SEPTEMBER 2025

Rachel Schutz, soprano
Xak Bjerken, piano
Studio recording (Sun Hill Studio)

Rachel Schutz begins her recording of 20^th- and 21^st-century Welsh Art Song

In April 2025, Routledge published my book Welsh Vocal Music: A Guide to Lyric Diction and Repertoire. The book offers an introduction to Welsh lyric diction and provides readers with a guide to notable composers of Wales and their vocal works. There is a rich body of art song, choral music, and opera from Wales that is not well-known outside the country, and this book seeks to introduce it to a broader audience and encourage wider performance.

While much of the repertoire featured in the book has been recorded and is accessible to international audiences, many wonderful pieces have not been. The aim of this artist residency is therefore to record an album of such music. The album will feature a stylistically varied collection of 20^th- and 21^st-century art songs in both Welsh and English.

—Rachel Schutz

Seán Morgan-Rooney, piano
Big Barn performance: September19 at 7:30pm (The Big Barn)

A Few Reflect the Heart: A personal journey through Ravel’s Miroirs for solo piano, with original works and film created in response by Seán Morgan-Rooney

 “The eye sees itself not, but by reflection, by some other things...”

Maurice Ravel cited this particular quote from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar as the inspiration for his piano suite Miroirs. The quote describes how we do not see ourselves directly, but rather perceive ourselves in the reflections of external sources. In composing Miroirs, Ravel was seeing his own humanity reflected in nature - the night moths, the melancholy birds, the boat on the ocean...

In this performance, four pieces I have written for piano and electronic track bring an extra dimension to the idea of reflection. These original works reflect the natural themes of Miroirs and communicate a personal musical response to Ravel's suite.

On a parallel plane, a similar process of reflection occurs in the visual material accompanying this music. I have created original films which reflect the music's natural themes and which aim to convey an inner emotional world through reflections, memories and scenes of the nature in which he grew up. My mother plays a role in conveying the connection to the land through spoken memories and poetry. With my original music and film, I explore how autobiographical elements can be incorporated in an intentional way, setting out to dissolve the artificial boundaries that all too often separate the musical score from its recreation.

—Seán Morgan-Rooney

OCTOBER 2025

Departure Duo
Nina Guo, soprano, Edward Kass, double bass
Studio performance: Saturday, October 11 at 7:30pm (Sun Hill Studio)

New works for soprano and double bass from a Jamaican Totentanz (Dance of Death) to the emotional realm of emojis to the cutting wit and humor of writer Dorothy Parker

To date, Nina and Edward have cataloged over 170 pieces as part of their “30x’30” project with the goal of finding 30 hours of soprano and double bass repertoire by 2030. Their Yellow Barn residency is held in preparation for Departure Duo’s second album, “Sharp Tongues” featuring commissions from a diverse group of composers. Ranging from a Jamaican Totentanz (Mikhail Johnson’s “Evil’s Peak”) to the emotional realm of emojis (Emily Koh’s “emojicons”), to the cutting wit and humor of writer Dorothy Parker (Sarah Gibson’s The Boys Are There), “Sharp Tongues” represents a collection of major contributions to a steadily growing repertoire.

Quartet Amizia
So Young Choi, Juliette Greer, violins; Rosemary Nelis, viola; Clara Abel, cello
Studio Performance: Monday, November 3, 2025 at 7:30pm (Sun Hill Studio)

An exploration and performance of Robert Schumann’s String Quartet in F Major, Op.41 No.2

NOVEMBER 2025

Sarah Rommel, cello
The Arioso Project
Big Barn performance: Thursday, November 13 at 7:30pm (The Big Barn)—Request tickets

James Simon's Arioso for solo cello, with new works by five composers (Derrick Skye, Kian Ravaei, Hilary Purrington, Aftab Darvishi, and Rene Orth) that reflect on themes of creativity under oppression and in the context of more relevant and contemporary understandings of adversity

James Simon (1880-1944) was a brilliant pianist and composer whose works are still being unearthed and discovered today. Despite several opportunities to emigrate during World War II, Simon was so devoted to Germany that he remained in his homeland during the war, a decision that would eventually claim his life in the gas chambers of Auschwitz in 1944. It was observed that moments before his death he was seen jotting down what would be the last music he would ever contribute to this world. James Simon’s Ariosofor solo cello, the manuscript of which is currently in the permanent collection of the University of Washington, was written in 1929 and dedicated to the cellist Eva Heinitz. Heinitz emigrated to the United States, eventually making her way to Seattle in 1948 where she would become a much respected and well-known cello professor.

