Every now and then a composition demands to be heard in multiple instrumentations — this is rare but when it happens, Carol Worthey pays heed . 'Romanza' is such a work. Originally conceived for solo piano (premiered by Beth Levin in November 2009), Carol was inspired to rethink the work for Violin & Piano. By adding the resonance and expressivity of the violin, the original fabric has been enriched with new countermelodies and vibrant colors.

And so it was that when internationally renowned horn virtuoso Luca Benucci asked Carol if she had a work he could feature on an upcoming CD release, she immediately thought of 'Romanza' because it seems to breathe something essentially "Italian." Carol had met Luca Benucci in Florence when he conducted her 'Fanfare for The New Renaissance' on Opening Day of the 2007 Florence Biennale Art Exhibit. Luca is an irrepressible force of nature, a warm-hearted and extremely charismatic performer who plays with intense skill and sensitivity. The horn has a nobility of tone and a lyricism in its soul that Carol wanted to tap into to give this new adaptation its own flavor, somewhat similar to the Violin & Piano version but unique in its own right. Since the horn is also one of the trickiest instruments to play, Carol had to choose wisely what would work and what might be problematic, while not talking down in the least, but making the horn soar and giving it runs that would show off Luca's fabulous "chops."

Here is the recording that Luca Benucci made in Florence, accompanied by Pianist Nazareno Carusi.

	Romanza (Luca Benucci, Horn / Nazareno Carusi, Piano)	08:00
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How did this work come about in the first place? Carol has this to say about the birth of Romanza:

"One morning, in that 'twilight time' just before waking to full consciousness, I heard in my sleep the lyrical, passionate opening theme of Romanza (all of it wholecloth, melody, harmony, interweaving textures) vibrant in rich sonority. It just poured out of me and after I began to realize I was composing in my sleep, I had to force myself awake to rush to the piano to capture it as quickly as it was flowing out of my heart and imagination. This happened a few weeks before my twenty-ninth wedding anniversary to Ray Korns, who nurtures me every day, so it was infused with how I feel about having found my helpmeet in life. ('Helpmeet' is a great old word meaning 'a loyal mate who is there for you no matter what.') But as the piece evolved, other nuances of the word 'Romance' began to surface: 'Romance' is not only about passionate and sensuous love, but in olden days the very word sang of grace, spontaneity and dashing adventure. It's kind of a 'Three Musketeers' word! I gave the title an Italian accent as Romanza because (having fallen in love with Italy on my 2007 visit to Florence as a composer and painter) I recognized unabashedly that this composition was rooted just as much in Tuscany soil as it was in my American and Jewish roots. I fashioned the work essentially as a Theme and Variations. The challenge became to create variations that took the theme somewhere, furnishing contrast while holding to the same level of intensity as the main theme. As the piece developed, it took on the scenario of a romantic conversation and so countermelodies were interwoven as dialogue. ...Everyday life with its mundane chores punctuated by stressful news can drown a sense of romance. But let's not let romance die! It is the lifebreath of what makes life worth living!"

'Faces of Eve' A celebration of women, their lives, loves, and longing

If you listen hard enough to the venerable halls at Greenwich House Music School, situated in the heart of the charming brownstone streets of Manhattan's West Village, you can hear the faint memories of violin and piano practice and the echoing footfalls of future ballerinas. Memories aside, the school reverberated with the excited banter of children currently studying there, letting all the waiting composers know subliminally that music studies are alive and well when parents care and children's interests are fostered. What a wonderful school!

Before the concert began, each composer in attendance was ushered one by one into a special room to be brilliantly interviewed about their music for a podcast^* that will be broadcast from Greenwich House Music School's website.

The energy in the air was palpable as the audience gathered in the hall to get their reserved tickets. After all it is not a common occurrence to have seven living composers there at a concert featuring their music. Indeed, the buzz was out, since the concert would be enriched by a total of six world-premieres, an American premiere and three New York premieres.

