American composer and baritone (born 1943)
Allen Raymond Shearer
(born October 5, 1943 in
Seattle
, Washington) is an American composer and baritone.
Life
[
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]
Shearer’s early musical experiences were as a singer; the majority of his works are for the voice or voices, with a later emphasis on
opera
. With his first wife, pianist
Barbara Shearer
(1936?2005), Shearer's performances included
art songs
, some of which were his own. He studied at the
University of California at Berkeley
, where he earned a Ph.D. in 1972, and at the
Mozarteum
in
Salzburg, Austria
where he received diplomas in concert singing and opera. He taught voice in Special Programs at the
University of California at Berkeley
.
[1]
Among his composition teachers were
Fred Lerdahl
,
Seymour Shifrin
,
Andrew Imbrie
and
Max Deutsch
, with whom he studied in Paris. He has received awards in music, including the
Rome Prize Fellowship
, the
Aaron Copland
Award, the Sylvia Goldstein Award, a
Charles Ives
Scholarship, residencies at the
MacDowell Colony
, and grants from the
National Endowment for the Arts
.
Musical style
[
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]
When asked about his musical style in the discussion preceding the 2009 premiere of his opera
The Dawn Makers
, Shearer answered that it varies according to the demands of the medium. Critics also describe it variously.
The Harvard Biographical Dictionary of Music
observes that Shearer’s music, "though it recalls postwar serialism in its rhythms and textures, relies on traditional counterpoint and on tonal centers."
[2]
Its lyric quality is frequently cited: Jeff Rosenfeld, reviewing Shearer’s
Outbound Passenger
, found the music "tuneful and harmonious;"
[3]
and of Shearer’s cantata
King Midas
, critic
Robert Commanday
wrote, ‘The singing lines are fluid and supple, animated, alive; the harmony and scoring for a quintet of instruments and percussion battery (two players), rich but delicately so."
[4]
In the British periodical
Opera
, Allan Ulrich wrote that the score of Shearer’s chamber opera
The Dawn Makers
has "genuine personality. The hour-long opera abounds in extended ariosos and bravura outbursts and unfurls in a conservative idiom, spiced with dissonances which neatly evade the neo-Romantic pitfalls that prevail in American opera circles."
[5]
Of the same work, Thomas Busse wrote in
San Francisco Classical Voice
, "The music’s greatest strength was its singability, attributable to the composer’s being a vocalist himself. I would describe Shearer’s eclectic style as more declamatory than lyrical."
[6]
Of Shearer's opera
Middlemarch in Spring
[7]
Janos Gereben wrote in the
San Francisco Examiner
, "Shearer's music is pleasantly dissonant, with a sound that sticks in the ears and memory. It's ambiguous music, seemingly wondering [sic] between keys, but landing securely each time."
[8]
Recent works
[
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]
Opera
[
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]
- The Singer Josephine
(2023), opera in one act on a libretto by
Claudia Stevens
after Kafka
- Einstein at Princeton
(2022), opera in one act on a libretto by
Claudia Stevens
[9]
- Prospero's Island
(2021), opera in two acts on a libretto by
Claudia Stevens
after
Shakespeare
's
The Tempest
- Jackie at Vassar
(2019), opera in one act on a libretto by
Claudia Stevens
- Howards End, America
(2018), opera in three acts on a libretto by
Claudia Stevens
after the novel by
E. M. Forster
- Circe's Pigs
(2016), chamber opera in one act on a libretto by
Claudia Stevens
- Kissing Marfa
(2015), comic opera in one scene on a libretto by
Claudia Stevens
based on a short story by
Anton Chekhov
- Middlemarch in Spring
(2014), chamber opera in two acts on a libretto by
Claudia Stevens
after the novel by
George Eliot
- Riddle Me
(2010), chamber opera in one act on a libretto by
Claudia Stevens
- A Very Large Mole
(2009), chamber opera in one act on a libretto after
Franz Kafka
by
Claudia Stevens
- The Dawn Makers
(2008), chamber opera in one act on a libretto by
Claudia Stevens
