Compositora do Mês: Ellen Reid (1983)

Biografia:

A compositora e artista sonora Ellen Reid nasceu em Oak Ridge, Tennessee, em 1983. Estudou piano desde a infância, cantou em coros da Igreja Metodista e participou de grupos de percussão da escola, quando fez o High School. Formou-se Bacharel em Artes na Columbia University e concluiu Mestrado no California Institute of the Arts. Atualmente trabalha e se divide entre New York e Los Angeles, onde atua na composição de óperas, design de som, trilhas sonoras, peças para câmara e para coral.

Entre as trilhas que produziu, estão Buster’s Mal Heart, filme de Sarah A. Smith; The Midnight Swim, da mesma diretora e roteirista; e She gone rogue, de Rhys Ernse e Zackary Drucker. Este último recebeu Prêmio do Juri na categoria  Outstanding Experimental Short no Outfest de 2013.

Ellen se tornou a primeira compositora a ter, no espaço de um ano, obras premiadas pelas quatro principais instituições musicais de Los Angeles: Filarmônica de Los Angeles, LA Opera, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra e Los Angeles Master Chorale.   Entre outras produções, teve sua peça de câmara Push/Pull apresentada em Nebraska, no Opera Omaha, por ocasião do ONE Festival. Outras obras que ganharam projeção foram Petrichor, cuja estreia mundial esteva a cargo da Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra em 2018, e Dreams of the New World, estreada pelo Los Angeles Master Chorale juntamente com o conjunto de câmara Wild Up. Sua ópera P R I S M, que aborda os efeitos psicológicos de uma mulher vítima de agressão sexual, teve estreia mundial no LA Opera em 2018, após ser apresentada no Urbana-Champaign’s Lyric Theater com workshop realizado na University of Illinois.

Ellen já realizou trabalhos para a New York Philharmonic, e colaborou com Janet Cardiff e George Bures Miller em uma instalação de som para o Walt Disney Concert Hall da LA Phil. Foi nomeada Conselheira Criativa e Compositora-Residente da Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra em 2019, atividade que tem duração prevista de três anos.

Juntamente com a compositora Missy Mazzoli, Ellen é co-fundadora do Luna Composition Lab, um programa voltado à mentoria de jovens compositoras, não-binárias e não-conformes de gênero.

Composições:

Ellen estudou Musicologia e Sociologia da Música. Questões como raça e gênero aparecem em suas composições. Seu trabalho na universidade foi sobre o Jazz no Lincoln Center, sob orientação de George Lewis. Inicialmente, pensava em se tornar etnomusicóloga. A autora relembra o professor George lhe perguntando por que seguia escrevendo textos em vez de música, o que a motivou a passar estas discussões para o âmbito sonoro. A influência de uma bom conselho vindo de um(a) professor(a) podem ter lhe inspirado a compor o musical Captain, my Captain, baseado na obra “Sociedade dos Poetas Mortos”.

O machismo e a violência contra a mulher, por exemplo, são temas da ópera P R I S M, para coro, pequena orquestra e mídia eletrônica. Esta obra daria o Prêmio Pulitzer de Música à compositora em 2019, vindo a ser apresentada no Brasil no mesmo ano.  Por sua vez, Dreams of the New World narra, em 3 movimentos que duram aproximadamente 40 minutos, uma viagem pelo oeste estadunidense enfocando, principalmente, as cidades de Memphis, Los Angeles e Houston. A compositora ambienta esta narrativa nos anos 1890, 1970 e nos dias atuais, refletindo sobre temas como a expansão para o Oeste, o homem fronteiriço e o chamado Sonho Americano.

Em relação à parte estritamente musical, Ellen diz que pensa em cores para escolher a instrumentação e os timbres que quer obter. Gosta de fazer coisas diferentes entre si de uma peça para outra. Para Petricor, por exemplo, pensou na cor verde escura para recriar uma espécie de evergreen. Em outras peças escolhe cores diferentes para movimentos distintos, cujas partituras tem trechos realmente pintados. Utiliza purpurina e colagem também, para visualizar as texturas e efeitos imaginados. Pensa em paisagens reais para criar as paisagens sonoras.

Para conhecer sua obra:

Dreams of the New World. Libretto: Sarah LaBrie. UCI Chamber Singers, Seth Houston (regente),  Yuliya Minina (pianista). Disponível em: https://ellenreid.bandcamp.com/album/uc-irvine-workshop-of-dreams-of-the-new-world.

She gone rogue (para piano preparado). Disponível em: https://ellenreidmusic.com/work/she-gone-rogue/.

The Midnight Swim. Trailer do filme com trilha de Ellen Reid. Disponível em: https://ellenreidmusic.com/work/the-midnight-swim/.

P R I S M. Libretto de Roxie Perkins. Disponível em: https://ellenreidmusic.com/work/p-r-i-s-m/.

Mais informação:

Site da compositora. Disponível em: https://ellenreidmusic.com/.