Every seat in Renee Weiler Concert Hall was soon filled, an audience not only of well-wishers and music lovers, but full of renowned musicians: cellist Nathaniel Rosen, composer Douglas Townsend, concert pianist Beth Levin, International President of Mu Phi Epsilon Music Fraternity Fran Irwin along with other members of Mu Phi Foundation and many top professional instrumentalists in Manhattan. You could feel the electricity in the air! Featured composers in attendance came from all over: Adrienne Albert, Deon Nielsen Price and Carol Worthey (all three from Los Angeles), Mary Lynn Place Badarak (who lives on an Indian Reservation in Arizona), Mary M. Boyle (from Atlanta, Georgia), Lydia Busler-Blais (from Vermont), and Host Beth Anderson (composer and organizer of the three concerts that form the annual "Women's Work" Series). The composers and audience were not disappointed. In her capacity as gracious host, Beth Anderson called each composer to come up in front of the stage for a brief discussion, adding some personal insights to the audience's appreciation of the pieces.

We were treated to an audible feast, performances that captured the moods and flavors of each composer's work. And what a voice we heard that night! Arietha Lockhart (coloratura soprano who hails from Atlanta, Georgia) has a ravishing, effortless voice with an impressive range and an equally impressive and engaging dramatic flair. Ms. Lockhart can encompass emotions from despair to ecstasy, from passion to teasing humor and her innate sense of phrasing is coupled with easy breath control and command of tone color. Carol Worthey sincerely believes that Arietha's talents should by all rights propel her to the position of a Major Star world-wide throughout the operatic and recital world. This is no ordinary singer. Ms. Lockhart was accompanied sensitively throughout this tour de force concert by brilliant and indefatiguable collaborative artist, pianist Mary Au (from Los Angeles). Arietha and Mary gave each composer the joy of hearing their music portrayed with beauty, meaning, and perfect touches of intensity, humor or pathos.

The concert was organized to express the lives of women throughout all the cultures of the world, their sorrows, their challenges, their nurturing ways and their strength and love. And it did communicate this overall theme: A celebration of women as seen by women composers and poets/lyricists and performed largely by women, with a few men to add spice to the event. We women are in a word "cool"... or are we "hot"?! We are BOTH!

The concert began with Mary Lynn Place Badarak's "Two Songs from Believers", setting an inspirational, reverent mood at the start. This was followed by Adrienne Albert's piquant, amusing and beautiful setting of "The Owl and the Pussycat" which delighted the audience with its charming use of lyrical melodic patter and curious wordplay. Mary M. Boyle's "Maternity" for Soprano, Clarinet & Piano was touching in its irony, revealing the stress of childbirth, especially when it ended with the death of a newborn. This emotional work led beautifully into Carol Worthey's piece, "Lament/Vocalise". Here the grief many mothers have had to bear when their child dies became expressed in a song without words — in a place where words are no longer vehicle enough to express or release grief.

When Carol was called up before her composition was performed to address the audience about "Lament", she had this to say:

"We have all had moments of sorrow and moments of joy. There are many shades of sadness and my Lament has a certain sweet, nostalgic sadness, like the gentle sadness you feel remembering a lost love. Music is the most healing of all the arts... wouldn't you agree?"

[Murmurs throughout the audience of agreement about music's healing quality were loudly audible. Carol continued.]

"My work is intended to free up the often locked-in emotion of sorrow and to take you the listener to a higher place where grief is released and redemption can occur... and joy."

How happy Carol is to say her world-premiere went splendidly, with Arietha spell-binding the audience with her soaring full-throated E and D above high C at the end! The composer had purposely built the strength of the vocal line bit by bit in order to make this spectacular ending possible. The hearty and long applause was gratifying!

Each piece in the concert was given the respect that great interpreters give to whatever work they perform, but with a certain attentiveness to detail that comes from collaborating with living composers, where one can really dig deep and ask the composer what exact effects they want. The elegant Sharon J. Willis charmed the audience with her "Love Ritual", which depicts the transformation from flirtation to date-disappointment of a contemporary college girl... a sort of humorous and telling mini-opera that Arietha Lockhart made come alive with fantastic timing and nuance. Not in attendance but represented in this pantheon of women composers were famed composer Lera Auerbach with a dramatic setting of her own introspective poems and those of Sylvia Plath and Maxine Kumin in her "Songs of No Return" and world-renowned composer Chen Yi's evocative setting of an ancient Chinese poem in "Bright Moonlight".

