Luna Pearl Woolf – Page 5 – Luna Pearl Woolf

New York Music Daily: Vast, Intricate, Awe-Inspiring Oceans of Sound Downtown

May 19, 2017

…From the first few stark, distantly enigmatic notes of Luna Pearl Woolf’s After the Wave, …it was clear that Julian Wachner’s fearlessly eclectic ensemble had come to deliver a message…a flood of low tonalities and bracing close harmonies as haunting as anything in Adams’ work…

What’s the likelihood that the two opening works on a program featuring John Luther Adams’ Become Ocean would hold their own alongside that epically enveloping, meticulously churning, playfully palindromic masterpiece? It happened yesterday at St. Paul’s Chapel downtown, where Novus NY delivered a mighty coda to this season’s program of music on themes of water justice, staged by Trinity Church.

The pervasive cynicism that still exists at corporate rock concerts has roots in the classical world: “Let’s warm up the crowd with something short and random and then get down to business.” From the first few stark, distantly enigmatic notes of Luna Pearl Woolf’s After the Wave, a portrait of the 2004 Indonesian tsunami and its aftermath, it was clear that Julian Wachner’s fearlessly eclectic ensemble had come to deliver a message. With just the hint of foreshadowing, the methodical pulse of daily routine gave way to a flood of low tonalities and bracing close harmonies as haunting as anything in Adams’ work. From there the orchestra made their way through an unexpectedly triumphant latin-tinged fanfare of sorts, up to a conclusion that signaled triumph and recovery over an ocean of devastation. Continue reading “New York Music Daily: Vast, Intricate, Awe-Inspiring Oceans of Sound Downtown” →

NOVUS NY performance: After the Wave

NOVUS NY Ensemble will feature their fantastic performance of After the Wave from the Sunken Cathedral series on their website.

From the New York Times Classical Music in NYC listings:

NOVUS NY at St. Paul’s Chapel (May 18, 1 p.m.). If your John Luther Adams cravings are not fulfilled by the Crossing’s concert on Friday and Alarm Will Sound’s on Sunday, here’s a free lunchtime opportunity to hear “Become Ocean,” his symphonic masterpiece of tone painting, compositional process and ecological awareness, which won the Pulitzer Prize in 2014. Alongside it, Julian Wachner conducts a premiere from Jessica Meyer and Luna Pearl Woolf’s “After the Wave.”

212-602-0800, trinitywallstreet.org

Center for New Music: Interview with Luna Pearl Woolf about Act Without Words I

March 14, 2017

…”Music is storytelling. We are drawn to a piece of music, whether it’s classical or another genre, because of the emotion it evokes in us. What I love about dramatic music is that it’s a long form – it’s not simply expressing one or two emotions, but it’s constantly drawing you from one state into another through a transformational experience”… ActWoWordsRenataRakovaMichaelMohammedCreditKevinFryer Continue reading “Center for New Music: Interview with Luna Pearl Woolf about Act Without Words I” →

OPERA-L: The Washington Chorus “New Music for a New Age” features the fabulous music of Luna Pearl Woolf

…The final work was indeed the highlight of the afternoon with a semi-world premiere of Ms. Woolf’s Opera, The Pillar with libretto by David Van Taylor … all we wanted was more than thirty something minutes!

La Fabrique Culturelle TV: Cordes et discorde

OXINGALE MUSIC

06 May 2016

Watch a four minute video of Luna Pearl Woolf’s 12 May 2016 Triptyque program at the Salle Bourgie, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts from La Fabrique Culturelle TV. The program features Mélange à trois, One to One to One, and Rumi: Quatrains of Love.

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BroadwayWorld Review: BETTER GODS Soars at the Kennedy Center

OXINGALE MUSIC

January 11, 2016

“Ms. Woolf’s gorgeous score is underlined by the use of traditional Hawaiian chants and her score utilized authentic instruments like the nose flute, Kala’au (percussive sticks), and Ili’ili (castanets), that are native to the island.”

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DC Metro Theater Arts: Review: ‘Better Gods’ at The Washington National Opera

OXINGALE MUSIC

January 9, 2016

“Woolf’s new and original composition uses Hawaiian instruments to add an audible authenticity to the story. Throughout the opera the nose flute, Kalaʻau (warrior sticks made from strawberry guava trees), and ʻIliʻili (stone castanets) amplify the sadness and desperation of the Queen to maintain Hawaii’s culture.”

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ConcertoNet: December Celebration – New Carols by Seven American Composers

OXINGALE MUSIC

07 December 2015

“…in Luna Pearl Woolf’s How Bright the Darkness, an impressively vivid piece for women’s choir, baritone solo, strings, percussion, and harp. Woolf’s orchestration and harmonies paint the sparseness of nature. It is a piece where the listener can actually hear the sounds of nature on the darkest day, the solstice.”

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San Francisco Classical Voice: Lisa Delan Recital A Pure Delight

OXINGALE MUSIC

February 15, 2015

Lisa Delan’s performance Wednesday evening at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music was billed as part of the Alumni Recital Series. But inside the SFCM’s comfy Sol Joseph Recital Hall, it felt more like a visit to the homes of the five composers — four of who were smilingly seated in the small audience — with soprano Delan serving as the friendly, fascinating, attractive and — did I forget ‘talented’? — hostess.

Luna Pearl Woolf, the first up of those composers, was flanked in the fourth row by the children she parents with cellist Matt Haimovitz, there on stage with pianist Christopher O’Riley to accompany the world premiere of his wife’s Rumi: Quatrains of Love, which opened a program that in several ways also served as an early run-up to Valentine’s Day. Delan, in fact, was dressed in a bright red ruffled dress, as she vocalized…

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Mountain Lake, PBS: Mélange à Trois

OXINGALE MUSIC

May 17, 2014

MÉLANGE À TROIS is an instrumental theater work, set for violin, cello and percussion. In this voiceless opera, each musician embodies a character in an enchanting tale of misplaced love.

After first hearing Krystina Marcoux’s fiery, solo performance of Jennifer Higdon’s Percussion Concerto back in 2013, it was with a lot of anticipation that I attended Luna Pearl Woolf’s original voiceless opera Mélange à Trois with the BIK ensemble last Friday, May 16th at McGill University’s Pollack Hall.

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