Soprano and Composer Susan Botti of the School of Music

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Botti

“...It is a rare pleasure these days to encounter a young composer grappling with real emotional and psychological issues in fresh and modern terms,” wrote New York Times music critic James Oestreich of a performance by Susan Botti.

Botti, an assistant professor of composition in the School of Music, is a rarity in the classical music world—a composer and a singer. The Cleveland Orchestra premiered her most recent work, Impetuosity, a short orchestral piece, on March 11, 2004, and has commissioned a larger work, Translucence, to premiere May 19-21 at Severance Hall under the baton of music director, Franz Welser-Möst.

A CD of her vocal chamber music, listen, it's snowing, (see http://www.susanbotti.com for availability) features Botti's operatic soliloquy for soprano, string quartet, harp, piano and percussion, Telaio: Desdemona. “Botti takes American classical song and adds a twist, spinning forth works that are accessible, yet truly new and interesting,” said the Classical Review's critic Karissa Krenz of the CD. Opera Magazine called it “striking, emotional music.” Telaio: Desdemona has been performed in New York City, Santa Fe and Atlanta. A commission from the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra for solo violin and chamber orchestra, Within Darkness, was premiered at Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center.

A native of Cleveland, Botti's early training included studies in music, art and theater. She received her bachelor of music degree from the Berklee School in Boston, where she explored improvisation and world music, and her master's degree in composition from the Manhattan School of Music.

In addition to her Michigan appointment, Botti is completing a two-season position as the third Daniel R. Lewis Young Composer Fellow with the Cleveland Orchestra. In addition, she will be in residence with the orchestra for chamber music, master classes and community outreach.

Composer/conductor Tan Dun has created several major works that highlight Botti's vocal and theatrical talents. She premiered his Red Forecast for soprano and orchestra with the BBC Scottish Symphony and performed its US premiere at Carnegie Hall with the American Composers Orchestra. Tan Dun also wrote the role of Water for her in his internationally acclaimed opera, Marco Polo (Sony Classical), which she premiered at the Münchener Biennale and subsequently performed in Europe and Asia, and at the New York City Opera.

Upcoming performances, described in more detail on her Web site, include:

Feb 25 - Cosmosis (premiere) - Carnegie Hall, New York City.

March 25 - Arias from her composition Telaio: Desdemona with the St. Petersburg String Quartet at the University of Michigan.

April 16 - Impetuosity - Ann Arbor Symphony.

April 29 - EchoTempo - Utrecht, Holland.

listen, it's snowing

By E. E. Cummings

(me) . . . . listen. it's snowing: think. just think of people everywhere and houses and rivers and the mountains and oceans. then think of fingers—millions—out of somewhere quietly and quickly coming, hurrying very carefully . . . . think of everywhere fingers touching; fingers, skillfully gently everything—o think of the snow coming down so beautifully and beautifully frightening ourselves and turning dying and love and the world and me and you into five toys . . . . touch me a little. it will be so pleasant to dream of your hands. for a hundred years.

(Excerpted from Cummings's play Him.)