Catalog

Villa Diodati, composed by Mira J. Spektor with libretto by Colette Inez, features the poetry of notorious Romantic poets Byron, Shelley and Wordsworth. The plot revolves around the fateful events of Summer, 1816, when Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley penned Frankenstein while staying at the Villa Diodati in Geneva with her husband Percy Bysshe Shelley and Lord Byron. A contemporary American couple on a Swiss train find themselves thrown into the past and into the villa on the dreary summer day when Mrs. Shelley is creating her monster. Later that night, Mary will be haunted by her creation and also by the ghost of her Mother, the British feminist writer Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin. The famous couples fantasize of ghosts and monsters while privately facing their inner demons. Today the haunted Villa Diodati still stands as a landmark, overlooking Lake Geneva. The piece was filmed live at the York Theatre at Saint Peter's Church in New York City, produced by Bank Street Films, starring the beautiful young singers Rachel Arky, Angela Leson, Mike Longo, Jeremy Moore, Hillary Schranze and Rachel Zadkoff. The New York Times (Allan Kozinn) wrote that the vocal setting "recalled some of the more graceful music in Bernstein's Trouble in Tahiti" and characterized as particularly appealing a duet between Mary and Percy Bysshe Shelley, "There is no heaven but my love." Reviewing the opera during the New York Musical Theater Festival in 2008, Talkin' Broadway wrote, "Mira J. Spektor (music) and Colette Inez (lyrics) have imbued their show with all the classic elements of success — luxurious love, vibrant-voiced performers, lush poetry, and a visionary director...The unabashedly operatic music wraps you in the warm embrace of the writings timeless romanticism. You'll probably hear no better musical all this year than Villa Diodati."

All of the music presented here, beautiful in its own right, is suitable for intermediate-level flutists to play. None have been widely recorded, so this recording offers performance models for younger students. These are lovely concert pieces by French composers written in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Flutist Leonard Garrison teaches at the Lionel Hampton School of Music at the University of Idaho and is principal flute of the Walla Walla Symphony. He has been flutist in the Chicago Symphony and Tulsa Philharmonic as well as president of the National Flute Association. His other recordings on Albany Records include works for flute and piano by American composers and two recordings of the Scott/Garrison Duo performing American works for clarinet and flute. His colleague at the University of Idaho, Roger McVey is the pianist on this recording.

Composer Eric Nathan, a 2013 Rome Prize Fellow and 2014 Guggenheim Fellow, has garnered acclaim internationally through performances at the New York Philharmonic's 2014 Biennial, Carnegie Hall, Tanglewood, Aspen Music Festival, Aldeburgh Music Festival, and the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, to name but a few. He was composer-in-residence at the 2013 Chelsea Music Festival and Chamber Music Campania. A graduate of Yale and Indiana University, he received his doctorate at Cornell. He is assistant professor of music at Brown University. Nathan's music conveys a compelling and infectious energy--virtuosity in the service of defining musical drama and character. In the seven works in this collection--three solo and four small-ensemble pieces--there's often a thrilling hint of vicarious danger. Performed by some of the most noted performers of contemporary music, including the Momenta Quartet, this recording serves as a fitting introduction to this brilliant young composer's music.

Albany Records celebrates composer Joseph Fennimore's 75th anniversary with the release of this two-cd set of his 24 Romances and other select works. Born in 1940, Fennimore is known not only for his compositions, but also as an extraordinary pianist and teacher. He is best known for his works for piano and chamber ensembles. The Romances were not written as a set, but rather composed over a span of 30 years, from age 43 to 73, amidst a prolific, hugely creative career. The Romances grew from ideas that periodically arose, took hold, took shape, and suited the general idea of a Romance: a short, imaginative piano work. Also included on this 2-CD set are his Fifth Sonata for Piano; Passacalle; Sonatinella; and Three Pieces for Piano. Jeffrey Middleton, long a champion of Fennimore's piano music, graduated from Juilliard and received his doctorate from Yale. His career has included chamber music, vocal coaching and accompanying, solo performances, and teaching. Middleton is on the faculty of the School of American Ballet, and was the 2010 recipient of the Mae Wien Award for distinguished faculty service.

