding levels, plus sit in on the rehearsal process with us at our home in Lower Manhattan and be treated to wine and workshopping! This perk is for the heart of the rehearsal process; we will get in touch with you about the schedule of the rehearsals for some wine and workshopping!
Estimated Shipping
August 2015
0 out of 10 of claimed

Composing a Life Story

$600 USD
All of the perks from 'Rough Translation' and lower funding levels, plus a short work for piano composed for and dedicated to the donor! Note: Does not include 'Road to Redemption'.
Estimated Shipping
June 2016
0 out of 3 of claimed

An Orientation of the Heart

$1,000 USD
All of the perks from 'Rough Translation' and lower funding levels. Additionally dinner with the principal roles in the production in NYC (travel costs not included).
Estimated Shipping
December 2015
1 out of 2 of claimed

No Future Without Forgiveness

$2,000 USD
All of the above perks except 'Composing a Life Story', 'Road to Redemption', and 'An Orientation of the Heart'. Additionally, this funder will have a larger chamber work (7 or less instruments) written for and dedicated to the funder. This work will feature an instrumentation chosen by the funder.
Estimated Shipping
December 2016
0 out of 2 of claimed
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