Judith Shatin

Susan Merdinger Tours Chai Variations on Eliahu HaNavi
2022-11-12 19:30 - 21:30 (America/New_York) | Sunset Music and Arts, Incarnation Episcopal Church, San Francisco, 1750 29th Ave., San Francisco, CA, 94122, United States
Pianist Susan Merdinger is touring her Four Centuries of Variations program, with Chai Variations on Eliahu HaNavi representing the 20th Century. This unique piece gives performers the opportunity to choose the order of the variations within the frame of opening and closing versions of the theme. It has been called a “…magnificent piece of piano music that should be in many, many pianists’ repertoires .” (Colin Clarke, Fanfare). To learn more and listen to Nathan Carterette’s interpretation visit here.

Susan Merdinger Tours Chai Variations on Eliahu HaNavi
2022-11-21 12:00 - 14:00 (America/New_York) | The Atenaeum, 1008 Wall St., LaJolla, 92037, United States

Pianist Seunghye Kim Performs Plain Song
2022-12-03 19:30 - 21:00 (America/New_York) | James Wise Art Gallery at Norfolk State University, 700 Park Ave., Norfolk, 23504, United States
Pianist Seunghye Kim performs Plain Song, for amplified piano & electronics fashioned from 4 poems read by Charles Wright which the composer recorded at the Sound Studio in Charlottesville. The text is clear throughout, though it has been subtly processed with some phrases repeated and and sonically treated. This is part of a program of piano and text, that also includes the Forgetting Pieces of Brian Simalchik, To Unformed by Kyong Mee Choi, Nostalgic Visions by Elaine Lillios and She Persisted by Annie Neikirk.

U of Arizona Fred Fox Graduate Brass Quintet Performs Fantasia sobre el Flamenco
2022-12-04 19:00 - 20:00 (America/Phoenix) | Holsclaw Hall, Fred Fox School of Music, 1017 North Olive Rd, Tuscon, Arizona, United States
The University of Arizona Fred Fox Graduate Brass Quintet Performs Fantasia sobre el Flamenco on their December 4th program. Livestream here. Inspired by a trip to Granada at Festival time, with flamenco dancing and spirited music in abundance, the resultant Fantasia Sore El Flamenco was commissioned by Jeffrey Silberschlag for St. Mary’s Brass, who premiered and recorded it. There are versions for the traditional scoring of 2 trumpets, horn, trombone and tuba, as well as 2 trumpets, 2 trombones and tuba.

ConScience Choir at MTU Performs Hark My Love and La Frontera
2022-12-09 19:30 - 21:30 (America/New_York) | Rosza Center for the Performing Arts, 1400 Townsend Drive, Houghton, MI, 49931, United States
ConScience Choir, directed by Jared Anderson at Michigan Technological University, will perform Hark My Love and La Frontera on their program Songs for the Moon, including two selections from the concert of music by Shatin during her October 2022 residency. Hark my Love is a setting of beautiful verses from the Song of Songs that can also be heard on the Milken Archive Recording of Jewish Music, on Psalms and Canticles (Volume 18, Album 2). La Frontera is a setting of a poem published in the book Dreaming America, The poem is by an undocumented youth trying to immigrate but winding up in maximum security detention. Profits from this piece go to the CAIR Coalition’s Detained Children Program (caircoalition.org), to help children detained at the Office of Refugee Resettlement detention centers in Maryland and Virginia.
Here is the livestream link for the Michigan Tech Choirs.

Blue Air on TechnoSonics XXIII
2023-02-03 13:45 - 15:00 (America/New_York) | Rotunda Dome Room, University of Virginia, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, 22903, United States
Blue Air, a video collaboration of Judith Shatin and artist SoHyun Bae will be presented on TechnoSonics XXIII, the annual showcase of faculty, grad student and guest composers started by Shatin in 1999. Shatin and Bae became friends at the Virginia Center for Creative Arts, where they were studio neighbors and decided to collaborate on this piece, first shown at the 2022 NYC Electroacoustic Festival. The title is drawn from Edith Wharton’s poem A Meeting, where they ‘…drink the blue transcendent air together…’ More information is available here. Guest artists include Andy Slater and Erica Gressman. The program runs from 12:00 p.m. on 2/3 to 12:00 p.m. on 2/4 in the Dome Room of the Rotunda at the University of Virginia.

