Inspired by a series of wondrous and dreamlike poems by Daniel Mark Epstein, this remarkable, new song cycle for baritone and piano trio by composer Damon Ferrante (2014 Simkins Award Winner) is a thrilling addition to the repertory!A deep sense of place, as well as the sweep, lyricism, and warmth of nineteenth-century American life inform both the music and poetry. The cycle charts the journey and reflections of an exile as he leaves behind the towns, countryside, and people he has known. These places and characters, like the apparitions of memory, become an interior landscape, where romance, adventure, duels, buffoonery, loss, villainy, and kindness all play out in ever-swirling reverie and drama.Tim Smith of the Baltimore Sun calls Ferrante's music "focused and colorful...with an unexpected, decidedly poetic touch."Performed throughout the United States, The Mountain & Tidewater Songs, serves as an excellent companion piece on concert programs featuring standard-repertoire works.The violin and cello parts are included.Damon Ferrante is a Simkins Award-winning composer, guitarist, and music writer. He has had performances throughout the US, Europe, and Asia, most notably, Carnegie Hall, Symphony Space, and Guild Hall. Deeply committed to artistic collaboration, Ferrante has worked with world-class instrumentalists, singers, poets, dance companies, visual artists, and theater companies. His two operas, Jefferson & Poe and Super Double Lite, have been widely performed. Ferrante has written the film scores for Gabriela Jaime's Flor (Spain), Sonya Zolotaryovais's White Winter (Japan), and is working on the scores for several new films. He was appointed composer-in-residence for Montauk, New York for five years(funded by New York State Council for the Arts). He has been the subject of feature articles in the Baltimore Sun, Seven Days, Baltimore City Paper, The East Hampton Star, and Johns Hopkins Magazine, and has appeared several times on National Public Radio. Ferrante has taught on the music faculties at Seton Hall University and Montclair State University. The Cignus Ensemble, Anderson/Fader Guitar Duo, Guild Hall, John Drew Theater, Roger Shapiro Fund for New Music, the VCME, and Theater Project are among the many artists and institutions that have commissioned works from Damon Ferrante. His main teachers have been David Rakowski at Columbia University and Bruno Amato at the Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University. Damon Ferrante has written two operas, a guitar concerto, song cycles, orchestral music, works for dance, and numerous solo and chamber musicworks.Tim Smith of the Baltimore Sun calls Ferrante's music "focused and colorful...with an unexpected, decidedly poetic touch." Geoffrey Himes of Baltimore City Paper states, "If the tune has the elegance of traditional opera, the harmonization is very modern as the vocal lines climb and descend the melodic staircases that Ferrante has constructed for them." During the month of its New York premiere, Anne Midgette, writing in the New York Times, cited Ferrante's opera Jefferson and Poe as one the three operas to see in Manhattan. Mary MacCauley of the Baltimore Sun describes his music as "ebullient and full of shifts of direction." Betsy Murphy of the Ridgewood News calls him "a star on the rise."
About the Author: Damon Ferrante is a composer whose works have been performed in concert halls throughout North America and Europe. He writes operas, orchestral music, film and dance scores, chamber music, and for piano and guitar. He lives in New York City.