beth wiemann

with a few things coming up..

The next few months I’m hoping to get going on a new music-plus-video piece, but there are some events to break up the season. First, another showing of the I Give You My Home film is scheduled for Keene, NH at the Colonial Theatre, June 11th at 1PM. Having seen the movie now a few times on a big screen, I can heartily recommend that viewing/listening experience. Some of the visuals in the piece were recorded nearby, so we hope for Keene locals come out to see them.

Another event coming up is the release of another work of mine on Parma Records, after Parma’s release of the I Give You My Home CD.

This piece, Young Charlotte, was recorded by Aliana de la Guardia and Yoko Hagino in the Shalin Liu Performance Center in Rockport MA, which was a great experience in itself. The release date is August 24th, on the disc VOICES OF EARTH AND AIR VOL. 5. More info to come..

SPECIAL FILM EVENT: I Give You My Home

Navona Records disc of I Give You My Home is out and about, and in the label’s catalog. All the ways to listen can be found on the website below..

I Give You My Home

The first screening (red carpet!) also is coming right up, on March 24th, in Watertown, MA – with other screenings to come in Keene, NH and Portland, ME! First showing info here:

https://guerillaopera.org/eventcal/igymh-mosesian

It’s that time – Guerilla Opera’s work on my piece I Give You My Home is being released this month as both a movie and a CD/audio playlist. The first “single” just dropped, and on March 10th the whole CD will be released. The movie has several screenings scheduled for the live experience coming up – Watertown, MA – Keene, NH – Portland, ME included. There will be online experiences as well, and you can get all of the details in the links below.

We’ve been working on this piece for a while now, with public performances last spring and summer. Now it will be possible for many more people to see the Guerilla musicians perform, both in the Nichols House Museum that inspired the piece, and on location in and around the places that inspired Rose Nichols herself.

General info:

Guerilla Opera presents I Give You My Home, a world premiere operatic film inspired by the Nichols House Museum and the life of Rose Standish Nichols, a true-life women’s peace party and suffrage activist and professional landscape architect, and brings to light this singular Bostonian woman’s efforts to affect change. I Give You My Home features music and original libretto by Beth Wiemann and brought to life by the acclaimed filmmaker Cara Consilvio.

Learn more about the project at https://igg.me/at/igymh and view a full schedule of events at  https://guerillaopera.org/eventcal/.    

The work uses phrases from the first chapter of Vigil Harbor, a novel by Julia Glass. From the title for the whole piece, Say That Geography Is Destiny, we go to individual movements: I. Aimed Straight Toward the Sun, II. Enclosed by Restless Water, and III. Rugged with Rock. The words describe different aspects of a promontory that is the main setting for the novel, a place that’s seen as a safer haven than most in a time of seashore climate changes. Here’s a portion of the piece – the last movement, played by Laura Artesani with me last weekend.

https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/802480602

In advance of the release of “I Give You My Home” in its filmed form, Guerilla Opera will have an educational presentation on Rose Standish Nichols and her life, hosted by the Haverhill Public Library on February 15th. Both the movie and the CD will be out in March!

Revision – looks like another session on March 16th at 3PM…

https://guerillaopera.org/eventcal/the-history-of-the-computer-and-the-power-of-storytelling-lfapx

Video of the live performance of “I Give You My Home” this past June – tickets available through Guerilla Opera’s website, with a pay what you can ticket range..https://www.instagram.com/reel/ClZPCPHjWHW/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&fbclid=IwAR3OSqK2hfhHbe8KTzHIxOA3t8seC2efoBjQNE9LER3npucreAGLvSW-UFc

The Sebago-Long Lake Music Festival (https://sebagomusicfestival.org) will have its 50th anniversary concert from this past July on Maine Public (radio and online) tonight. The concert features the work commissioned for this anniversary, “The Lake Guide” for mixed septet. The premiere at Deertrees theatre was quite the event, and everyone involved is looking forward to the broadcast tonight.

Sebago-Long Lake Music Festival

Only hours until the broadcast. Can’t wait!

Sebago-Long Lake Music Festival

November 14 at 11:30 AM  · 

EXCITING NEWS! LISTEN WITH US!The First Concert of our 50th season will be broadcast on Maine Stage on Wednesday, November 23, at 8:00 p.m (Thanksgiving Eve). The concert includes The Lake Guide, a piece commissioned by SLLMF to commemorate our 50th anniversary. We are so proud of it. Written by Beth Wiemann, a music professor at UMaine-Orono, she is an accomplished composer whose works have been performed around the U.S. and internationally by a number of well-known ensembles.So, if you are hearing this concert for the first time or you heard it this past summer, enjoy it with us on Maine Stage on Wednesday, November 23rd.The Program was performed at Deertrees Theatre on July 12, 2022:DONIZETTI: Trio for Flute, Bassoon and PianoBETH WIEMANN: “The Lake Guide” (2021), commissioned by the SLLMFBEETHOVEN: Septet in E-Flat Major for Winds and Strings, Op. 20Artists: Laura Gilbert, flute; Benjamin Fingland, clarinet; William Purvis, horn; Adrian Morejon, bassoon; Min-Young Kim, violin; Matthew Sinno, viola; Mihai Marica, cello; Jered Egan, double bass; and Mihae Lee, piano.Click here to find your Maine Public Classical station: https://www.mainepublic.org/where-to-hear-maine-public….Listen online at https://www.mainepublic.org/classical-music.

A new septet commissioned for the 50th anniversary of the Sebago Long Lake Music Festival in the “lakes region” of western Maine. Great players:

Laura Gilbert, flute
Benjamin Fingland, clarinet
William Purvis, horn
Min-Young Kim, violin
Matthew Sinno, viola
Mihai Marica, cello 
Mihae Lee, piano

Each movement has some element depicting activity on or in the water. The first movement features the piano part continuously “rowing” underneath the rest of the ensemble. The second movement floats on the surface, constantly moving, but slowly. The last movement has the piano part “diving in,” but its energy contrasts with the soft, murky sounds from below the surface. Excerpts from each movement can be heard on Soundcloud – here’s the opening of the final movement:

It was quite an experience to hear the core ensemble of Guerilla Opera perform the piece at the Nichols House Museum on Beacon Hill early this month. Intense, impressive and so musical. And Aliana was in suffragette white for all the shows!

There will be another whole version of the piece, a film shot on locations throughout New England, coming in 2023 – along with an audio recording. More info to come….

https://guerillaopera.org/eventcal/rosenicholsopera

Here’s the info on the chamber opera first fully staged performances in Boston..

I Give You My Home – Wiemann