- The Goddess
(1997), opera in four acts on a libretto by the composer after the screenplay by
Satyajit Ray
Instrumental works
[
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]
- Weft
(2024) for clarinet, bassoon and piano
- Forest Scene
(2024) for unaccompanied violin
- Nocturne
(2023) for nine cellos
- Wink
for wind ensemble (2023)
- Duo
(2022) for violin and cello
- Impossible Marriage
(2022) for clarinet, violin and piano
- Eastbound Traveler
(2021) for mixed quartet
- October
(2020) for brass quintet
- Early Start
(2019) for flute, cello and piano
- Thinking Thoughts
(2019) for violin and piano
- Sea Critter
(2016) for piano solo
- Road Piece
(2015) for brass trio and percussion
- Intermezzo
(2014) for clarinet solo
- Footloose
(2013) for flute, violin and guitar
- Roundelay
(2011) for oboe, clarinet and bassoon
- Riff on a Verse
(2011) for violin and percussion
- Terrains
(2010) for piano and string trio
- Forthrights and Meanders
(2009) for violin, cello and piano
- Soliloquy
(2009) for viola solo
- Bagatelles
(2006) for flute and clarinet
- Memory Beams
(2005) for violin and guitar
Choral works
[
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]
- Lyrics for Chorus
(2023) for mixed chorus SATB
- Romanc de matinet
(2012) for mixed chorus SATB
- Listen. Put on Morning
(2011) for mixed chorus SSATB
- The Holy Innocents
(2011) for mixed chorus SSAATTBB
- Hymn to Gaia
(2010) for mixed chorus SATB and chamber ensemble
- Orpheus in the Underworld
(2010) for men’s chorus TTBB
- Songs of the Moment
(2007) for women’s chorus SSAA
Vocal works
[
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]
- Echoes
(2024) for soprano, cello and piano
- Duets for Voice and Oboe
(2024) for soprano and oboe
- Plenitudes
(2022) for soprano, flute, viola and guitar, on poems of Jane Hirshfield
- Strange Gifts
(2022) for baritone and piano
- From Spell to Trance
(2021) for soprano and piano
- The River-Merchant’s Wife
(2018) for soprano, flute, viola and piano
- Psalm, Lament and Aubade
(2018) for soprano, clarinet and piano
- November Gold
(2017) for medium voice and piano
- Stories Wind Told to Grass
(2015) for mezzo soprano, flute, cello and piano
- The Leaves of Another Year
(2014) for baritone, clarinet and guitar
- Night Songs II
(2009) for mezzo soprano, viola and piano
- Learning the Elements
(2007) for mezzo soprano, clarinet, cello and piano
- Night Songs
(2005) for medium voice, clarinet/bass clarinet, viola and harp
- How Poems Are Made
(2006) for soprano and piano
- Secrets
(2003) for mezzo soprano, flute, cello and piano
- Fables II
(2002) for mezzo soprano or baritone, flute, guitar and double bass
Discography
[
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]
- Five Poems of Wallace Stevens,
"Dimensions," CRS 8944
- Nude Descending a Staircase,
"I Have Had Singing", Chanticleer Records CR 8810
- Mushrooms,
"With a Poet’s Eye", Chanticleer Records CR 8804
- The Illusion of Eternity,
"The Anniversary Album 1978-1988," Chanticleer Records CR 8804
References
[
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]
- ^
"University of California at Berkeley, profile"
. Archived from
the original
on 2012-08-11
. Retrieved
2013-08-07
.
- ^
Randel, Don (1996).
Harvard Biographical Dictionary of Music
. Harvard University Press. pp.
831
.
ISBN
0674372999
.
- ^
Rosenfeld, Jeff.
"Playing with Expectations"
. San Francisco Classical Voice. Archived from
the original
on 2013-12-15
. Retrieved
Oct 19,
2004
.
- ^
Commanday, Robert
(April 25, 1991). "Baritone Strikes Gold for Himself".
San Francisco Chronicle
.
- ^
Ulrich, Allan (July 2009).
Opera
: 845.
{{
cite journal
}}
: CS1 maint: untitled periodical (
link
)
- ^
Busse, Thomas.
"Here Comes the Dawn"
. San Francisco Classical Voice
. Retrieved
10 February
2009
.
- ^
Kosman, Joshua,
"Opera Review: 'Middlemarch in Spring' is a Sunny Romp,"
,
San Francisco Chronicle
, March 21, 2015
- ^
Gereben, Janos, "Middlemarch--literature's gift to opera," San Francisco Examiner, March 20, 2015
- ^
"Einstein at Princeton - Victor Cordell - Berkshire Fine Arts"
.
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