For variety of timbre, a few delightful instrumental works were presented, featuring the brilliant clarinetist Berkeley A. Price (Deon Nielsen Price's son and a true virtuoso on various sizes of the instrument, performing his mother's delicious and colorful instrumental suite "Yellow Jade Banquet" and a lovely and lyrical "Adagio" by Mary M. Boyle) and Jordan James on French Horn (who played with great beauty of tone and fluency in Lydia Busler-Blais' poetic work "Moon Lilies"). After hearing Deon's ten course Chinese meal described in musical terms, Carol was starving. So it was fitting and necessary that the performers and composers traipsed over to a French restaurant around the corner and enjoyed a filling repast and all kinds of good cheer!

But the musical feast was the best of all!

^*You may hear this podcast of composer's interviews (soon) by going to http://greenwichhouse.org Also at http://www.myspace.com/womenswork various selections of each composers' works can be heard, including Carol's "Cadence for Olivia" for flute and piano.

Masterful Cellists Ruslan Biryukov and Maksim Velichkin presented an unforgettable world-premiere of Carol Worthey's eight "Russian Scenes" in a performance capturing the total spirit and nuance of each scene. The two Rostropovich proteges took the audience on this musical trip with their dramatic and comedic flair, sheer virtuosity and beautiful sensitivity. Carol says,

"It truly is a composer's dream to have performers who take the care to master one's work and convey the emotional landscape to others in a colorful and unique way! I think of the cello as 'the voice of humanity' and at this concert you SPOKE!"

The entire "Positive Motions" concert displayed an effortless level of artistry that furthers the motion so spectacularly launched at the Glendale Philharmonic's Inaugural Concert. The first concert of the Glendale Philharmonic created a sky-high precedent of excellence that shook the rafters of the beautiful acoustic hall at First Baptist Church of Glendale, creating a buzz throughout the Greater Los Angeles community and stunning the skeptics and critics so that they had to say and put in writing, "Something GREAT is happening in Glendale! Listen UP, folks!" The February 6th "Positive Motions" Cello Concert PROVED that this was not a One-Shot Hit! Carol was proud to have been featured on the program with the world-premiere of Deon Price's new work for Cello Quintet "If Life Were to Sing!", a work with fascinating textures and colors.

Carol states,

"Nothing to me is more exciting than seeing a Renaissance at birth, growing in recognition and in the beauty, hope and solace great music can bring to the world. And nothing is more gratifying personally to me as a composer than seeing my latest 'baby' so beautifully brought into the world!"

 
 
 
 
 

Hear the world premiere performance below, Either all of the "scenes" (in the first sound bite) or choose to hear an individual scene. The full titles and descriptions precede each soundbite.

"Russian Scenes" for Cello Duo
"Русские мотивы" для двух виолончелей

	Russian Scenes (Русские мотивы) [All 8 Scenes]	17:46
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1.	Russian Bearfight:	Unfair squabble, one huge bear against a smaller but clever bear.
	Битва медведей.	Неравная борьба - один большой медведь против небольшого, но смышленого медведя.

	1 Russian Bearfight (Битва медведей)	01:37
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2.	Witticisms at The Teahouse:	Polite sarcasms while sipping cherry jam and tea together.
	Шутки в чайной.	Вежливые изречения во время распития чая с вишневым вареньем.

	2 Witticisms at the Teahouse (Шутки в чайной)	02:21
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3.	Forest Murmurs on the Grand Siberian Railroad:	Depends which way you are headed.
	Шопот леса на Транссибирской магистрали	о чем говорит лес, зависит от того, в какую сторону вы держите путь.

