It’s always a joy to work with my Damselfly Trio compatriots - we’re premiering music by (newly-minted Dr.!) Brittany J Green - her “red glint stars //in hued alarm" in Luzern, Switzerland on Friday the 13th with a subsequent performance in Wittnau on Sunday June 15! “red glint stars” appears on a program alongside our first outings with Ángel Lasala’s Serranas, Gabriela Ortiz - Rio Bravo 2, Alfred Zimmerlin - Alimondoj, Reena Esmail’s Rosa de Sal (arranged by our own Lindsay Buffington for harp/voice), and some of our favorite Songs from Comala​ by Ricardo Zohn-Muldoon. 

Next week, we have the privilege of looking at brand-spankin’-new works by Ingrid Stölzel, Niyayesh Bagheri, and our second commission from Pierce Gradone. Working with living composers is somewhat like a combo of dating and Christmas - and we’re so fortunate to work with such wonderful, generous collaborators!! 

I’m thrilled to be making my Ordway debut on April 5, singing the soloist role in Osvaldo Golijov’s Oceana with the incredible Border CrosSing Ensemble, conducted by Ahmed Anzaldúa.  This mysterious, surging work features Pablo Neruda’s gorgeous poetry, conjuring images of ocean-side rituals, beseeching the ocean herself to share some of her deep secrets… 

Oceana nupcial, cadera de las islas
Aquí a mi lado, cántame los desaparecidos
Cantares, signos, números del río deseado.

It is my great honor to sing - no, INCANT, this magical work alongside some of my favorite Twin Cities-based musicians, and on a program that also features some of Bach’s best chorales. Will you join us?

On Sunday, February 16 at 3p, at Cappella Performing Arts Center, I will be performing ANIMAL SONGS - a solo performance celebrating members of the animal kingdom. This performance is being held in partnership with the Coulee Region Humane Society, the beneficiary of any proceeds from this donation-only event.

This concert is child friendly - bring your kiddos! Sit and listen, or dance along to songs about a range of creatures - maybe one of your favorites?
Represented creatures include:
Camels, Goats, Grasshoppers, Dolphins, Crabs, Carp, Goldfish, Manatees, Cretoxyrhina (extinct giant shark!), Penguins, Capybaras, Wombats, and the most maligned of birds - the pigeon!

Music by:
Francis Poulenc
Fredrick Gifford
Kate Pukinskis
Stacey Barelos
Anthony Donofrio
Jason Belcher
Daniel Nass
Emily Joy Sullivan
Jacob Mashak
Andrea Reinkemeyer

This concert is FREE - there will be a free-will offering with 100% of proceeds to be donated to the Coulee Region Humane Society, who will be coming to speak about their mission during the program.

ANIMAL SONGS is sponsored in part by the Culture and Animals Foundation, and the generosity of Cappella Performing Arts Center for use of their space.

I am overjoyed to announce that I have been awarded support from the Culture and Animals Foundation​ for an upcoming tour of my Animal Songs project. My plan is to partner with animal rescue organizations local to the cities I am visiting on this tour, and perform donation-based concerts whose proceeds will benefit each partner organization. The CAF's support helps to fund my travel! 

Do you have a cherished local animal rescue (either wildlife or pet-oriented)? Would you like to host a concert? Let's talk! Read more about my plans here: cultureandanimals.org/grantee/liz-pearse/​

My quartet recently performed at Kaufman Music Center on their "Artist as Curator" series - we offered music by Annika Socolofsky and Paul Pinto alongside Paul performing his On Shaller Brown - and it received a lovely review. We're looking forward to recording Paul's music next summer, and cannot wait to share future episodes of The Approach!
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Back-to-Back Premieres Defy a Season of Leaner Offerings

On one hand, it's a good thing I've been too busy to really update here for a while, but on the other hand - self promotion is part of the gig, so...apologies. 

There is no "normal" to go back to in this post-2020 reality, of course - but the return to a busier performing schedule has felt like a thirsty person trying to drink from a fire hose at times. This season has felt like a fruitful one - bookended by album releases (Blaise Ubaldini's sunbathing back in October, and Roger Reynolds' For a Reason to be released later this week!) 

This season has involved more solo work than I've executed in a while - both with instrumental ensembles and all on my lonesome. In addition to premiering Wombat Songs on a self-accompanied concert last fall and premiering a massive voice/tape piece by Élise Roy, I shared one of my own compositions (Lullaby for Milton, voice/looper) for the first time this season on solo voice/EA focused concerts in Winona and Chicago this spring. I am enjoying these directions - I will be touring an electroacoustic voice/piano program next season, as well as working more in improvisatory contexts...