This recording continues the tradition of the New York Latvian Concert Choir soon after its founding in 1975 of commissioning cantatas for their annual holiday concerts. The music presented on this CD, all new works by Latvian composers, is written in a great variety of styles, uniting the worlds of Latvian folklore and Christianity--that of Valdis Zilveris is written in a romantic tradition with simple, memorable melodies; while Ingmars Zemzaris has used a neo-baroque style; Ilona Rupaines' is much more complicated, intertwining folkloric and Christian worlds; and Larkis Lacis employs jazz harmonies but not jazz rhythms. This is the third recording of Latvian music for the Christmas season by the New York Latvian Concert Choir.

Victor Herbert's three-act 1914 score (Henry Blossom's song lyrics) -- the clash between a young female composer and an egotistical Broadway librettist based on a play by Frank Mandel, is offered in a new performance edition by Michael Phillips. His revision resulted in a reworking of the lengthy Mandel-Blossom dialog, entailed some minor repositioning of several musical numbers, but left Herbert's score and Blossom's actual song lyrics intact. All music is presented on this recording with a truncated version of Phillips' snappy book. The score is charming with the solo cello prominent and the lead soprano getting the best song, explained by Victor Herbert's own distinguished career as a cellist and his wife's position with the Met Opera.

Composer Richard Felciano's music has always embraced the challenge of new possibilities -- new technology, but also an embracing of the function of sound in architecture and in the physical world. His attempts in his music to express humane sentiments while coping overtly with the problems inherent in the physical nature of the materials are a singular characteristic of this work. This compilation of his vocal music includes a work for sopranos and flutes; one for baritone voice, percussion, organ and electronic sounds; a work for voice and interactive electronics; one that is an environment for four performers that combines performer choice with live digital spatial processing; a work for women's voices, five harps and bell percussion; and a set of four unaccompanied choral songs.

This debut recording of the Momenta Quartet (Emilie-Anne Gendron & Adda Kridler, violins; Stephanie Griffin, viola; Michael Haas, cello) offers three works by Philip Glass, Arthur Kampela, and Claude Debussy. On the surface, they may appear to have nothing in common, but hearing them in succession reveals unexpected connections. All three pieces are daring, energetic, and uncompromising. They generate unique, magical worlds from minimal materials. All three composers are innovators, making bold statements for their times that continue to affect the course of music today. The Momenta Quartet is celebrated for its innovative programming, juxtaposing contemporary works from widely divergent aesthetics with great music from the past. Momenta has premiered more than 100 works and collaborated with more than 120 living composers while maintaining a deep commitment to the classical canon. They have appeared at prestigious venues throughout the United States and performed in international festivals around the world. Their recordings appear on the Centaur, Furious Artisans

This disc of American duos for violin and piano represents many years of collaboration between the performers Jennifer Frautschi (violin) and John Blacklow (piano) and their composer-colleagues. Frautschi and Blacklow have always given serious attention to composers of their generation in their concerts and are particularly enthusiastic about fearless composers with undeniably individualistic voices. All five composers represented on this disc have written extensively for chamber music ensembles, but their compositions for violin and piano have not been performed nearly often enough and deserve to be heard more widely. Jennifer Frautschi and John Blacklow, both having achieved distinction in their careers, have been performing together since 1996 when they made their New York recital debut at Carnegie Hall. They have performed in Europe's most celebrated concert venues as well as in major cities around the United States. This is their second recording for Albany Records, the first being a recording of the three Schumann Sonatas for Violin and Piano.

The di.vi.sion piano trio (Kurt Briggs, violin; Matt Goeke, cello; Renée Cometa Brigg, piano) was formed in 2001. Its repertoire ranges from Haydn and De Fesch to Shostakovich and Ravel. The ensemble regularly programs and commissions new works that incorporate the musical structure of division. This recording of Merrill Clark's music includes Prime Divisions, which interweaves the compositional techniques of division with the composer's own system. The other work on the recording, Eighth Avenue Tango, was written as a birthday gift for violinist Kurt Briggs. Merrill Clark (b. 1951) has written many works in a wide variety of genres, from unaccompanied solo works to large-scale orchestral works. Clark finds writing for virtuoso musicians, whose playing one admires and who are also good friends, as the most gratifying creative event possible. The performances on this recording reflect the strong connection between the composer and performers.

