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About the Anthology
Curated by saxophonist Alan Theisen, this collection of 16 works for alto saxophone is ideal for active performers looking for exciting new repertoire, teachers searching for fresh contemporary works for their studios, or student performers seeing out unique and culturally-relevant new works to fulfill 21st century repertoire requirements.
These works, which were predominantly composed in the 21st century, represent a broad range of compositional styles from composers living and writing today, and were curated for intermediate through advanced players.
The NewMusicShelf Anthologies of New Music are a bold, new publishing initiative aimed at bringing new and unknown composers and repertoire to student and professional performers alike. With an emphasis on works not found in the traditional publishing ecosystem, each volume is curated by performers who have a reputation for championing new music, with an eye toward selecting works with a range of styles and difficulties that are suitable for concert and recital performance.
With this innovative mode of publishing, NewMusicShelf advocates for self-published composers in a way previously unheard of in the realm of classical music: all self-published composers retain full ownership of their work while earning a generous royalty on every sale. Your support of this project directly benefits these composers, and also helps NewMusicShelf to continue to promote the works of the many excellent composers writing today. We encourage you to explore these composers' catalogs in greater depth, and hope that these songs inspire many fruitful and rewarding collaborations!
Works in this volume
| Composer | Work Title | Year Composed |
|---|---|---|
| Stephanie Ann Boyd | "Mind" from Amare | 2016 |
| Wes Flinn | An Unperfect Actor (after Sonnet XXIII) | 1993, rev. 2013 |
| George N. Gianopoulos | Three Scherzi, Op. 26B, No. 2 | 2013 |
| Anthony R.Green | dhakira: a middle eastern reflection | 2017 |
| Chia-Yu Hsu | "The Chase" from Chasing Shadows | 2013 |
| Lori Laitman | Lullaby | 2000 |
| Quinn Mason | Bounce | 2016 |
| Aaron Jay Myers | Fuck Your Factory & Your Attitude | 2019 |
| Garrett Shatzer | Absence Wild | 2016 |
| Clare Shore | "Juniper Run from River Songs | 2016 |
| Aleksander Sternfeld-Dunn | "Forcefully" from Sonata | 2005 |
| Alan Theisen | "Attack" from Sonata No. 2 | 2017 |
| Cassie Wieland | eyelid | 2018 |
| Chelsea Williamson | Move With Brightness of Peace | 2017 |
| Tetsuya Yamamoto | Voix de l'orgue | 2016 |
| Roger Zare | "Deluge" from Sonata | 2015 |
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About the Curator
Alan Theisen (b. 4 October 1981) is a composer, saxophonist, music theorist, and educator. His philosophy of creating and sharing new music with joyously unrestrained enthusiasm is evident in Theisen’s multiple artistic endeavors. Inspired while reading a biography of Leonard Bernstein in high school, Theisen decided to likewise forge his unconventional career of comprehensive musicianship not by choosing between composing, performance, scholarship, conducting, advocacy, and pedagogy but by tirelessly combining those paths.
Theisen's compositions encompass a wide array of genres and instrumentation including chamber music, art song, solo piano, concerti, jazz, symphonies, and more. An autodidact, his works have been praised by composer Dimitri Terzakis as being "the product of a unique talent" and are frequently commissioned/performed by professional musicians around the world. Though Theisen's catalogue of over fifty pieces is stylistically diverse, all of his compositions exhibit unabashed emotional sincerity, memorable melodic ideas, sensuous yet complex harmony, and intricate formal designs—characteristics that inspire enthusiastic audience response and repeat performances. Some recent premieres of Theisen's music have occurred at National Sawdust (Brooklyn), New Music Gathering (Peabody Conservatory), and the World Saxophone Congress (Strasbourg, France).
An active saxophonist, Theisen concertizes in classical recitals, gigs with jazz bands and musical theater productions, directs multiple ensembles, and premieres/records the music of fellow contemporary composers. National appearances as a classical saxophonist include performances at the 39th Festival of New American Music, at the U.S. Navy International Saxophone Symposium, and as guest recitalist at the Wichita State University New Voices Festival. His voice/saxophone duo, Megan Ihnen & Alan Theisen present..., performs curated programs of contemporary music across the United States to audience acclaim. To extend his mission as a collaborative performer, he also founded the Resonance Saxophone Orchestra and the Asheville Modern Big Band.
In academia, Theisen specializes in the analysis and pedagogy of post-1900 classical music, presenting award-winning research on these topics at national and regional academic conferences. He has served on the executive and editorial boards of the South Central Society for Music Theory, Music Theory Southeast, and the Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy (online division). Theisen received his Ph.D. in music theory and composition from Florida State University and degrees (B.M. Music History and M.M. Music Theory) from the University of Southern Mississippi. He is currently working on a book analyzing the later music of Dutch composer Tristan Keuris.
Theisen is Associate Professor of Music at Mars Hill University where he has coordinated the music theory/composition curriculum since 2011. Previously he was Visiting Assistant Professor of Music Theory at the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University. A native of Michigan, he has spent the majority of his life in the Deep South of the United States and currently resides near Asheville, North Carolina.
www.alantheisen.com
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