Patricia McCarty Premieres the Viola Version of For the Birds, 2 Movements
2023-02-18 17:30 - 18:30 (America/Denver) | Courtney Collins Fine Art, 32 Town Center Ave, Big Sky, Montana
Patricia McCarty arranged two movements of For the Birds (Songbirds and Waterbirds) for viola, rather than the original cello, and electronics, and premieres it on her program at Courtney Collins Fine Art in Big Sky, Montana, for the opening of an exhibit of paintings by George Hill. She will also perform music by Bach, Hovaness, Piazzolla, Michel Kimer, Reena Esmail, Jeremy Cohen and more. Find out more about For the Birds, with links to recordings, here.

Hard Rain SoloistEnsemble Performs Werther
2023-03-08 19:30 (Europe/London) | Harty Room Queen’s University Belfast, University Road, Belfast, Ireland
Werther, scored for Pierrot Ensemble, was inspired by Goethe’s novel, in particular the writhing emotions embodied in Romanticism, and so clearly expressed her. The clash of classes and the economics system are which they are based are woven here into Werther’s striving for the unobtainable love of Lotte. My music responds to both the lyrical elements and psychological anguish of the narrative. IT is in line with my own musical evolution in which lived experience, whether vicarious or immediate, is a core element of expression.
This program, performed by the Hard Rain SoloistEnsemble, celebrates International Women’s Day, also includes music by Thea Musgrave, Katie Agócs and Irish composers Gráinne Mulvey, Amy Rooney and Ann Cleare. I have frequently been asked how I feel about concerts of music that only include works by women. While I look for the day when gender celebration will not be needed and gender isolation will not be an issue, I have two responses:

I welcome any performances by outstanding musicians, as is the case here.
I don’t hear anyone asking men how they feel about being on programs that only include men!

Saxophonist Drew Whiting performs For the Fallen
2023-03-09 19:30 - 21:00 (America/Chicago) | Ganz Hall, Roosevelt University; Chicago, IL., 430 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL, United States
Featured saxophonist Drew Whiting performs For the Fallen on the Chicago Composers Consortium’s Electroacoustic music Concert New Sounds New Instruments. For the Fallen is scored for amplified soprano sax and electronics fashioned from the Peace Bell in Rovereto, It. Originally fashioned from cannons melted after WWII, it is rung ever day in remembrance of the fallen in all wars. Other composers on the program include Trevor Adams, Amos Gillespie,Timothy Ernest Johnson, Ed Martin, Kyong Mee Choi and more! Drew’s beautiful recording of For the Fallen can be heard on his terrific album In Lights Starkly Different on the usual streaming services.

New Amsterdam Singers gives the NY premiere of La Frontera
2023-03-16 20:00 - 21:30 (America/New_York) | Broadway Presbyterian Church, Broadway at 114th St., NY, NY
La Frontera (The Border), the choral setting of a poem by an undocumented youth held in an American maximum security detention center, will receive it’s east coast premiere by the outstanding New Amsterdam Singers, led by Clara Longstreth on a program called The World of Dreams. It received its world premiere by the LA Master Chorale and I have posted the performance by the Illinois Wesleyan University Collegiate Singers led by J. Scott Ferguson, You can hear it and see the poem and its translation by Seth Michelson here.

New Amsterdam Singers gives the New York premiere of La Frontera
2023-03-19 16:00 - 17:30 (America/New_York) | Broadway Presbyterian Church, Broadway at 114th St., NY, NY

Atlanta Young Singers Premieres 'How is Your Heart Today? During Shatin Residency
2023-03-25 19:30 - 21:00 (America/New_York) | Church at Ponce and Highland, 1085 Ponce de Leon Ave., Atlanta
The Atlanta Young Singers, conducted by Paige Matthis, commissioned and will premiere How is Your Heart Today? I composed the lyrics as well as the music after three zoom meetings with choristers of all ages. I wanted to compose a piece that spoke to an issue close to their hearts. The meetings were facilitated by Paige and other members of the staff, an the theme that was most on their minds was the COVID pandemic. The title phrase was one spoken by a friend of one of the choristers and the remainder of the lyrics were Deve;p[ed from their concerns, as well as their hopes for the future. Shatin will be in residence with the AYS from March 22-26, and will also run workshops for students at the DeKalb Elementary School.