Composer Martin Brody is on the faculty at Wellesley College, president of the Stefan Wolpe Society and on the editorial boards of Perspectives of New Music and The Open Space. He was a Fromm Resident at the American Academy in Rome and later served as the arts director. His three works on this recording explore a common premise: imaginative identification with something or someone outside one's self as a catalyst of self-transformation. In Beasts, it's identification with animals; Millennium Sightings uses text from a 12-century Italian monk that details the apocalypse and an impending new age; and Tree of Life uses texts by James Merrill and Ovid, that deal with the relation between a person and the natural world. Performed with sensitivity and virtuosity by the illustrious Boston ensemble, Collage New Music conducted by David Hoose with soloists Elizabeth Keusch and Pamela Dellal, these works are world premiere recordings.

Lowell Liebermann is one of the most frequently performed and recorded living American composers. He has written more than 100 works in all genres and his compositions have been released on compact disc by more than 40 labels. Among his lesser-known works are those for two pianos, of which this is the first recording. Comprised of Jeffrey and Karen Savage, 88 Squared Piano Duo won first place at the 2009 Ellis Piano Duo Competition and was awarded the Abild Prize in American music. Active in commissioning and performing new works for piano duo, 88 Squared has performed around the United States, as well as in Canada and Singapore, where they presented the international premieres of Lowell Liebermann's Sonata for Two Pianos. Both pianists are graduates of the Juilliard School and on the faculty at Washington State University.

Pianist Stephanie Bruning notes that the Indianist Movement is a title many music historians use to define the surge of compositions related to or based on the music of Native Americans that took place from around 1890 to 1920. Hundreds of compositions written during this time incorporated various aspects of Indian folklore and music into Western art music. The character piece was a very successful genre for composers to express themselves. It became a natural genre for composers of the Indianist Movement to use as an outlet for portraying musical themes and folklore of Native American tribes. Eventually this enthusiasm died out leaving a large body of piano literature collecting dust, out of print, and virtually unrecognized. Bruning offers a selection of some of these works with this recording offering a glimpse of each composer's style and a look into musical and social issues America was grappling with at the end of the century. Stephanie Bruning is a graduate of Drake University and the University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music. She is on the faculty at Morgan State University and serves as a reviewer for Clavier Companion.

Pianist/composer John McDonald and clarinetist Ray Jackendoff have performed as a duo for more than 10 years. This recording represents some of their many collaborations including the world premiere of John McDonald's two compositions for clarinet and basset horn. Jackendoff was principal clarinet of the Boston Civic Symphony for 20 years and has performed as a soloist with the Boston Pops and other Boston-area orchestras. McDonald's compositional output includes works for voice, chamber ensembles and solo instrumental works. Both Ray Jackendoff and John McDonald are on the faculty at Tufts University.

Composer Eric Ewazen is a master at showcasing brass instruments as this collection of works for bass trombone demonstrates. A faculty member at Juilliard, Ewazen has been a guest at more than 100 universities and colleges around the world and is the recipient of numerous composition awards, prizes and commissions. Bass trombonist Yossi Itskovich joined the Haifa Symphony at age 16, attended Juilliard and in 1998 was engaged as the bass trombonist for the Tenerife Symphony Orchestra. He is joined by his colleagues from the Tenerife Symphony Orchestra in this recording of Ewazen's music.

Enric Madriguera is connected to Andrés Segovia in many ways: he was a student of Segovia’s as a young man, and his aunt, Paquita Madriguera, was Segovia’s second wife. Enric’s program is offered as a form of homage to Segovia and the music reflects Segovia’s influence with the choice of works and their direct connection to the maestro. Especially notable is the first recording of Three Studies by Segovia, performed as a set and using a “Segovia guitar” from the collection of Russell Cleveland. On the faculty at the University of Texas at Dallas, Enric Madriguera, he also is the director of guitar ensembles for the ChamberArt Festival in Madrid, Spain. As both a performer and educator, Madriguera has traveled to and presented in five continents during the span of his career.

This 2-CD set presents music for piano by two of the most loved and prolific composers for that instrument who have ever lived, and who just happen to have been born the same year -- 1810. Schumann's contribution contains two of his most popular sets of character pieces, three other independent works, and the mighty Sonata in G minor, while Chopin's selections comprise one example of every single-piece genre in which he worked, including many of his greatest compositions. Pianist Findlay Cockrell, trained at Harvard and Juilliard, was on the faculty at the State University of New York at Albany for 40 years and enjoyed an active performance career as well. He shares some of his favorite repertoire with these recordings.

