Official site of composer Andrea Clearfield. Biography, list of works with audio, score samples, reviews and program notes, photographs, upcoming performances.
Scored for: SATB chorus, Soprano, Mezzo-Soprano, Tenor and Bass-Baritone Soloists, SATB Chorus, Flute, Shakuhachi Flute, Percussion, Piano and Strings. Agnus Dei SATB movement may be performed independently. Text: Doreen Rao, after “Painting Peace: Art in a Time of Global Crisis” by Kazuaki Tanahashi Duration: 40 minutes Premiere: Original solo quartet, September 19, 2021, Fourth Coast Ensemble, Bridget Skaggs, Artistic Director Original Quartet Song Cycle Commission by: Fourth Coast Ensemble Choral Cantata supported by: Women’s International Study Center and the Acequia Madre House, Santa Fe Published by: Angelfire Press. Distributed by Black Tea Music. Contact Trudy Chan
for score and parts. For questions, contact Andrea:
Composer Andrea Clearfield, conductor, Doreen Rao and renowned Japanese Zen artist, poet and peace activist Kazuaki Tanahashi are collaborating on a dramatic, choral cantata version of A Brush With Our Time. Based on Clearfield’s original art song cycle for vocal quartet premiered in 2021 by Chicago’s Fourth Coast Ensemble, the enlarged choral version has evolved into a compelling cantata and performance piece combining emotionally moving stories, powerful Zen poetry, and live performance painting. The four-movement cantata showcases the interconnectedness of painful historical events as these true stories portray the transformative journeys of warriors into peacemakers, an urgent message for our time. The libretto is based on Kaz Tanahashi’s poignant autobiography, Painting Peace: Art in a Time of Global Crisis. This project is supported by the Women’s International Study Center and the Acequia Madre House.
A Brush with our Time
Scored for: SATB chorus, Soprano, Mezzo-Soprano, Tenor and Bass-Baritone Soloists, SATB Chorus, Flute, Shakuhachi Flute, Percussion, Piano and Strings. Agnus Dei SATB movement may be performed independently.
Text: Doreen Rao, after “Painting Peace: Art in a Time of Global Crisis” by Kazuaki Tanahashi
Duration: 40 minutes
Premiere: Original solo quartet, September 19, 2021, Fourth Coast Ensemble, Bridget Skaggs, Artistic Director
Original Quartet Song Cycle Commission by: Fourth Coast Ensemble
Choral Cantata supported by: Women’s International Study Center and the Acequia Madre House, Santa Fe
Published by: Angelfire Press. Distributed by Black Tea Music. Contact Trudy Chan
for score and parts. For questions, contact Andrea:
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Photo by Mark Bendt
Photo by Mark Bendt
NOTES
Composer Andrea Clearfield, conductor, Doreen Rao and renowned Japanese Zen artist, poet and peace activist Kazuaki Tanahashi are collaborating on a dramatic, choral cantata version of A Brush With Our Time. Based on Clearfield’s original art song cycle for vocal quartet premiered in 2021 by Chicago’s Fourth Coast Ensemble, the enlarged choral version has evolved into a compelling cantata and performance piece combining emotionally moving stories, powerful Zen poetry, and live performance painting. The four-movement cantata showcases the interconnectedness of painful historical events as these true stories portray the transformative journeys of warriors into peacemakers, an urgent message for our time. The libretto is based on Kaz Tanahashi’s poignant autobiography, Painting Peace: Art in a Time of Global Crisis. This project is supported by the Women’s International Study Center and the Acequia Madre House.