Katrina Ballads
[2007]
for 11 instruments and 5 singers
fl. (doubling alto fl.), cl. (doubling bass cl.), trumpet,horn in f,
violin, viola, cello, electric bass, piano,
drums/percussion, soloists SATTB
Katrina Ballads is a reflection on our very recent
history. I am skeptical of the desire to express concrete ideas through
music, but strongly believe in music’s ability to bring us closer to an
understanding of the way we live. It is my hope that setting
primary-source texts from the devastating week in 2005 when Katrina hit
will help us keep this time active in our memory, challenging us to cut
through the spin that followed, and bringing us closer to an
understanding of the true aftermath. New Orleans has long been a
musical epicenter and true crossroads of culture. The musical
influences present in Katrina Ballads are plentiful and diverse. In
that sense, this work is a tribute to the life of music, and its
ability to shape and inspire us.
Katrina Ballads was premiered in 2007 at the Piccolo Spoleto
Festival in Charleston, as a joint production between Yes is a World
and the New Music Collective. Since then, it has been performed in
Chicago in January 2008, and in New York and New Haven in March 2008. A
professional recording, produced by Lawson White, is available from New
Amsterdam Records in honor of the third anniversary of Hurricane
Katrina.
1. Prelude: ‘Keeping its head above water’
Abby
Fischer, mezzo-soprano
2. When we awoke, it was to that familiar phrase: New Orleans dodged a
bullet
Nathan Koci, horn and electronics
3. Hardy Jackson: 8.30.05
Anthony Turner, baritone
Interlude
1
4. Dennis Hastert: 8.31.05
Isaiah Robinson, tenor
5. Bridge to Gretna
Taylor Levine, electric guitar
Eileen Mack, bass clarinet
6. Anderson Cooper and Mary Landrieu: 9.1.05
Allison Semmes,
soprano
Anthony Turner, baritone
7. ‘Brownie, you’re doing a heck of a job.’
Ted
Hearne, tenor
Interlude
2
8. Barbara Bush: 9.5.05
Abby
Fischer, mezzo-soprano
9. Kanye West: 9.2.05
Isaiah Robinson, tenor
10. Ashley Nelson
Allison Semmes, soprano
