Harold Blumenfeld

"I have fully revised two previous works, re-publishing them with MMB Music, Inc., in Spring 2003. They are the Baudelaire Vers Sataniques orchestral cycle for baritone and coloratura soprano (1975-2003), and the Russian cycle Silentium (1979-2003) after nine poems of Osip Mandelstam, for medium voice and piano. Plans are under way for a compact disk to be issued in 2005 by Albany Records, containing Vers Sataniques; For Sion! - Oh Thee; Sterne und Stein; and Silentium; with Joel Suben conducting the Katowice Radio Orchestra and Prague choral organization, and Susan Narucki, soprano; baritone soloist and pianist TBA."

Premieres

Monarch Minstrel (after Byron), a brief work for men's chorus with cello and piano, which was commissioned by the St. Louis Council for Jewish Music, premiered 29 April, 2002, B'nai Amoona Synagogue, St Louis, (MO), featuring a chorus of area cantors. Sterne und Stein (2003), a song cycle after Rudolf Gelpke for medium voice and piano, is scheduled to be premiered by baritone Scott Levine and pianist Seth Carlin on February 29, 2004, at the Washington University Sesquicentennial Concert, St. Louis, MO. A five part work (after Byron) titled For Sion! - Oh Thee (2003), for chorus, soli, and small orchestra, with clarinet and cello concertanti, will be presented April 25 by the Washington University Choir and Orchestra, conducted by John Stewart, at the Chancellor's Concert, Washington University, St. Louis, MO.

Performances

The core of Act I of Borgia Infami (1998-2002), an opera in two acts (libretto by Charles Kondek after Hugo and Klabund), was performed in concert May 7, 2003, by members of the New York City Opera, conducted by George Manahan, in New York, NY, on its VOX 2003 showcase of new works. Baritone Scott Levine and pianist Seth Carlin are scheduled to present Songs of Cassis (after Rick Lyon), February 29, 2004, Washington University Sesquicentennial Concert, St. Louis, MO.

Publications

Borgia Infami, opera; Sterne und Stein, (after Rudolf Gelpke) song cycle for medium voice and piano; For Sion! - Oh Thee, (after Byron) chorus, soli, and small orchestra with clarinet and cello concertanti; For Sion! - Oh Thee, chamber version for chorus with clarinet, cello, and piano; Songs of Cassis, medium voice and piano; all by MMB Music, Inc.

Recordings

MYTHOLOGIES: Mythologies (after Derek Walcott), baritone Donnie Ray Albert, Dallas (TX) Voices of Change; War Lament (after Siegfried Sassoon) for large chorus with guitar, Gregg Smith Singers; Voyages (after Hart Crane), Patrick Mason and D. Starobin, NY Contemporary Chamber Ensemble; Albany Records, Troy 443, 2002.

Further Information

• 1998-1999 Annual American Composers Update
• 1996-1997 Annual American Composers Update
• SAI's Composers Bureau Online
• Composer's website at Washington University
• Composer's website at Washington University Gaylord Music Library