Concerto for Voice and Voices

Concerto for Voice and Voices is an abstraction of the classical instrumental concerto and, to a lesser degree, American musical theatre. Texts were chosen for the applicability to the musical shape of each concerto movement: The first movement is a dramatic dialogue between two opposing political ideologies (Machiavelli and Frederick the Great of Prussia), the second movement depicts the tragic exaggeration of 18th-century “suitcase arias,” and the third movement employs another set of conflicting political ideologies, this time capturing the hopelessness of back-and-forth political dialogue which may not make sense when pulled out of a larger context (imagine watching a 5-second fragment of the McLaughlin group). The piece is meant to be funny, senseless, sickening, dreadful. Performers, especially the soloist, are encouraged to insert their own personality into their parts, just as one would approach a musical theatre role.