Born in Iran, composer Reza Vali studied at the Conservatory of Music in Tehran, the Academy of Music in Vienna and the University of Pittsburgh, where he received his Ph.D. He has been a faculty member of the School of Music at Carnegie Mellon University since 1988. The recipient of numerous honors and commissions, including the honor prize of the Austrian Ministry of Arts and Sciences, his music has been performed by orchestras and ensembles around the U.S., including the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Seattle Symphony, Kronos Quartet, and Da Capo Chamber Players, among many others. His music appears on the Naxos, New Albion, MMC, Ambassador, ABC Classics, and Albany Records labels. In 2001, Vali broke away from the European music system and started composing music based on the Iranian Dastgâh/Maghâm system. To explore his goals of replacing the European equal temperament tuning system; European polyphony; European musical form; and utilizing rhythmic cycles of the Dastgâh/Maghâm system, Vali started composing a series of chamber work using the title Calligraphy. This recording contains all twelve of his Calligraphies, composed between 2000 and 2011.

Violinist James Stern is a multi-faceted musician whose performances have been heard worldwide. Noted by the Washington Post for his "virtuosity and penetrating intelligence," he is known for his innovative programming that includes performing in multiple capacities (as violist, pianist, conductor, reciter, and arranger), and providing program annotations that are integral to the performance. His numerous recordings can be heard on the Albany Records, Bridge, Centaur, CRI, Dorian/Sono Luminus, Enharmonic, New Focus, and New World labels. This recording of the six sonatas and partitas of Bach reinforces his advocacy of this music as a single, unified work bolstered by multiple experiences of performing the entire cycle in a single live concert. The sonatas and partitas are presented in the order that Bach did and this facilitates simulation of the concert experience for the listener. The title of this recording comes from Bach's title on the manuscript, Sei Solo. Interpreted by some to mean Six Solos, which assumes that Bach was grammatically incorrect with the Italian (solo instead of soli), it is suggested that the title is actually a pun on the word sei, which can mean either six or you are -- hence the choice of You Are Alone.

Flutist James Pellerite, having retired from a highly successful career as performer and teacher, became captivated in the 1990s by the Native American flute, and has now virtually single-handedly reinvented the playing of the instrument by commissioning dozens of composers to write for it. The resulting new works have necessitated Pellerite to develop new techniques for the instrument. His legacy for the instrument is both an entire body of literature and the development of techniques necessary to perform the new works. This recording is intended to showcase the Native American flute in its ability to blend in and contrast with a variety of instrumental and vocal ensembles in a range of contemporary styles. It is hoped that the listener will gain a new appreciation of this instrument through the disparate approach to writing for it by the six composers whose music is featured here, and the artistry brought to these works by James Pellerite, the man who re-imagined the Native American flute.

Composer John Harbison's history as a jazz player divides into two widely distant segments: the first, as founder-leader of Harbison's Heptet (1952-63); the second in the present century as founder-member of the Token Creek Jazz Ensemble and coach for VocalJazz MIT. As he comments in the introduction to this recording, "The songs were never aimed at a specialized audience they had mainstream intentions, to catch ears and hearts, and occasionally to follow some restless habit of curiosity. They are fully inhabited by the performers here in ways I scarcely imagined, which is as it should be Are we hearing jazz, or some strange prolongation of the American Songbook ideal, or perhaps even new song forms?" Described by the New York Times as "a soprano of extraordinary agility and concentration," Mary Mackenzie has captured the attention of audiences throughout the United States. A passionate performer of contemporary vocal music, Ms. Mackenzie has collaborated with several leading composers, including Pierre Boulez, John Harbison, and Richard Danielpour, among others. When she was asked by the composer to perform some "new songs," she wasn't expecting to receive hand written sheet music with a cover page listing "Pop Songs." She discovered exquisite tunes that were not unlike the jazz standards of her grandparents' generation. This recording fulfills a long-time dream of sharing the ensemble's interpretations with the world.

Composer Joseph Summer, who has been fascinated with Shakespeare for most of his life, has composed The Tempest, using a libretto written by his daughter, Eve Summer. Summer is founder and executive director of The Shakespeare Concerts, which presents recitals and recordings of music inspired by the immortal bard. Summer comments that "Everything that Shakespeare limned in The Tempest is about the life of my family, in fine detail. It's not as if incidents of The Tempest make brief appearances, or indeed, happen only once. The plot elements embrace us repeatedly." He goes on to relate his family's banishment from Tennessee; sojourns on desert islands; and being adrift in the Indian Ocean.

