Call Out
Song Cycle for Baritone, Piano, and Cello
Duration 8'
PROGRAM NOTE
As we all know, the internet is paradoxical in that it has both facilitated connection and simultaneously made it harder for us to actually feel connected. “Call Out” is an exploration of the difficulties of finding connection online. The title is a reference to both "call out culture" and to the literal act of calling out to another person, and the piece itself follows the evolution of an online interaction. The first movement, “Call Out,” is based on two musical motives: transcriptions of dial- up modem sounds and the words “call out” spelled in binary. The second movement, “The Mountain,” contains text based on Gawker’s apology to Justine Sacco, a woman whose poorly timed tweeted joke was taken out of context, went viral, and destroyed her life and career. This piece also features a binary motive: the name Justine. The third piece draws inspiration from a series of tweets about Twitter culture, once again using the binary “call out” motive. Finally, in “The Field,” Rumi’s beautiful text asserts that there is a part of us the outside observer cannot know. The piece ends with an invitation to join him in a place “beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing” where the world is too full to talk about it.
PERFORMANCE NOTE
The spoken part in "Welcome to America" can be performed by either the baritone or the cellist