The Washington Men's Camerata, with Conductor Frank Albinder Premieres the Men's Choral Version of La Frontera
2023-03-25 20:00 - 22:00 (America/New_York) | First Congregational UCC at 10th & G, 945 G. St., Washington, DC, United States
La Frontera (The Border) is a setting of a poem of that name by an undocumented immigrant youth held in an American maximum-security detention center. This poem, and the others published in the collection Dreaming America, were written during workshops held for immigrant youths in detention led by poet Seth Michelson.Profits from the book sales are donated to the Detained Children’s Program of the Capital Area Immigrants’ Rights Coalition (www.caircoalition.org), who will also receive profits from this piece. To learn more and read the poetry, visit the composition page.

I-Jen Fang Performs Adventure on Mt. Hehuan
2023-03-26 15:30 - 17:00 (America/New_York) | Old Cabell Hall, Room B018, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, 22903, United States
Percussionist I-Jen Fang gives the Charlottesville premiere of the acoustic version of Adventure on Mt. Hehuan for solo bass drum on her recital, presented by the McIntire Department of Music. Composed for her, she premiered it at the Northern Illinois University during their New Music Festival on 11/4/2022. Her recital at UVA is part of the UVA Chamber Music Series.

Saxophonist Myles Boothroyd Performs Grito del Corazon
2023-03-31 16:40 - 17:00 (America/New_York) | The University of Southern Mississippi, 118 College Dr.. Hattiesburg, MS, MS, United States
Saxophonist Myles Boothroyd is performing Grito del Corazón on a program called Text/Painting: Contemporary Saxophone Through the Lens of Three Artistic Media. He will perform the piece, scored here for alto sax and electronics, with the accompanying video by Kathy Aoki inspired by Goya’s Black Paintings. The program also includes Chen Yi’s Monologue, inspired by The True Story of Ah Q, by the poet Lu Sun. In addition, Dave Heath’s Coltrane is based on the music and legacy, while also showing influences of North Indian music. The entire program showcases the interplay between musical styles and art forms.

I-Jen Fang & Judith Perform Adventure on Mt. Hehuan
2023-04-07 20:00 (America/New_York) | Dimena Center, Cary Hall, 450 W. 37th St., NYC, 450 W. 37th St., Manhattan, NY, United States
Percussionist I-Jen Fang performs the solo bass drum, while Judith performs the interactive electronics for Adventure on Mt. Huhuan in the Mary Flagler Cary Hall of the DiMenna Center at the SEAMUS (Society for Electroacoustic Music in the US) Conference. You can preview it here. Also on this concert is music by Scott Miller, Steven Kemper and much more!

Ann DuHamel Performs Plain Song on Prayers for a Feverish Planet
2023-04-17 19:00 - 20:30 (America/New_York) | Concerrt Hall, Carter Center for Worship and Music, 400 E. College St., Bridgewater, VA 22812, United States
Pianist Ann DuHamel has curated a collection of piano pieces that speak to climate change and their effects in her Prayers for a Feverish Planet project. She has included Plain Song, my setting of four poems by, and read by, poet Charles Wright, for amplified piano and electronics created from his readings. They include Plain Song, Lullay, Shadow and Smoke and Tutta Gloria, all drawn from his elegiac collection Caribou.

Plain Song performed by Seunghye Kim at Christopher Newport University
2023-04-22 16:00 - 17:30 (America/New_York) | Studio Theatre, Christopher Newport University, One Avenue of the Arts, Newport News, VA, United States
Innovative pianist Seunghye Kim performs a concert of music inspired by poetry, such as Shatin’s Plain Song, for amplified piano and electronics fashioned from recordings of 4 poems of Charles Wright read by the composer. The program also includes Forgetting Pieces by Brian Simalchik, Maxwell Tfirn’s Boltzmann’s Destroyer, To Unformed by Kyong Mee Choi and Nostalgic Visions by Elaine Lillios. The voices of poets are included in both Shatin’s and Simalchik’s pieces, while all of the pieces are deeply connected to poetry.

