THe SEA: Tales of Lapham
In Collaboration with A Far Cry Chamber Orchesrta
Supported by a grant from NEW MUSIC USA
Premiered at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum October 6, 2016
The Sea is an evening-length symphonic song cycle inspired by the literary magazine, Lapham’s Quarterly. It is commissioned by and performed with Grammy-nominated A Far Cry. Using Lapham’s “The Sea” issue as eclectic libretto, Oracle Hysterical weaves music from texts by history’s greatest seafarers, explorers, and aquatic fabulists, from Shakespeare to Homer, and John Donne to the Book of Jonah.
Self-conducted chamber orchestra A Far Cry “brims with personality or, better, personalities, many and varied” ( New York Times ) and inspires a “thoroughly modern century-spanning, globe-trotting sonic adventure” (Boston Globe ). In its collaborations with the likes of Yo-Yo Ma, Jake Shimabukuro, Urbanity Dance, and Roomful of Teeth, the Grammy-nominated group is expanding the boundaries of orchestral repertoire and experimenting with the ways music is prepared, performed, and experienced.
The Sea premiered in Boston at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum where A Far Cry served as ensemble in residence, and at The Celebrity Series in Boston. Before its Boston debut, The Sea received preview performances at Spectrum ( NYC ); Joslyn Art Museum ( Omaha ); and MANA Contemporary/High Concept Labs ( Chicago ).
This project was supported by New Music USA and Opera Cabal, and made possible by annual program support and/or endowment gifts from Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, Helen F. Whitaker Fund, Aaron Copland Fund for Music, Carl Jacobs Foundation, New York State Council on the Arts, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, and Anonymous.
