Search - Monica Harte :: Songs From Another Place - New Vocal Chamber Music

Three Puerto Rican Songs is based on poems that were discovered on a trip to Puerto Rico in the early 1960s. The poetry is so sunny and honest that the piece almost wrote itself. There are two percussion versions. One is for toy instruments: coffee cans, pieces of wood, plastic pails, the back on a mixing bowl. In this recording, we used the other version using four concert tom-toms, claves, conga drum, bass drum, auto brake drums, vibraphone. We did still use the back of a mixing bowl (and mouth sounds) under the recited part. The woodblock sound and rhythm in the first movement is an imitation of the Coqui, a tree frog said to be indigenous to Puerto Rico. Songs from Another Place is based upon six poems by Mark Strand. Although all were originally written independently of one another, each poem so deeply inspired a feeling of the unknown that they immediately felt like a cycle to me. Written for Soprano, String Bass and Electronics, the cycle works and has been successfully performed with and without the electronic component. The themes weave from instrument to voice and back, each triggering the electronics as specific dramatic effects. The effects used in this recording create various dream-like qualities, including echoes, pitch variation, and distance among others. The Visitation of the Priory of St. Michael the Archangel Without Stamford is a fictional reenactment of a mid-15th century yearly visit of a Bishop to a convent and the various nuns' once-a-year chance to vent their spleen. The personality of each nun is evident by her words and her music. And many of them mention Eleanor Croyland, the final young nun to speak. She had a relationship with the young groundskeeper, who said he was Jesus, the flower maker. Her final prayer is both a love song and an avowal of her faith. Monica Harte has performed more than 25 coloratura roles in the standard operatic repertoire and numerous world premieres. She has also sung concerts throughout North America and Europe. She is the soprano soloist on the critically acclaimed 2007 CD release, McLeer's Requiem, and the CD Long Island Songs, which features music by Tom Cipullo, Anne Phillips, George Brunner and Christian McLeer. She recently recorded works by McLeer and David Buddin for The Tempest Project CD to be released by POGUS Productions and the cycle Music in Motion for Rob Voisey s CD, Starlings. Ms. Harte is the General Director and co-founder of Remarkable Theater Brigade, which produces contemporary operas and concerts in New York City.