Combine the talents of Metropolitan opera star, Ariel Bybee , Chicago Symphony violinist, Alison Dalton , and international concert pianist, Stacy McCarrey with the poetry of Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, Ted Kooser , and you have a memorable evening of music.
Saturday, 24 March, at 7:30 in the McKay Auditorium on the BYU-Hawaii campus all of these elements will be brought together in the premiere of “Delights and Shadows,” a work written for voice, violin and piano by BYU-Hawaii assistant professor of music, Dan Bradshaw .
The work is the result of a Barlow Commission which Bradshaw received in 2005. The commissions, given to LDS composers on an annual basis require a composer to have a close working relationship with the intended performing group or performer.
Serendipity seems to have played a part in bringing these talented musicians together. Bradshaw became acquainted with Dalton, after a Chicago Symphony premier of one of LDS composer Steven Jones’ works. She told him to let her know if she could help him out sometime.
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| Alison Dalton, violinist |
Months later as Bradshaw was filling out the Barlow Commission paperwork, he remembered the conversation and phoned Dalton to ask if she would like to have him write a piece for her to perform. Dalton was enthusiastic about the project and suggested that Ariel Bybee and Ted Kooser get involved as well.
Bradshaw said he was a little hesitant to work with a living poet. But as he read and considered Kooser’s poetry he said he was impressed by its clear, simple, yet profound style and concluded that it would work well for the project. He selected five of the poems from Kooser’s book “Delights and Shadows” to set to music. A sample from two to of the poems shows why.
“Dishwater
Slap of the screen door; flat knock
of my grandmother’s boxie black shoes
on the wooden stoop . . .”
and
“Lobocraspis Griseifusa
This is the tiny moth who lives on tears
who drinks like a deer at the gleaming pool
at the edge of the sleeper’s eye,
the touch of its mouth as light as a cloud’s reflection.”
“If there is anything I’d like people to come away with from the piece,” said Bradshaw, “ it is that the everyday things we see are deeply meaningful and potentially very spiritual.”
Bradshaw said he feels fortunate to be one of the many recipients of a Barlow Commission. “It has allowed me to work with first class performers,” he said.
Bradshaw recently completed a doctorate in Music Composition at Indiana University Jacobs School of Music where he studied with Claude Baker, Sven-David Sandstrsm and David Dzubay. He continues to be inspired by the music of his father, Merrill Bradshaw.
Bradshaw, Dalton and Bybee will be featured on Hawaii Public Radio, Friday, 23 March at 9 a.m. to promote the concert.
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| Ariel Bybee |
