VOCAL
For vocal ensemble.
15 minutes.
Commissioned by the Barlow Endowment for Musical Composition.
Premiered by Ekmeles.
New York, April 15, 2023.
WE LIVE THE OPPOSITE DARING
2023
IN THE HALF-LIGHT
2022
Song cycle for soprano and orchestra.
Original libretto (2022) by Tash Aw.
2/2/2/2, 4/2/2/1, Timp, 3 Perc, 2 Harp, Soprano, 12/10/8/6/5
21.5 minutes
In the Half-light explores the subjects of displacement, belonging, and home. It reflects on the meaning and simultaneously unsettling and exhilarating sensations of moving from one physical space to another. This seven movement song cycle for orchestra and soprano was born from a close collaboration between composer Zosha Di Castri, soprano Barbara Hannigan, and author Tash Aw.
Commissioned by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, for soprano Barbara Hannigan.
Premiered May 19, 2022, by Barbara Hannigan, and Gustavo Gimeno, Music Director, Toronto.
For orchestra and mixed chorus.
Original text (2019) by Xiaolu Guo; with excerpts from 'Alla luna' (1820) by Giacomo Leopardi, and fragment 168B, attrib. Sappho (c630-c570bc).
3/3/3/3, 4/3/3/1, Timp, 3 Perc, 2 Harp, Pn, SATB Chorus (min.24 voices, pref. more), 16/14/12/10/8.
16 minutes.
Long Is the Journey, Short Is the Memory commemorates the anniversary of Apollo 11’s mission to land the first person on the Moon (almost 50 years to the day of the premiere). The piece also takes inspiration from the recent Chinese Chang’e-4 exploration of the far side of the Moon, including an experiment to grow plants in a sealed biosphere. Zosha works with an original text by the Chinese-British novelist and filmmaker Xiaolu Guo to create a new composition drawing on evocations of the Moon across human history, from ancient Chinese legends to Western poetic fragments.
Commissioned by BBC Radio 3.
Premiered July 19, 2019 on the First Night of the BBC Proms by the BBC Singers and BBC Symphony Orchestra, directed by Karina Canellakis.
Long is the journey,
Short is the memory
2019
Near mute force
2016
For 2 sopranos, viola, piano, drumset, (aux. perc.) + amplification.
11 minutes.
Commissioned by the Women's Musical Club of Toronto.
Premiered April 7th, 2016, by Stephen Dann's family at the University of Toronto.
A "family-band" piece composed for my friends, the Danns, whose unique hybrid of talents (from jazz improvisation to classically trained chamber music) inspired a contemporary take on the darker undertones of lullabies as a space to give voice to parents' inner thoughts and concerns. Based on excerpts from Rivka Galchen's book Little Labors.
Dear Life
2015
For soprano, recorded narrator, and orchestra.
2/2/2/2; 4/2/3/1; Timp; 2 Perc; Sop; Elect; 10/10/6/6/4.
25 minutes.
*see ORCHESTRAL for more details.
The animal after whom other animals are named
2013
For 6 singers (soprano, mezzo, counter-tenor, tenor, baritone, bass) + electronics.
12 minutes.
Commissioned by the Canada Council for the Arts.
Premiered November 15th, by Ekmeles at the DiMenna Center in New York.
What began as an attempt to explore aging the voice over the course of a single piece turned into a larger scale compositional time-lapse. This piece marks the first chapter of a long term project. Here, the grain of the voice, with its humanness and animal impulses, wavers between a tone of beseeching invocation or self-doubt, and a defiant proclamation of self-assurance. Text by Nicole Sealey.