Stories for Spring Street Social Society

From 2015 to 2018, I created various exhilarating, surprising, very-fun-to-make music-story works with a wonderful mix of collaborators, all commissioned for events put on by Spring Street Social Society. These included:

• A sung tale for three singers and an accordion, interweaving three tales about the NYC blackout during Hurricane Sandy (created with Ian Axness). You can hear this one in the Soundcloud file to the right. Performed in an abandoned old bank in the financial district.

• A gothic mini-opera for two singers and piano inspired by an Isak Dinesen tale and Don Giovanni (created with Ian Axness, directed by Andrew Scoville). Performed in the banquet hall of a creepy midtown hotel.

• A pop-up sung rondo for three singers and guitar, in tribute to the concept of ornament, sung around dinner tables (created with Ian Axness)

• A set of original tales in tribute to Swedish folklore performed in a private vodka hall in Chelsea.

• A music piece telling three original sexy ghost stories for the tourism department of Bermuda (created with Jeanna Phillips and Alex Thrailkill)

• An original tale about a sailor and a Trinity Church Choir boy told at a dinner on the deck of the Wavertree Sailing Ship at South Street Seaport (directed by Andrew Scoville)

And more.

(the above sample: A Hurricane Blackout Tale.
Libretto by Ian Axness and James Harrison Monaco
Music by Ian Axness
Vocal melodies / setting by Ian Axness and James Harrison Monaco
Performed by Molly McAdoo, Ronald Peet, and Angela Sclafani.
Spring 2015)