Ann DuHamel Performs Plain Song on Prayers of a Feverish Planet
2023-04-23 15:00 - 16:30 (America/New_York) | Cantrell Banquet Hall, UVA College at Wise, 1 College Row, Wise, United States
Pianist Ann DuHamel has curated a collection of piano pieces that speak to climate change and their effects in her Prayers for a Feverish Planet project. She has included Plain Song, my setting of four poems by, and read by, poet Charles Wright, for amplified piano and electronics created from his readings. They include Plain Song, Lullaby, Shadow and Smoke and Tutta Gloria, all drawn from his elegiac collection Caribou.

Percussionist I-Jen Fang Performs Adventure on Mt. Hehuan
2023-04-29 17:30 - 18:30 (America/New_York) | Ragsdale Highschool in Jamestown, NC, 1000 Lucy Ragsdale Dr., Jamestown, NC, United States
Percussionist I-Jen Fang is a featured performer on the evening concert of the Day of Percussion presented by the North Carolina Chapter of the Percussive Arts Society at Ragsdale HS in Jamestown, NC, where she will perform Adventure on Mt. Hehuan in the solo bass drum version.

Zephyrus Premieres The Gift to Sing for A Cappella Chorus
2023-04-29 19:30 - 21:30 (America/New_York) | St. Paul’s Memorial Church, 1701 University Ave., Charlottesville, United States
Zephryus, the excellent Charlottesville-based vocal ensemble, will premiere their commissioned piece, The Gift to Sing on their program From Darkness to Light: Music by Women Composers. The Gift to Sing is an a cappella setting for mixed choir of the touching poem by that name by James Weldon Johnson. A writer and important member of the Harlen Renaissance, he was a strong civil rights activist who served as the first executive secretary of the NAACP. More information about him can be found here. I was drawn to set this poem because it speaks so deeply to the power of music, and especially of singing, in helping overcome the darkness that we all experience during our lives

Zephyrus Premieres The Gift to Sing for A Cappella Chorus
2023-04-30 16:00 - 17:30 (America/New_York) | Charlottesville Waldorf School Pavilion, 120 Waldorf School Rd., Charlottesville, VA, United States
The Charlottesville-based vocal ensemble Zephyrus commissioned The Gift to Sing, a setting of poetry by James Weldon Johnson and will premiere it on April 29, 2023 at 7:30 p.m. at St. Paul’s Memorial Church in Charlottesville on their program From Darkness to Light: Music by Women Composers. Primarily focused on Renaissance Music, they also perform some contemporary repertoire. This concert features music ranging from the distant past, with music by Kassis and Hildegard to the brand new The Gift to Sing.

Bent Frequency Duo Premieres Of Wells and Springs
2023-05-07 15:00 - 17:00 (America/New_York) | Florence Kopleff Recital Hall, Georgia State University, 15 Gilmer St. SE., Atlanta, GA, United States
Of Wells and Springs takes its title (and the spelling of drouth) from environmentalist Wendell Berry’s poem, Water, from his collection, Farming: A Handbook. The poem tells of a terrible drouth, of the narrator’s mother waiting for men to bring water from distant springs, of his fear of recurring drouth and of his love of the water of ‘wells and springs.’ He closes the poem with the line ‘My sweetness is to wake in the night after days of dry heat, hearing the rain.’ My music responds to the experiences that Berry conveys so vividly—the fear of drouth and its anguish, the joy of rain and its sound, adding the potential danger it carries.

The Kassia Ensemble Premieres Kassia
2023-05-13 15:00 - 17:00 (America/New_York) | Shadyside Presbyterian Church, Pittsburgh, PA, 5121 Westminster Pl., Pittsburgh, PA, United States
The Kassia Ensemble, which consists of clarinet, harp and string quintet, commissioned Kassia, their first piece for the entire ensemble, and asked that it reflect on their namesake in some way. Kassia was a 9th- century. Byzantine Abbess, poet and hymnographer, and the only woman whose hymns are included in the Eastern Orthodox liturgy. She is also likely the first woman whose music has survived until now. This was a fascinating project, reaching back across the centuries, yet very much of our own time.

