For Violin and Chamber Orchestra with The Keweenaw Symphony Orchestra, Cori Somers, violin – Recorded at the Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts, Houghton, MI (2002).
The composition opens with a slow, suspicious tone characterized by low notes of a cello. Slowly, violin begins to emerge and raspy flute notes increase the tones of suspicion. Everything ceases. Low and slow cello notes begin again. A clarinet, low and quiet, hums. A slow and reserved melody is introduced and the violin whines. Whimsical flute pairs with a high-pitched violin, and tempo increases slightly. Flute makes long and slow notes, spiraling downwards. A whining violin follows. Everything ceases. Cello and violin pair to create a foreboding sound. Violin continues to whine. Flute is reintroduced and plays a hopeful melody. Violin harmonizes for a hopeful melody. Everything ceases. Violin restarts with slow and low notes, slowly increasing the tempo once joined by long, melodic flute notes. Violin continues to increase the tempo, with a lingering, high-pitched whistle from the flute. Suddenly, violin breaks into a fast, fiddle-like song. Intensity increases. Violin hits high notes complemented by repeated, short symbols. Then, everything slows. Violin solo creates a wheezy, slow melody. The composition then takes a more somber tone, with rotating between low and slow violin notes and fast and high violin notes. The composition concludes with long and slow solo violin notes. A crowd claps for the performance.
Dollar Bay Loons
NPS
Isle Royale Reflection
"Although it has been almost 20 years, my Artist Residency at Isle Royale remains for me one of the most important influences on the development of my creative life and has had an immense impact on the composer I am today.
As a result of this residency, I left my life in Chicago and moved to the U.P. and here I have made my home and art and have become a part of the creative fabric of the beautiful artistic community that exists here. I am forever grateful to have had this opportunity."
- Libby Meyer, December 2018
Libby Meyer
About the Artist
Libby Meyer is a composer whose work reflects the natural rhythms and patterns of the world around her. Her music including chamber, orchestral, choral, wind symphony, film, dance and theater has been commissioned and performed throughout the United States.
Libby has served as Composer-in-Residence at Isle Royale National Park (August 17th to September 1st, 1999) and the Visby International Center for Composers (Sweden). She has received awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, The Jackson Center for Teaching and Learning, The Michigan Tech Research Excellence Fund, The Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs, The Sorel Foundation and The American Composers Forum.
Recent projects include a new score for 1925 film The Red Kimona released by Kino Films in November of 2018 and Lakescape commissioned by the Keweenaw Symphony (funded by the National Endowment for the Arts) in honor of the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service. In spring of 2019 a CD of choral works will be recorded with Capella Clausura at WGBH Studios in Boston.
Libby lives in Hancock township with her husband Evan, a Pyrenees Mountain dog named Humphrey, a secretive cat named Fern and thousands of honey bees. She holds a DMA in Music Composition from Northwestern University and is a Lecturer in Music Theory/Composition at Michigan Tech University. Recordings of Libby’s music can be found on her personal webpage.
