Lullaby selected for inclusion in NewMusicShelf's Alto Saxophone Anthology

Lullaby,  composed in 2000 for saxophonist Gary Louie and pianist Kirsten Taylor, was selected to be part of NewMusicShelf's Alto Saxophone Anthology. Also included are 15 other works by Stephanie Ann Boyd, Wes Flinn, Nick Gianopoulos, Anthony Green, Chiayu Hsu, Quinn Mason, Aaron Jay Myers, Garrett Shatzer, Clare Shore, Aleks Sternfeld-Dunn, Cassie Wieland, Chelsea Williamson, Tetsuya Yamamoto, and Roger Zare. Dennis Tobenski organized the project and Alan Theisen curated. 

All the works will be performed by Alan Theisen and Marianne Parker in New York City early in January 2020. More details soon.

To pre-order the anthology, click here. 

Dual premieres for Partial Lunar Eclipse, SATB and piano

I have been jointly commissioned by the Alexandria Choral Society with Brian Isaac, Artistic Director and Virginia Choral Society with Sarah Gallo, Artistic Director, to re-envision my song Partial Lunar Eclipse (poem by Anne Ranasinghe) from the cycle And Music Will Not End. Two premieres are scheduled: The Virginia Choral Society will premiere the work on May 4, 2019 at 4 pm at the Hampton Roads Academy in Hampton, VA, as part of their program called The Pale Blue Dot. On May 18, 2019 at 7:30 pm at the Convergence Arts Initiative in Alexandria, VA, the Alexandria Choral Society will premiere the work on their program entitled An Infinite Universe. 

City Lyric Opera presents music of Lori Laitman on their Salon Series, March 6, 2019

City Lyric Opera presented a recital of Lori Laitman songs at the home of Beth and Larry Lenke on the evening of March 6, 2019 in New York City. In the days leading to the recital, Lori coached all the young performers, giving them first-hand insight into each of the compositions. A review of the evening appeared on the Voce di Meche blog: 

Regular readers will recall how disdainful we are of contemporary American song that utilizes boring text and cannot seem to come up with a pleasing melody. We were delighted to have our prejudice exploded, at least for one contemporary American composer by the name of Lori Laitman who was present at the salon and received all the accolades that her work merits.

With scintillating soprano Cristina Maria Castro taking the soprano part and the vivacious Ms. Spencer herself taking the mezzo-soprano part, we thoroughly enjoyed "I am in need of music" with text by Elizabeth Bishop from the poem "Sonnet" written in 1929. The text flowed and so did the music. The two voices intertwined in gorgeous overlapping phrases; we were enthralled."

The full review is here: http://www.vocedimeche.reviews/2019/03/herstory-by-city-lyric-opera.html

The Ocean of Eternity premiere now online

The Ocean of Eternity, my song cycle to the poetry of Anne Ranasinghe, premiered February 9, 2019 at the National Opera Center, with soprano Yungee Rhie, saxophonist Michael Couper and pianist ChoEun Lee (all of whom commissioned the work).

Video of the premiere is available by clicking here. I say a few words about the piece at 50:40 and the performance starts at 54:54.

songSLAM in Chicago April 14, 2019 - Hosted by Lori Laitman

songSLAM is an art song composition competition created by Sparks & Wiry Cries. 

The Fourth Coast Ensemble will be presenting this event at The Promontory in Chicago at 6 pm, with Lori as the EmCee. Ten composer/singer/pianist teams will present a new art song to compete to win $2000 in prize money.

During the deliberations, the Ensemble will perform a selection of Lori's songs, accompanied by pianists Lori Laitman and Shane McFadden. Tickets are $15 and $25, and are available for purchase here.