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!

This past Sunday, I had the great pleasure of presenting my fourth annual birthday salon - since 2018, I have presented a show on or around my birthday, where I sing and play some of my favorite new and old songs. This year, that included works by LJ White, Gilda Lyons,  Angélica Negrón, Olivia Kieffer, and Betsy Jolas (among others), and premieres of new animal songs by Stacey Barelos and Jason Belcher! Though by no means studio-perfect performances, I enjoyed presenting every work on the program. 

This year, any free-will donations are being forwarded to the West End Church in memory of a dear friend who passed recently - generous friends have helped me raise over $200 to honor Adam's memory. 

The salon experience is always more fun "live", which I hope to return to next year. For now, please enjoy this archived video of the event! 

For nearly 10 months now, I've been teaching mostly online. While this has its drawbacks (being able to accompany my students in real time...I'll never take that for granted again!), this period means I'm teaching my students to be even more self-reliant earlier in their careers. I don't think this is a bad thing - for 167+ hours per week, my students are their own teachers. The more they know and are curious about what resources exist, and how to find what works for them, the better off they'll be as singers, as musicians, and as humans. 

I started pulling together a few of my favorite voice resources in a new tab above ("Student Resources"). I'll be building it out a bit in the coming weeks. . .some of my favorite resources for both skill and knowledge-building in the realm of singing.  

If you have resources you particularly enjoy - share them with me! I'm only one person, and it's a great big internet. . .

I recently learned of an artist-led philanthropic initiative, and I'm so moved by the generosity of this varied group of performers that I am joining Beyond Artists. In addition to my ongoing monthly support of Planned Parenthood, I choose to support Black Lives Matter in the fight to right hundreds of years of racial injustice in the US. I also support weird art-making in the Midwest by supporting organizations that promote, program, and present weird music and fairly compensate their artists - Omaha Under the Radar and Outpost New Music, among others!