Leon - De Color (sample pages)

TANIA LEON

DE COLOR for Violin

and Marimba

was made possible by a grant from Meet The Composer- Reader s Digest Commissioning Program in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts and the Lila Wallace Reader s Digest Fund.

The composition

De Color

~~ilM~~~

Highly regarded as composer and conductor , and recognized for her contributions as an educator and advisor to arts organizations , Tania Leon is a vital personality on today s music scene.

Scourge of Hyacinths which won the BMW Prize as best new work of opera theatre in the Munich Biennale in 1994 , has had over 20 performances in Europe and Mexico. Based on a radio play by Nobel Prize-winner Wole Soyinka that tells the story of a political prisoner in a contemporary dictatorship, Hyacinths was revived in 1999 in a production by Robert Wilson. Starting at the Grand Theatre de Geneve in Switzerland , and then moving to the Opera de Nancy et de Lorraine in France and the St. Polten Festspielhaus in Austria , the performances commemorated the 50 anniversary of the United Nations ' Convention on Human Rights. The aria Oh Yemanja (Mother s Prayer) from Hyacinths was recorded by Dawn Upshaw on her Nonesuch CD " The World So Wide. " She most recently performed it at the Ojai Festival in June 2001 , where Leon was a featured composer.

Her opera

Equally vital is Leon s music for the hour- long multimedia work Drummin which juxtaposes ethnic percussion ensembles with a large chamber orchestra. Presented with video and dance , the work has received spirited performances in Miami and Hamburg, highlighting percussionists from around the world.

was premiered by the American Composers Orchestra in March 2001 in Carnegie Hall. Its composition was supported by a grant from the Serge Koussevitzky Music Foundation.

Horizons for orchestra was written for the NDR Symphony Orchestra in Hamburg and was premiered at the July 1999 Hammoniale Festival Hamburg, with Peter Ruzicka conducting. In August 2000 , the work had its United States premiere at the Tanglewood Contemporary Music Festival , Stefan Asbury conducting. Leon herself conducted the work with the Orchestre Symphonique de Nancy in March 2001.

Leon

Desde...

Seven commissioned chamber works by Leon were premiered in the year 2000 , in venues including the Library of Congress (Fanfarria celebrating the Copland Centennial), the Kennedy Center (At the Fountain of Mpindelela in the festival " Africa!

Spirit Ascending ), New York City s Merkin Concert Hall (Canto for baritone Tom Buckner and Continuum), and Joe s Pub at the Public Theater (Ivo , Ivo for Sequitur). Recent works include choral pieces for the Los Angeles Master Chorale and the New York Treble Singers , a ballet in collaboration with choreographer Donald Byrd and the Mosaic ensemble commissioned by the NEA , and a work for violin and electronics for the World ISCM in Hong Kong, Fall 2002.

A brief discography of Leon s music includes Indigena an all- Leon collection of chamber music on CRI; the orchestral works Bata and on the Louisvile Orchestra s First Edition Records; Carabali Ritual a solo piano work , on Albany Records; an arrangement of the Cuban song El Manisero for Chanticleer on Teldec; and for the Jubal Trio , on CRr. Her music is Journey also featured on Cenidim , Newport Classic , Leonarda , Mode Opus One , and Urtext.

Born in Havana , Tania Leon has lived in New York City since 1967. At the invitation of Arthur Mitchell , she became a founding member and the first musical director of the Dance Theatre of Harlem in 1969 , establishing the Dance Theatre music department , music school , and orchestra. She instituted the Brooklyn Philharmonic Community Concert Series in 1978.

From 1993 to 1997 she was New Music Advisor to Kurt Masur and the New York Philharmonic. She served as Latin American Music Advisor to the American Composers Orchestra until 2001 , during which time she co- founded the awardwinning Sonidos de las Americas festivals.

Leon has received awards for her compositions from the American Academy of Arts and Letters , the National Endowment for the Arts , Chamber Music America , the Lila WallacelReader s Digest Fund , NYSCA , ASCAP , and Meet the Composer , among others. In 1998 she held the Fromm Residency at the American Academy in Rome; she has also been a resident at Yaddo (supported by a MacArthur Foundation Award), and to the Rockefeller Foundation s Bellagio Center in Italy.

Leon was the recipient in 2000 and 2002 of the Tow Award at Brooklyn College , where she is Professor of Music. She received an Honorary Doctorate degree from Colgate University in 1999. She has held master- classes at the Hamburg Musikschule in Germany, and has been Visiting Lecturer at Harvard University and Visiting Professor of Composition at Yale University.

De color

is a set of four pieces for violin and marimba about color and how it stimulates my imagination. These pieces are

concerned with the color of sound and the sound of color: sound paintings , pieces in search of colors that

create

colors

through speed , movement , rapid dynamic changes and manipulations of sound textures.

Pastel- blu

(as opposed to " blue ) has to do with the way I pronounce that color. I love twists on words , which sometimes

inspires me to deliberately say things in certain ways.

vertical.

Cobre

Bronce

(Bronze), appropriate for a metal , is more light-reflective , more

(Copper) contains a dislocated " montuno " a syncopated pulse at the heart of many forms of dance music in

America Latina. The concluding

Mestizo

is both a blend of previously used materials and an attempt to blend the colors of the

two instruments (doubling, imitating each other). Towards the end of the work , the montuno rhythmic pattern returns and prevails.

- Tania Leon

- - --

DE COLOR for Violin and Marimba

1. Pastel- bill 2. Bronee

3. Cobre

4. Mestizo

Performance Indications Grace Notes: etc.

etc.

Moderately fast

etc.

Medium fast

Faster

Variations of the notation applies to the above indications:

Accelerando and Ritardando Beaming:

Notes without stems are to be played unevenly, with respect to rhythm:

Head- less notes are indetermnate pitches , but falling near the indicated note:

Accidentals are carried over in each event

Glissando , follow contour of line

Violin:

Repeat ad lib. II:

highest possible note.

Percussion:

random cluster chords.

stick on stick perCUSSIve.

Mallet indications:

Soft mallet

Medium mallet

Hard mallet

Use stick side of mallet (applies to all mallets).

: I

-=

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==

== -- .. --

==

Dedicated to Carmen Tellez

DE COLOR 1. Pastel-bin Tania Leon Pensive (J = 50)

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