This project aims to make the first commercial recording of Arioso, and to introduce it as an important part of the solo cello canon. Through five commissioned works, it also explores tension and dialogue from the past and connects it to the present, and provides a platform for early-career composers. This project is being supported and funded by the Royalty Research Fund at the University of Washington, the Barlow Foundation, and a private patron with fiscal sponsorship through the American Composers Forum.

—Sarah Rommel

DECEMBER 2025

Seth Knopp, piano; Katherine Yoon, violin; Gerard Flotats, cello
Mozart, Beethoven, and Brahms: Form and Invention 
Studio performance: Friday, December 12 at 7:30pm (Sun Hill Studio)—Inquire about available seats

A performance of Beethoven’s Piano Trio in E-flat Major, Op.70 No. 2, with movements from Mozart’s Piano Trio in E Major, K.542 and Brahms’s Piano Trio in B Major, Op.8

Please Note: This performance will be the culmination of a weeklong exploration of form and listening. Those attending the performance will have the opportunity to participate in three workshops devoted to those pieces. (Workshop dates and times to be announced)

Ize Trio
Chase Morrin, piano; George Lernis, percussion; Naseem Alatrash, cello
Big Barn performance: Friday, December 19 at 7:30pm (The Big Barn)—Request tickets

Original arrangements of traditional Arabic songs from Palestine and Cyprus

Ize Trio is a multi-cultural ensemble drawing influences from Jazz, Classical, and Middle Eastern Music. Our upcoming album “The Global Suites” features original music dedicated to important social causes that unite our trio. Through this residency, we will further the mission of the trio, continuing to hone the nuances of our playing and connection through arranging traditional Arabic songs from Naseem’s home of Palestine and George’s home of Cyprus. In addition, we intend to draw inspiration from these songs and create new compositions inspired by the musical rules that govern them..

—Chase Morrin

JANUARY 2026

Daniel Chong, violin; Jessica Bodner, viola; Daniel Anastasio, piano
with poet Naomi Shihab Nye
Big Barn performance: Saturday, January 31 at 3pm (The Big Barn)—Request tickets

Daniel Chong and Jessica Bodner, both members of the Parker Quartet, are joined by pianist Daniel Anastasio and poet Naomi Shihab Nye for a program of music and poetry in conversation. Blending moments of reflection with bursts of playfulness, this unique collaboration seeks to reveal a new perspective on the emotional core of each piece—musical and poetic—through thoughtful juxtaposition. This program will feature works by Brahms, Bach, Ives, Rebecca Clarke, and Tessa Lark, among others.

FEBRUARY 2026

Lost Precisely
Tomoki Park and Christine Wu, pianos
with composer Andrés Martínez de Velasco

The newly commissioned Lost Precisely, by Andrés Martínez de Velasco with projected text by Ruby Bilger, tells the humorous story of two pianists who become lost in the concert hall where they are scheduled to perform. In the narrative, they find themselves in an Escher-like building where stairs, corridors, and even fire escapes mysteriously lead back to their starting point. As their disorientation grows, so does their panic, fury, and desperation. These trials are mirrored in the music that the real-life pianists perform, creating a layered, self-referential concert experience.

Please Note: There is no public event associated with this Artist Residency.

MARCH 2026

Emely Phelps, piano
with composer Tyson Gholston Davis
Studio recording (Sun Hill Studio)

Emely Phelps returns to Yellow Barn to complete recording her solo album, which includes Ruth Crawford Seeger’s preludes from the 1920’s and Elliott Carter’s 1945 piano sonata, as well as the first recordings of two new works: one by Robert McClure, which was written for Phelps, and a new co-commission from Tyson Gholston Davis.

APRIL 2026

Rachel Schutz, soprano
Xak Bjerken, piano
Studio recording (Sun Hill Studio)

Rachel Schutz returns for the second part of her Artist Residency and completes her recording of 20^th- and 21^st-century Welsh Art Song.

MAY 2026

Katie Lui, viola
with composer Emily Liushen
Studio recording (Sun Hill Studio)

Body Caprices (2026) are a set of five caprices for solo viola that draws from the rich history of the solo string “capriccio” to explore instabilities within human internal systems. The caprice, as a musical form, is defined by its reluctance to obey form itself. Inspired by the stormy, dynamic, and structurally unpredictable violin caprices of George Rochberg, Grażyna Bacewicz, John Corigliano, and Niccolò Paganini, the Body Caprices for viola explore the capriciousness and fragility of the human body.