MELIA WATRAS: FIREFLY SONGS
for various voices and instruments (2015-2018)
Cover photo by Michelle Smith-Lewis
World Premiere: Michael Jinsoo Lim, violin and voice; Melia Watras, viola and voice; Sæunn Thorsteinsdóttir, cello; Arturo Alto, Atar Arad, Catherine Connors and Vina Vu Valdés, recorded voices; April 17, 2019, Seattle, WA
Duration: 50:29
Program Notes:
Firefly Songs is a collection of pieces about life and connections. Fireflies were a magical part of my youth, providing fantasy and mystery. Each song can be seen as a symbolic firefly. While the stories, artistic influences, and people are interconnected points of light from my personal folklore and perspective, at the root, these compositions celebrate community, and the art and nature in our world that help bind us in shared experiences.
Written from 2015-2018, the thirteen Firefly Songs can be performed individually, in different combinations, or as a complete set. As one collective work, the order is based on each song’s pitch center, creating a descending chromatic scale, ending in Seeing Cypresses with Catherine C., which has no intended pitch center.
The order when done as a collective piece:
Mozart Doesn’t Live in Seattle for voice (2017)
Vetur öngum lánar lið for voice and cello (2016) [or violin and cello, or violin and viola (2017)]
Berceuse with a Singer in London for voice and viola (2015) [or Berceuse for violin and viola (2015)]
The Lesson for recorded voice, violin and viola (2017)
Lament for viola solo (2016)
O. Reverie for narrator and violin (2018)
(one) for voice(s), viola and cello (2018)
William Wilson for voice and violin (2016)
Wise Tentacles for violin and cello (2017) [or violin and viola (2017)]
Lontano for violin and viola (2017)
Viola for narrator and viola (2017)
Firefly for voices and cello (2018)
Seeing Cypresses with Catherine C. for recorded voice (2017)
—Melia Watras
