Distant Shadows (Vocalise) - OB/SOP/PN

Distant Shadows - Vocalise

for soprano, oboe, and piano

by Cherise Leiter

ABOUT THE MUSIC

Distant Shadows is a vocalise for soprano, oboe, and piano in ABA form with slower, more introspective A sections and a livelier B section. The voice and oboe are equal in treatment, and intermingle and imitate each other throughout the piece. The piano provides harmonic stability although the tonality is primarily modal throughout despite the C-major and A-flat major key signatures.

ABOUT THE COMPOSER

Originally from Florida, Cherise Leiter received a Bachelor of Music degree in Music Theory and a Master of Music degree in Composition from the University of Florida where she studied with Dr. Budd Udell.  In 1998, Ms. Leiter relocated to Colorado and is currently Visiting Assistant Professor at Metropolitan State College of Denver, where she teaches theory and composition. In addition to being the 2004 CSMTA Commissioned Composer with The Life in a Day for alto flute, guitar and cello; she also won the FSMTA Collegiate Student Composer competition in 1993, and was a finalist in the 1997 Young American Choral Composers Competition sponsored by G. Schirmer.  Her Trio No. 1 “Frog” for flute, violin, and cello was selected for performance at the College Music Society 2004 Rocky Mountain Chapter Annual Meeting; In the Words of Mark Twain (SATB choir), a commission for the Gainesville (FL) Civic Choristers, was a finalist in the Ithaca College 25^th annual Choral Composition Festival; and Lament for String Orchestra was performed in November 2004 by the Mercury Ensemble, and heard on Colorado Public Radio in January 2005.  Alleluia (SATB choir) is a finalist in the 2006 Outside the Bach’s competition, and The Life in a Day has been recorded by the Colorado-based Sonora Ensemble, and will be released on the Centaur label in the spring of 2006. Editions Viento also publishes Ms. Leiter’s Bassoon Quartet No. 1 “Fleet”.