Award-Winning Composer Debra Kaye Presents Five New Works

The latest addition to award-winning composer Debra Kaye's growing body of work is her orchestral commission Ikarus Among the Stars which celebrated its world premiere in Portland, OR, in May. Ikarus is a 17-minute electro-acoustic composition in one movement framed as the story of Ikarus and Daedalus who attempted to escape the labyrinth on wings of wax and feathers. Although Daedalus cautioned his son, in the elation of flight, Ikarus flew too close to the sun and plunged to his death in the sea. The work is inspired by the hip-hop music of Benjamin Yaphet Klatchko, to whom the piece is dedicated. It develops his motifs to create its dramatic arc by weaving excerpts from his recordings into the orchestral texture. Ikarus deals with the timeless themes of life and death and offers the opportunity to celebrate life as well as to mourn. The work was hailed by Oregon ArtsWatch as "moving... Ms. Kaye's sensitive and elegiac orchestrations balanced the aspirations and fate of the mythological Ikarus' attempt to escape the Earth's clutches." Kaye is a born storyteller and it is reflected in her dramatic music brimming with visceral power.

Other premieres this season include Mouth of the Sky and The Dance the Turtle Dreamed from her String Quartet No. 1, and her string orchestra piece Encountering Lorca. Many of her works have been programmed recently including New York performances of And So It Begins, Dialogues with the Distant Mountains and Ikarus (Duo for Binya).

The 2017-18 season will see a number of new commissions including a string quartet commemorating the 25th Anniversary of the Howland Chamber Music Circle (Beacon, NY), and a Fantasy for flute and piano. In addition to her work as a composer, future plans include writing a series of pieces for the New Music Box blog. Italian publisher Odoya recently included Kaye in its book Guide to Women Composers.

Hailed as "a unique voice in American music, transcendent...witty...colorful... profound," Kaye is a composer whose brilliance continues to grow. Her body of work blends deep classical roots with a wide range of influences including jazz, world music, folk, experimental improvisation, world events and sounds of daily life. Her catalog of close to 50 works - chamber and orchestral music, art songs, choral and theatrical compositions - continues to expand through her steady stream of commissions.

Last season's highlights included the premiere of five new compositions; Hey Yud Yud-Parallel Universes presented by Composers Concordance in their series Pitches at an Exhibition - CHORUS 72, Dance to Unknowing, Impassioned Nightingale from Kaye's String Quartet featuring the Klang Quartet and Ikarus (Duo for Binya) for violin and viola. The Duo was commissioned by the Community Music Center of Portland and saw its premiere in Portland and subsequently its New York premiere on the National Association of Composers USA's Spring Serenade concert. Kaye's composition, Freedom & Truth for voice and violin, inspired by women's rights activist Margaret Fuller's poem of the same name, was commissioned by BeaconArts (Beacon, NY) for the unveiling of a historic landmark in Fuller's honor. Buscando, Kaye's composition for solo harpsichord, commissioned by Arthur Haas of Yale University, was published by Bellmann Musik in their two volume collection, The Contemporary Harpsichordist.

Recognized with ASCAP Plus Awards since 2009 for her "creative contributions to American music," Kaye is the recipient of additional grants and awards from Meet the Composer, Mannes College of Music, the Fort Wayne Children's Choir, the New School and the Edward T. Cone Foundation. She has been a mentor to young musicians across the country and a composer in residence on the East Coast and at the Millay Colony for the Arts and the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation of New Mexico.

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