Dreams of the New World. Entrevista com a compositora, Sarah LaBrie e Sayd Randle. Disponível em: https://youtu.be/hpeeeC-QDoM

Luna Composition Lab. Site da instituição criada por Ellen Reid e Missy Mazzoli. Disponível em: https://www.kaufmanmusiccenter.org/page/luna-lab/.

Review: With Ellen Reid’s incandescent ‘prism,’ an opera composer is born. Artigo do The New York Times. Disponível em: https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/la-et-cm-ellen-reid-prism-review-20181130-story.html.

Composer of the Month: Ellen Reid (1983)

Biography:

Composer and sound artist Ellen Reid was born in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, in 1983. She studied piano since childhood, sang in Methodist Church choirs, and participated in school percussion groups when she attended high school. She became Bachelor of Arts in the Columbia University and got a Masters degree from the California Institute of the Arts. She currently works and lives between New York and Los Angeles, where she works in opera composition, sound design, soundtracks, chamber and choral pieces.

Among the tracks she produced are Buster’s Mal Heart, Sarah A. Smith's film; The Midnight Swim, by the same director and screenwriter; and She gone rogue, by Rhys Ernse and Zackary Drucker. The latter received the Jury Prize in the Outstanding Experimental Short category at the 2013 Outfest.

Ellen became the first songwriter to have, within the space of a year, awarded works by the four major Los Angeles musical institutions: Los Angeles Philharmonic, LA Opera, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and Los Angeles Master Chorale. Among other productions, she had her Push / Pull chamber piece performed in Nebraska at the Opera Omaha on the occasion of ONE Festival. Other winning works were Petrichor, whose world premiere was held by the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra in 2018, and Dreams of the New World, premiered by the Los Angeles Master Chorale along with the Wild Up chamber ensemble. Her opera PRISM, which features the psychological effects on a female victim of sexual assault, made her world premiere at the LA Opera in 2018 after being presented at the Urbana-Champaign's Lyric Theater with a workshop held at the University of Illinois.

Ellen has composed for the New York Philharmonic, and collaborated with Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller on a sound installation for LA Phil's Walt Disney Concert Hall. She was named Creative Advisor and Resident Composer of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra in 2019, which is expected to last three years.

Together with songwriter Missy Mazzoli, Ellen is co-founder of Luna Composition Lab, a mentoring program for young, non-binary, non-conforming young composers.

Compositions:

Ellen studied Musicology and Sociology of Music. Questions such as race and gender appear in her compositions. Her final paper at the university was on jazz at the Lincoln Center, under the guidance of George Lewis. Initially, she considered becoming an ethnomusicologist. The author recalls Professor George asking her why she kept writing texts instead of music, which motivated her to move these discussions to the sound field. The influence of good advice from a teacher may have inspired her to compose the musical Captain, my Captain, based on the oeuvre “Society of the Dead Poets”.

Machismo and violence against women, for example, are themes of the opera PRISM, for choir, small orchestra and electronic media. This work would give the composer a Pulitzer Prize for Music in 2019, being presented in Brazil in the same year. In turn, Dreams of the New World narrates, in three movements that last approximately 40 minutes, a trip through the American West focusing mainly on the cities of Memphis, Los Angeles and Houston. The composer sets this narrative in the 1890s, 1970s and today, reflecting on themes such as the westward expansion, the frontier man and the so-called American Dream.

Regarding the strictly musical part, Ellen says she thinks of colors to choose the instrumentation and the tones she wants to get. She likes to do different things from one piece to another. For Petricor, for example, she thought of dark green to recreate a kind of evergreen. In other pieces she chooses different colors for different movements, whose scores have really painted passages. She uses glitter and collage as well, to visualize imagined textures and effects. Think of real landscapes to create soundscapes.

To know her work:

Dreams of the New World. Libretto: Sarah LaBrie. UCI Chamber Singers, Seth Houston (conductor),  Yuliya Minina (pianist). Available at: https://ellenreid.bandcamp.com/album/uc-irvine-workshop-of-dreams-of-the-new-world.

She gone rogue (for prepared piano). Available at:  https://ellenreidmusic.com/work/she-gone-rogue/.

The Midnight Swim. Trailler of film with Ellen Reid’s track. Available at: https://ellenreidmusic.com/work/the-midnight-swim/.

P R I S M. Libretto by Roxie Perkins. Available at: https://ellenreidmusic.com/work/p-r-i-s-m/.

More information:

Composer’s site. Available at: https://ellenreidmusic.com/.

Dreams of the New World. Interview with the composer, Sarah LaBrie e Sayd Randle. Available at: https://youtu.be/hpeeeC-QDoM.

Luna Composition Lab. Site of the institution founded by Ellen Reid e Missy Mazzoli. Available at: https://www.kaufmanmusiccenter.org/page/luna-lab/.

Review: With Ellen Reid’s incandescent ‘prism,’ an opera composer is born. From The New York Times. Available at: https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/la-et-cm-ellen-reid-prism-review-20181130-story.html.