“I wanted the cycle to be a feminist statement showcasing the range, power, beauty and acrobatic agility of the soprano voice in varied texts from dramatic to comic to embody a “she” who is liberated, outspoken yet, witty and vulnerable. The speaker in A Note confesses to a mischievous meal ‘the morning after’ and hints at the residue of carnal pleasure.

The last song of a five-song cycle based on the texts from VITA NOVA by Dante Alighieri, which describes his love for and loss of Beatrice Portinari. Dante's prose in La Vita Nova provided the foundation for the modernization of the then medieval Italian language.

The first song of Noa Ain's three-song cycle which describes her personal experience with breast cancer. Lyrics: You kissed my breast good-bye, pursed your lips for the last time. Your sweetness flowed, flowed into the pain above my heart, Protecting it, protecting me. I thought I saw you smiling strangely. Rehearsal now. Tomorrow they will cut it off. Three months from now we will hardly remember how it used to be. Mmm.

Soho Salon: Trudy Craney & Gary Kessler

La Vie en Rose SPEKTRUM

"Laps" by Dominique Lemaitre

A live recording of the world premiere of "LAPS", a chamber work by French composer Dominique Lemaitre, written for Bach & Forth Chamber Ensemble, with soprano Trudy Craney, Linda DiMartino Wetherill, flute; Terry Keevil, oboe; Rebecca Perea, cello; and Thomas Bohlert, piano. This performance took place in May 2015 in NYC.

The work consists of three connected "periods," during which the wind instruments and cello weave a texture by layering or falling away, while it's course is marked by interventions of the piano. Note that the soprano part, consisting of phonemes, is incorporated into the whole writing, while the piano part plays the role of initiator and even scout. Sometimes, as in an imaginary archaeology of sound, fragments of ancient chants, forgotten or lost, seem to emerge out of the motion of sound.

Nixon In China: Act II Scene 2b - I'm the Wife of Mao Zedong

John Adams's first opera Nixon In China (1985-7), produced by Peter Sellars, with libretto by Alice Goodman, about the visit of Richard Nixon to China in 1972, where he met with Mao Zedong and other Chinese officials. Act II Ending - Madam Mao desires to save the peasants at all costs leading her to become more brutal than the landlord was in the first place. Eventually, a riot develops on stage with Chou and Madam Mao on opposite sides - the opera has become a rerun of the Cultural Revolution. - Quote from Lyrics: (Chiang Ch'ing 江青)"I am the wife of Mao Tse-Tung who raised the weak above the strong. When I appear[,] the people hang upon my words".