Randy Bauer (b. 1975) is a composer and jazz musician based in Minneapolis. His music has been performed across a range of cities and venues from Austin to Zagreb by the Brentano String Quartet, eighth blackbird, Nash Ensemble of London and many other distinguished new music ensembles. He was named a 2013-14 McKnight Foundation Fellow by the McKnight Foundation of Minnesota. He has also received recognition from DownBeat, and the Jazz Composers Alliance. Bauer has won the ASCAP Young Jazz Composer's Award as well as three ASCAP/Morton Gould Awards. On the faculty at Macalester College, he studied at Peabody, and Princeton. This disc contains three of his recent works (the oldest written in 2010). One can hear a range of influences and a sort of hybridity between the genres of jazz and classical music. His compositions are imbued with considerable lyricism, while also experimenting with hybrid forms and complex narratives.

Grammy Award winning artist Jennifer Montone is the principal horn of the Philadelphia Orchestra and an internationally acclaimed soloist and chamber musician. She has performed as soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Saint Louis, Dallas, National, and the Polish National Radio Symphonies as well as the Warsaw National Philharmonic. Montone is on the faculty at Juilliard as well as the Curtis Institute. She was awarded the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant in 2006 and in 1996 was the winner of the Paxman Young Horn Player of the Year Award in London. Montone contends that horn players are privileged to perform some of the most beautiful music ever written and in this recording, imagined as a recital, she and her colleague, pianist Anna Polonsky explore the connection between Romantic and contemporary horn writing by following a chronological progression that spans 120 years. The works were written during a period of great musical and artistic innovation that saw the horn developed fully as a featured orchestral and solo instrument.

It is the obsession of musicologist Hans Moldenhauer to uncover the truth in the killing of Anton Webern by American soldiers in 1945 that drives The Death of Webern, the second collaboration between composer Michael Dellaira and librettist J.D. McClatchy. Webern's brief, luminous compositions altered the course of 20th century music and Dellaira's score contains some wonderful moments of homage as well as moments when Dellaira's writing approaches a Webern-like aesthetic. Dellaira, however, is not beholden to a single style -- he veers seamlessly from dodecaphony to lyrical tonality, from severity to wistfulness and nostalgia, from a passage of lovely Bach-like polyphony to lines reminiscent of 20th century minimalism. Michael Dellaira's other operas include The Secret Agent, which won the Armel International Opera Festival's Laureat. Chéri was a finalist for the American Academy of Arts & Letters Richard Rodgers Award and his monodrama Maud was awarded an ASCAP Morton Gould Award. This world premiere recording is performed by a cast and chamber orchestra from the University of Miami's Frost School of Music, conducted by Alan Johnson.

Many of the most unique and creative international composers of the past 40 years have used the violin as a canvas or laboratory. Eric Rynes, who has been hailed for his “committed,” “intrepid,” and “achingly beautiful” performances in diverse styles and genres, has recorded an album of extraordinarily diverse contemporary works for solo violin and violin with computer-realized sounds, from Elliott Carter’s playful depiction of a three-way argument in Riconoscenza, to Helmut Lachenmann’s turning the violin inside-out in Toccatina, to the otherworldly contrasting soundscapes of Scelsi’s L’âme ouverte and Xenakis’s Mikka. The title of Mikka and Other Assorted Love Songs is more than just a wink to a legendary rock album; it also conveys how Rynes performs this music. Rynes is concertmaster of the Northwest Symphony Orchestra and primary violinist of the Seattle Modern Orchestra; he has given recitals in Berlin, Barcelona, Belfast, and several other cities, and made guest appearances with rock and jazz groups. He maintains a parallel career as a senior computational scientist at the Altius Institute for Biomedical Sciences in Seattle.

The 21st Century Consort, founded in 1975, performs an annual concert series at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Under the direction of its founder and conductor, Christopher Kendall, the Consort's artists include principal players from the National Symphony Orchestra, along with other prominent chamber musicians from the Washington, DC area. In addition to its history of touring, broadcasts and recordings, the Consort's four decades of performances have been recorded live and comprise a growing archive of contemporary music. For this recording, they have chosen three major works, two of which (Christopher Patton's Out of Darkness and James Primosch's Sacred Songs and Meditations) were commissioned by the 21st Century Consort. Stephen Albert's music has long been championed by the 21st Century Consort so the inclusion of his Cathedral Music on this recording is especially fitting.

