Philomel: Music for Solo Voice
Works for soprano by Milton Babbitt, Gilda Lyons, and new commissions by Ruth Hertzman-Miller and Anthony R. Green
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About the Program
This program came to be after a few years of personal healing and soul-searching, and it represents rediscovering my physical and artistic voice. The works on this program reflect what I love about being a performer of modern music: the freedom to explore vocal textures beyond the operatic sound I trained in, perform outside of a traditional concert hall structure, and create experiences that resonate with the modern listener.
Many many thanks to composers Ruth Hertzman-Miller and Anthony R. Green for their collaboration on two new works for solo voice. To the first of many performances! - MM
Program
Ruth Hertzman-Miller - Savage Dialogue (Du-siach Pir'i) for unaccompanied voice (2025) (Zelda Schneurson Mishkovsky/Marcia Falk) *premiere
Zelda Schneurson Mishovsky (known as “Zelda”), 1914 – 1984, was an Israeli writer whose poems blend her unique spirituality with phrases and images from canonical Jewish texts. She combined Orthodox religious observance with a strong tolerance for others’ nonreligious customs. Her English translator, Marcia Falk, had the pleasure of meeting Zelda in person and found her “soft spoken, unassuming and even shy” and “utterly original.” - Ruth Hertzman-Miller
Anthony R. Green - Shining for solo voice and snapping (2025) *premiere
While many events in the first quarter of 2025 have thrust concepts of duality and contradictions (US democracy vs. true democracy, self-preservation vs. the overall global state, relative vs. actual privilege, fire vs. water) upon my artistic and personal ontology, I have used art as a medium to mitigate such topics. As a forever learner, the opportunity to examine “shining” vs. “burning” with regards to fire’s purpose was fascinating, especially after having just completed a project where fire was considered a weapon that only water can survive. Water can be violent, too – swallowing, drowning, destroying, bombarding, dissolving, poisoning (after being poisoned), etc … Music can make profound statements concerning the duality of elements, and hopefully SHINING can add to such observations about fire. - Anthony R. Green
Milton Babbitt - Philomel for soprano, recorded soprano, and synthesized sound (1964)
Babbitt's Philomel was one of the first compositions written for synthesizer: the RCA MkII, and is considered a significant piece for the modern soprano voice and a groundbreaking work of electroacoustic music.
"Philomel is a melodramatic representation of Philomel at the moment of her metamorphosis, when she discovers her restored voice among the threatening sounds of the forest. Gradually achieving coherence, she echoes the birds with her song, and the world responds with the final words of her questions." - Milton Babbitt
Gilda Lyons - A Manual for the Use of Wings for unaccompanied voice (2017)
Through little-girl eyes, I remember paging through maps and instruction books like they were invitations to other worlds. Legends, lines transcribing a distance, assembly charts, and diagrams can create secret languages that reveal themselves in powerful ways. A Manual for the Use of Wings extends from my fascination with cartography and instruction books, and reaches toward the notion of unspoken truths associated with the exploration of unassisted flight. — Gilda Lyons