Sum of its Parts was written in 2018, and it was born out of a collaboration in the recording studio. Saxophonist Matthew Levy and I spent many hours discussing and recording different sounds and techniques that he had incorporated into his playing over his many years of performing both as a soloist and with PRISM saxophone quartet.
We catalogued a vast amount of multiphonics and growls, experimented with microtonal inflections and rhythmic grooves, along with a wide array of other coloristic elements that explore the full timbral range of the saxophone. I then took these recordings and used them as the source material to create the electronic component for the piece. What excites me most about working with electronics is that it allows me to build elaborate and dense sonic textures, and for this piece, I wanted to create a backdrop of sound that allows the performer to interact with it and bring their own personality to the music. In many ways, the piece is a product of the musical inclinations of the performer and my interests as a composer, and the synthesis of these two elements creates something unexpected and beautiful.
Emma O’Halloran is an Irish composer and vocalist. Freely intertwining acoustic and electronic music, O’Halloran has written for folk musicians, chamber ensembles, turntables, laptop orchestra, symphony orchestra, film, and theatre. For her efforts, she has been praised by I Care If You Listen editor-in-chief Amanda Cook for writing “some of the most unencumbered, authentic, and joyful music I have heard in recent years,” and has won numerous competitions including National Sawdust’s inaugural Hildegard competition and the Next Generation award from Beth
Morrison Projects.
O’Halloran’s music aims to capture the human experience, exploring complex emotions felt in specific moments in time. This approach has found a wide audience and her work has been featured at the International Classical NEXT conference in Rotterdam, the Prototype Festival in New York, Bang on a Can Summer Music Festival, and MATA Festival. Additionally, her music has been performed by Crash Ensemble, Contemporaneous, Khemia Ensemble, ~Nois Saxophone Quartet, the Refugee Orchestra Project, PRISM Saxophone Quartet, and the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra, amongst others.
O’Halloran holds a Ph.D. in Music Composition from Princeton University and is currently a freelance composer. Current and future projects include works for F-PLUS, Friction Quartet, an orchestra commission, a large-scale work for Crash Ensemble, and an opera called TRADE.
Dylan Ward holds a DMA from the University of Missouri–Kansas City, where he served as a graduate teaching assistant to Zach
Shemon. Ward’s creative work explores ideas of existential intelligence across natural, human, digital, and historical consciousnesses and the novel ways in which they coalesce....more
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