Three phenomenal musicians (Michael Thornton, horn; Yumi Hwang-Williams, violin; Andrew Litton, piano) perform a program of works for horn, violin, and piano inspired by Brahms’ famous composition. The four movements of Eric Ewazen's Trio are modeled after the Brahms, with a four-movement, slow-fast-slow-fast scheme. Daniel Kellog's A Glorious Morning was commissioned by horn player Michael Thornton to accompany the recording of Brahms' Trio. Thornton is principal horn of the Colorado Symphony Orchestra and is an avid chamber musician and a recognized soloist internationally. Yumi Hwang-Williams is concertmaster as well as frequent soloist with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra and was concertmaster of the Cabrillo Music Festival for 12 years. Conductor/pianist Andrew Litton is newly appointed music director of the New York City Ballet as well as music director of the Colorado Symphony Orchestra. Their performances of this repertoire are exciting and inspired.

Korean pianist Sung-Soo Cho performs an intriguing recital of compositions by American composers that range from works with very progressive musical language to ones that integrate influences of folk and honky-tonk -- in other words, the full spectrum of modern American classical music. The oldest work on the program was written in 1967 and the most recent in 2015. John Corigliano, Michael Ippolito, John Adams, Lowell Liebermann, Steve Reich, Elliott Carter, and David Rakowski are all represented on this recording. These composers have a strong advocate in Sung-Soo Cho, who was awarded "Best American Contemporary Performance: at the Cincinnati World Piano Competition and "Best Performance of the Commissioned Work: at the Texas State International Piano Competition. An award winner of numerous international competitions, Cho has appeared as a soloist in Asia, the U.S., and Europe. A graduate of Seoul National University and Manhattan School of Music, he is currently pursuing his D.M.A. degree at the Cleveland Institute of Music. He is on the faculty at Notre Dame College.

Conrad Susa's three-act opera with libretto by Philip Littell, is based on the scandalous 18th century novel by Pierre Chodelos de Laclos, a tale of decadence and revenge told entirely in letters. The plot of The Dangerous Liaisons revolves around the vengeful widow Marquise de Merteuil, who has managed to keep her reputation despite her many amorous affairs, and her sometime lover the Vicomte de Valmont, a well-born rake who does her bidding. The ripple effect of their schemes and amorous exploits results in the deaths of both Valmont and the woman he truly loves, the saintly Madame de Tourvel. Commissioned by the San Francisco Opera, Susa's massive score was reduced by Bob Schuneman in 2008 and it is this version that is heard on the recording. The Dangerous Liaisons was recorded live at the acclaimed 2015 Manhattan School of Music Opera Theater production.

Flutist Stephanie Jutt with pianist colleagues Pablo Zinger and Elena Abend performs songs and compositions from Latin American and Spanish composers that deserve much greater recognition. Her lifelong love of song and dance music originated from her early musical memories listening to her grandparents sing Mexican songs. Regardless of the music's origins, whether in vocal or instrumental compositions, the flute speaks and sings -- and at times even dances. As you listen to this recording, you will likely be enchanted by the music, not thinking about whether it is original instrumental music or a song transcription. Stephanie Jutt is one of the most renowned flutists of her generation. A first prizewinner in the International Concert Artist Guild and Pro Musicis International Soloist Competitions, she has earned major grants from the Rockefeller Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts, among others. A graduate of the New England Conservatory, Jutt is artistic director and co-founder of the Bach Dancing & Dynamite Society. On the faculty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, her recordings appear on the Centaur, GM Records and University of Wisconsin-Madison Press labels.

Composer Pamela Decker writes that "Haven: Songs of Mystery and of Memory for mezzo-soprano and piano, is a cycle of 16 songs for which all music and texts are original compositions. The cycle draws inspiration and influences from a variety of styles: Impressionism, Argentine tango; flamenco modes, South American rhythms, classical art song, jazz, pop, cabaret, and blues." Pamela Decker is Professor of Organ/Music Theory at the University of Arizona in Tucson. As both organ recitalist and composer, Decker has been active in the United States, Europe, the Baltic Region, and Canada. She has been a featured recitalist at many conventions and festivals and her compositions have been performed in 19 countries. Her discography includes recordings on the Albany Records, Loft, Gothic, ReZound, Arkay, and Arktos labels. She holds a D.M.A. degree from Stanford and studied both organ and composition as a Fulbright Scholar in Germany.