Atar Trio Premieres To the Bird From a Distant Land
2023-06-02 12:00 - 14:30 (Asia/Jerusalem) | Studio Annette, Shvil Hameretz 2, Tel Aviv, Israel
The Atar Chamber Ensemble directed by pianist Ofer Shelley, will premiere To the Bird from the Distant Land at Studio Annette in Tel Aviv on June 2 at 12:00 p.m. in Tel Aviv. The inspiration for this trio came from Bialik’s iconic poem To the Bird, written when the poet was just 19. The bird from the distant land represents his ideal, the land of Zion, far from the darker reality in which he lives. The bird forms the bridge between the narrator’s home in the harsher world of Europe, to the Aretz Israel, though neither location is mentioned by name. While the narrator nonetheless wonders whether some of the difficulties of his current situation are to be found there as well, the dream of this land, and the hope for a peaceful, welcoming existence there are central in his extended poem.

Atar Trio Performs Gregor's Dream
2023-06-03 20:00 - 21:00 (Asia/Jerusalem) | Studio Annette, Shvil Hameretz 2, Tel Aviv, Israel
The Jerusalem-based Atar Trio, directed by pianist Ofer Shelley, will perform Gregor’s Dream for amplified piano trio and electronics on their Musical Stories Program — highlighting the intertwining of music with Kafka’s Metamorphosis. Gregor’s Dream was commissioned by the trio for their Dream Within a Dream program. Inspired by the moment when Gregor Samsa wakes from his anxious dream to find himself transformed into a bug, it seemed an especially apt metaphor, given the treatment of those who become ‘other,’ as immigrants and their status within the human family is suddenly forgotten. There will also be a dramatic presentation of the story, with music organized by Ofer Shelley.

I-Jen Fang Performs Adventure on Mt. Hehuan at University of North Texas
2023-06-05 20:00 (America/New_York) | Recital Hall Universithy of North Texas, Music Building, 415 Avenue C, Denton, TX, United States
Percussion I-Jen Fang was invited to participate in the American Percussion Seminar and Faculty Recital at the University of North Texas College of Music, where she performed Adventure on Mt. Hehuan. Composed for I-Jen Fang, Adventure on Mt. Hehuan is scored for solo bass drum and optional interactive electronics. The piece is a virtuoso exploration of the timbral worlds of the drum, as well as the palette created by the specific mallets, striking locations, and interactions. For more information visit here.

Saxophonist Kevin Norton Performs Penelope's Song
2023-06-11 19:30 (America/New_York) | The Loon, 4124 Hamilton Ave., Cincinnati, OH, 45223, United States
Saxophonist Kevin Norton performs the soprano sax version of Peneleope’s Song at the Loon Wine Bar in Cincinnati on the Classical Revolution Series: Classical Music for the People! This popular piece exists in six versions, 3 for wind instruments and 3 for string instruments. To learn more and view a video of the soprano sax version in Jacob Swanson’s interpretation, as well as see the video by Kathy Aoki and Marco Marquez, tune in here.

Soprano Amy Nelson and Violist Patricia McCarty Perform Come Live With Me
2023-06-21 19:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York) | Westport Library, 6 Harris Lane, Westport, United States
Soprano Amy Nelson and violist Patricia McCarty, members of the Trillium Chamber Players, will perform Come Live with Me on June 24 at the Westport Library in Westport, NY. Formerly titled Wedding Song, it is a setting of verses from Christopher Marlowe’s A Passionate Shepherd To His Love, drawn from the earliest printed version in the anthology titled The Passionate Pilgrim, published in 1599; the only variant is the addition of the word ‘come’ at the start, characteristic of later versions. This version for soprano and viola was recently recorded by opera singer Aleksandra Kubas-Kruk and violist Szymon Kruk. It has been performed both in concert settings and at weddings, and is available for mezzo as well as soprano, with a variety of instrumental accompaniments.

Enzo Filippetti Performs Storm
2023-06-21 20:30 (America/New_York) | The Loreto Theatre at the Sheen Center, 18 Bleecker ST., NYC, 10012, United States
Saxophonist Enzo Filippetti will give the NY premiere of Storm, for Tenor Sax and electronics, at the 2023 NYC Electroacoustic Festival in the Loreto Theatre at the Sheen Center in NYC. Premiered by Susan Fancher, it has also been performed by Tom Soloveitzik on an Ensemble Musica Nova program in Tel Aviv. Storm was inspired by the political storms raging throughout the world: extremism of all sorts, and the anguish they provoke.