	3 Forest Murmurs on the Grand Siberian Railroad (Шопот леса на Транссибирской магистрали)	02:04
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4.	Ice-skating:	On the slippery rim of the Volga with ankles too weak.
	Катание на льду	на слабых ногах по скользкой поверхности Волги.

	4 Ice-skating (Катание на льду)	03:05
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5.	At The Ballet Barre:	With the Dance Master and the Prima-Ballerina at war.
	Балетный станок	учитель по балету бранит прима-балерину.

	5 At the Ballet Barre (Балетный станок)	01:40
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6.	The Steam Bath:	Then a plunge in snow, but wolves are slyly waiting.
	Прыжки в снег после бани	a волки поджидают украдкой.

	6 The Steam Bath (Прыжки в снег после бани)	02:20
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7.	A Stately Promenade:	From one masterpiece to another down the halls of The Hermitage.
	Роскошное место для прогулок:	по залам Эрмитажа - от одного шедевра к другому.

	7 A Stately Promenade (Роскошное место для прогулок)	03:01
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8.	Vodka, Blini, Caviar, Champagne:	Pastries, laughter, blini, broken glass, vodka, vodka, vodka, vodka!
	Водка, блины, икра и шампанское	сладости, смех, блины, разбитое стекло, водка, водка, водка!

	8 Vodka, Blini, Caviar, Champagne (Водка, блины, икра и шампанское)	01:34
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Preparing for the world premiere performance of Carol Worthey's eight 'Russian Scenes' for cello duo, Rostropovich proteges Ruslan Biryukov and Maksim Velichkin present each scene for the composer for the first time during rehearsal.

Carol was pleased and excited with the performance and had few notes for the performers, looking forward to the premiere with anticipation.

Every year Jim Raycroft, member of the Los Angeles Master Chorale, invites a number of Los Angeles area composers to bring selections from their choral works (often unpublished) to this day-long sight-singing fest. This year, on Saturday, January 23th he presented the 9th Annual "A Choral Taste of Los Angeles". Participants sing through new works by the composers and usually get to keep copies as well.

This year's presenters included: Jim Raycroft, Eric Whitacre, John Scott, Nick Strimple, Albert McNeil, David Joyce, Bill Cunliffe, Matt Aldrich and Kevin St. Clair. Christoph Bull also ably accompanied on piano.

The gourmet lunch is always a hit following a heady morning of sight-singing in preparation for the afternoon session.

Carol Worthey and her husband Raymond Korns are once again happy to lend enthusiastic support to Jim Raycroft and his efforts to encourage and promote all greater Los Angeles based singers, choral directors and choral composers.

Carol Worthey, looking very "radio", while being interviewed for her podcast on "Classical Music Discoveries", the #1 internet radio "podcast" in the world with thirty million listeners.

Host Ken Hedgecock really has a knack for asking intriguing and insightful questions and for making someone feel relaxed and at home — asking questions that Carol did not know in advance whatsoever but which Ken made her feel she had been waiting to answer all her life. The result was a one hour and fifty minute interview on such passionate concerns as the power of music to bring people together worldwide, the importance of active listening and anecdotes about fascinating people she has known such as Leonard Bernstein and others. The ultimate honor of all was that Ken and his delightful wife, fellow Host Sandy Hedgecock, decided to do something unheralded in their history: provide listeners with a two-hour podcast, with a good deal of the interview, numerous selections played by world-class performers, and even a striking collection of Carol's artworks and photographs. Maybe Carol doesn't JUST look "radio", maybe this opportunity to communicate to so many classical-music lovers around the globe made her "radiant" with an unparalleled happiness.

The podcast was first air'd on December 31st, 2009 and to date has garnered 5.38 Million downloads. At this point, the show will continue to run through March and we will keep you posted on the show's status.

Carol wishes to thank Ken and Sandy for putting on a ongoing, successful series that spreads classical music and joy throughout our world.

Hear Carol Worthey's New Year's interview hosted by Ken Hedgecock and podcast to 30 million listeners throughout the world!

Wishing you all a very Happy New Year!