I also enjoyed new and continued projects with Damselfly and Quince - in particular, both ensembles' work with Ricardo Zohn-Muldoon. Damselfly performed and recorded his gorgeous Comala Transcriptions in February at Eastman, and Quince had the immense joy of premiering his Destierros at the Teatro Degollado in Guadalajara in May.  

Staying in Mexico for more of May (celebrating a milestone birthday while in CDMX), I had the thrill of performing the first of what I hope is many Ligeti Aventures/Nouvelles Aventures with the incredible Cepromusic Ensemble (live performance link here!) 

To finish this season, I spent time singing backup to Kamratōn Ensemble's banging performances of music by (and curated by) Brittany J. Green in Pittsburgh and NYC - including my first Stay On It as a clarinetist. (live performance link here!)

Otherwise, I look forward to ending my June with Quince, recording a few more pieces to round out our long-term Dust Bowl album project, and preparing for the inaugural Quincetitute in July, our first major summer educational initiative!!!

I -do- have some summer vacation plans out on the pond, though...
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It's been a bit of a relentless summer so far - after the Babbitt concert with Augustus Arnone (lovingly posted as a YouTube playlist!), the premiere of The Strange Child by Julia Werntz in Pittsburgh, recording Roger Reynolds' Sketchbook for The Unbearable Lightness of Being (my first professional music video!) and a re-energizing week of electroacoustic mayhem at SPLICE Festival in Kalamazoo, I am finally HOME for a bit. 

This week, I'm working on my Levels I-III certifications in Somatic VoiceWork, a method of vocal training and pedagogy that is expansive in breadth and generous in spirit. . .I cannot wait to apply what I'm learning in lessons! It feels like I'm braiding together several threads of knowledge from my previous coursework in voice science, as well as the training I had in music education, many years ago. . .

Next up: Omaha Under the Radar with my dear Damselfly Trio flutist, Frau Chelsea Czuchra. . . singing music by Ursula Mamlok, Rebecca Saunders, Brittany Green, and Marti Epstein! 

Pianist Augustus Arnone and I present: all of Babbitt's published works for treble voice/piano. This has been a mammoth learning experience for me - what a special opportunity to experience a composer's "voice" over the course of the 60+ years he was writing vocal music! 
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Program includes:
Three Theatrical Songs (1946)   
The Widow’s Lament in Springtime (1951)        
Du (1951)       
Sounds and Words (1960)        
Phonemena (1969)      
The Virginal Book (1988)        
Pantun (2000)        
Now Evening After Evening (2002)       

Though there are never guarantees in life, this spring seems particularly "tentative" for everyone in the music community. That said, I am happy to have a lot of music to learn in the next few months - both for Quince residencies, and for several solo performances planned in May and beyond! This spring will be especially Babbitt-y, as I will finally FINALLY present the long-planned program of Milton Babbitt's treble voice/piano works with pianist Augustus Arnone on Sunday, May 29 in NYC (details on my schedule page). 

This continues on a Babbitt-heavy end of 2021, which saw the publication of my first professional article - "Breaking Babb: Discovery and Process in Learning Philomel", co-authored with master screecher Tony Arnold. Within, Tony and I discuss some of the practical considerations one may encounter when singing the monster 1964 work for voice and tapes. . .what is the nature of "time"? How do we conjure the correct pitches out of thin air? What's it like singing a duet with an extinct instrument (the RCA Mark II)? Click the link to find out!

It is unbelievably invigorating to get the chance to perform for live audiences again! The hoops of testing and masks and distancing are truly minimal compared to the energy that the live audience brings to a concert-space.  Last week, I had the fortune of performing at Ear Taxi Festival in Chicago, alongside my Quince colleague (and dear friend) Kayleigh Butcher. We presented duos and solos by a number of our favorite composers, and my world premiere of Kari Watson's invocations I received glowing words from Chicago Classical Review: 

"Kari Watson’s solo Intonations I — heard here in its world premiere — also provided the greatest revelation of Quince’s offerings, in which Pearse was totally at home in the piece’s soaring glissandi, microtonal modulations, and seamlessly integrated extended techniques alike. - Landon Hegedus, Chicago Classical Review

​Next up: back to Switzerland to perform and record with my Damselfly Trio-mates!