Songs from Spoon River

Instrumentation

mezzo soprano/soprano and piano

Other Information

A setting of 5 poems from Edgar Lee Masters´ Spoon River Anthology

Composed for Sarah Walker and broadcast by her on BBC Radio 3 in 1989.

Performed at the Tanglewood Festival in August 1994 by New York Metropolitan Opera Soloist, Stephanie Blythe; and at the University of New Mexico Composers´ Symposium in March 1995 by Carin Logue with pianist, Joe McCanna.

This work has subsequently been performed on numerous occasions by Paula Downes, accompanied by David Trippett, Ian Palmer, and Laura Temim. Performances by these artists have taken place at: the Chapel of Trinity College, Cambridge (May 2000); the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge (June 2000); the Conservatoire National de Region d´Aubervillers, Paris (April 2001); the ‘Festival Musiques en Mer’ Mediterranean Cruise (August 2002); the National Portrait Gallery, London (August 2004); the Cathedral Church of St Paul, Boston, Massachusetts, USA (November 2007); Taylor House, Jamaica Plain, Boston, Massachusetts, USA (November 2007); the Church of St John the Evangelist, Boston, Massachusetts, USA, (April 2008); and Eastern Nazarene College, Quincy, Massachusetts, USA (October 2008). Paula recorded the work with David Trippett in July 2000 on a CD of song cycles by Andrew Downes, entitled ´Old Love´s Domain´.  In 2009, Paula  made a series of short films based on and entitled ´Songs from Spoon River´.  Accompanied by David Trippett, she sings, enacts and illustrates the songs.  The films can be viewed on www.pauladownes.com