Sarah Genevieve Burghart Rice
- BuzzSlayers
- 1 hour ago
- 2 min read
"Most times in trauma, there is no exit,” composer Sarah Genevieve Burghart Rice writes in her album introduction. “Yet every once in a while, a door is ajar and we are left to wonder if we really could leave. All the music of Yet revolves around suffering in captivity juxtaposed with the possibility of liberation.” Yet is a powerfully imaginative and intimate collection of contemporary classical music that navigates the stark – sometimes Surreal and satirical – landscapes of trauma and hope.
Yet presents three major works that, while distinct in instrumentation and narrative, are united by the central theme.
• 3 Songs (performed by Duo Cortona): These intimate songs for mezzo-soprano and violin grapple with a world oppressive to the composer as a trans woman and lesbian, while seeing the “clear possibility of comfort and joy beyond.” The texts, written by Burghart Rice, explore reclaiming voice and community.
• The Hardscrabble (performed by Nittany Winds, conducted by Tonya Mitchell-Spradlin): This wind ensemble piece is a chaotic and satirical romp, telling the abridged story of a fictional composer, Hamdle, and his exploitation by the “bolt-merchant Händel.” The ensemble teeters between “imperious subjugation” and moments where members “goofily tear at the facade to rip open into a freer world.”
• Murmurs from Limbo (featuring Thea Lobo, Jordan Rutter-Covatto, and chamber ensemble): A 15-minute meditation on dying and consciousness, this work sets Middle English texts by anonymous poets that approach death with “extremes of faith and cynicism.” It is a piece of the night, exploring the “twinkle of a hope of resurrection.”
Described as writing “evocative” and “surreal” music “to bewilder, amuse, and provoke,” Sarah Gen’s work has won an ASCAP Morton Gould Award and inspired intense debate. She is the director of the Gender and Voice Inquiry Lab at Penn State’s School of Music. Yet is a testament to her artistic vision, referencing a wide range of cultural artefacts from Machaut and Maxwell Davies to Finnegans Wake. Yet brings together Penn State students alongside acclaimed performers like Grammy-nominated mezzo-soprano Thea Lobo, countertenor Jordan Rutter-Covatto, and the renowned Duo Cortona (Rachel Calloway and Ari Streisfeld).
Comments