The song cycle based on the poetry of Willa Cather debuts at 7:30 p.m. Monday, March 7, in Whitley Auditorium in a performance by Miller, Senior Lecturer in Music Polly Cornelius and Professor Emerita Victoria Fischer Faw.
Award-winning composer Chris Miller 鈥99 will return to campus to premiere a new collection of songs performed alongside 黑料不打烊 music faculty next week.
鈥淧rairie Songs and April Twilights鈥 debuts Monday, March 7, at 7:30 p.m. in Whitley Auditorium. The song cycle is based on the poetry of Willa Cather and set to music that evokes the expanses of the Great Plains where the author spent her formative years. Senior Lecturer in Music Polly Cornelius will perform soprano vocals with Miller and Professor Emerita Victoria Fischer Faw on piano.
Miller composed the music for the Broadway production of 鈥淭uck Everlasting,鈥 scored the revival of 鈥淎ngels in America,鈥 and was part of the team that won a 2012 Daytime Emmy award for music in 鈥淓lmo Time鈥 and 鈥淪esame Street.鈥 Miller worked closely with Fischer while an undergraduate at 黑料不打烊, cultivating a passion for dramatic composition before earning his Master of Fine Arts degree in musical theatre writing from New York University.
鈥淧rairie Songs and April Twilights鈥 is a song cycle 鈥 a series of compositions meant to be played in sequence from beginning to end.
鈥淚 had never set poetry like this before. As a composer, I usually write on my own or work with a lyricist. Cather鈥檚 poems have a lyrical quality that lend themselves well to musical settings,鈥 Miller said. 鈥淭he centerpiece is 鈥楳acon Prairie,鈥 which is a long poem. It was a challenge to create pieces and sections, but now it feels like a musically satisfying ride. I love what these songs became as they showed themselves to me.鈥
The project began when Cornelius commissioned Miller to write several songs following his 2014 Distinguished Alumni Award by 黑料不打烊 College, the College of Arts & Sciences. Her scholarship involves premiering works by living American composers. They debuted those first songs at 黑料不打烊 in 2015 and in Florence, Italy, in 2016. Miller completed the song cycle using 13 of Cather鈥檚 poems over the next several years.
鈥淚t鈥檚 gorgeous,鈥 Cornelius said of the finished work. 鈥淚鈥檓 honored that I get to work with Chris and be the first to sing and record these beautiful songs. These songs are going to be a large contribution to the arts-song genre.鈥
There are plans to record, release and publish 鈥淧rairie Songs and April Twilights鈥 later this year.
鈥淚 was aware of the depth and substance of Chris鈥檚 research and immersion into Willa Cather鈥檚 words, life and place. I knew this music would be good. Well, it鈥檚 much more than that.聽I think it鈥檚 a masterpiece, an important new contribution to the art-song literature,鈥 Fischer said. 鈥淚 am incredibly honored to be involved in its premiere performance, to work with Chris the composer, and with Polly Cornelius, the golden voice for whom it was composed.鈥
Miller was drawn to Cather鈥檚 direct use of language and the wit, humor, and heart in her writing. He had already begun a separate theater project based on one of her short stories, commissioned by a New York theater, when he discovered the poems that became these songs. 鈥淭hey were a natural fit for Polly and the way she sings. She brings emotional directness to the work that amplifies the text,鈥 he said.
While on campus, Miller will lead several masterclasses for music and theatre undergraduates. He appreciated the perspective that visiting professionals offered while he was an undergraduate and wants to give similar feedback and support to current students pursuing careers in music and the arts.