Announcing The Refrain: a Monodrama and Three Gibbous Songs Commissioning Consortium for voice and piano or voice, piano, viola, and bass clarinet!
ABOUT THE PIECE
The Refrain and Three Gibbous Songs is a cycle of four vocal works chronicling the transformation of a human to werewolf and back again, the beauty and drive of the wolf, and the nature of the night. The works—The Refrain, “More than Half but Less than Full”—which uses a motif from an actual wolf call—”Waxing,” and “Transfigured (in the) Night”—can be performed in any order or combination. The full cycle will run about 25 minutes.
CONSORTIUM DETAILS
Composer: Samantha Hogan
Librettist: Kendra Preston Leonard
Deadline to Join: January 31, 2025
Difficulty level: Moderate
Length: 25 minutes
Rates: Full score and parts: $100 for professionals, $70 for students; piano-vocal score only: $45 for professionals, $30 for students.
Email Kendra at kendraleonard@pm.me to join.
CONSORTIUM MEMBER BENEFITS
PDF of score and parts delivered by September 1, 2025.
One hour of Zoom workshopping or consultation with the creators.
One year exclusivity window to premiere the piece between September 1, 2025 and August 31, 2026.
Your name listed in score and program notes as a commissioner.
The right to list yourself as commissioning consortium member in programs and announcements.
ABOUT THE COMPOSER
Samantha Hogan hails from Western New York and currently resides in the Twin Cities, MN. She earned her Bachelor’s degree from Youngstown State University, OH in Music Composition under the tutelage of Dr. Dave Morgan and Robert Rollin, as well as Trombone with John Olsson and Mike Crist. She has also studied composition independently with Scott Pfitzinger and Gwen Rollin while in school.
Sam is influenced by many styles of music including classical, rock, jazz, video game, and film music. These influences give her music a dramatic, yet buoyant feel to her pieces. Most recently she has enjoyed playing trombone the community jazz ensemble, the West Wind Swing Band, Twin Cities Brass Band, The Minneapolis Trombone Choir, and also Coffoa Brass, a chamber brass ensemble of which she is a co-founder.
As a composer, she has had many successful premieres with both the Youngstown New Music Society Festival Orchestra where her piece, Eclectic Images was performed in 2013. She also collaborated with her brother in the rock song Walking Dead, featured in the motion picture B.O.Y.D. in 2010 as well as being a participant at the St. Mary’s Composition Intensive where she was able to study with the faculty, Zae Munn, Joshua Marquez, Michael Schelle, Kristen Kuster, and Jay Batzner. Her piano solo Cumulus Humilis was recorded by Pianist Avguste Antonov and put on his solo album, An American Journey.
Samantha recently composed a score for the MNKino Film Festival in Minneapolis, MN. She collaborated with Beth Peloff of Green Jeans Media to create a film score for the animated short Blob’s Adventure (2017). The soundtrack was performed live while the short was projected for the audience to watch. Sam also had a short composition performed at a Fifteen Minutes of Fame concert by the Third Wheel Trio where her piece Lonely Waltz was performed alongside other new music compositions from other composers. She was also a composer in residence at Henryville High School in Indiana for the premiere of her band work Reverence in the spring of 2016. She spent her residence working with students on both the piece and teaching them about composition.
Through her experiences, Samantha has become an eclectic and versatile composer, who aims to explore as many areas of music as possible. She especially enjoys working with individual performers and groups to write pieces that highlight their sound and abilities as well as fulfilling their musical desires. Her intent is to create new music that inspires and educates the listener and performer alike. When not composing, she can be found performing music on a multitude of instruments or exploring nature. Sam also enjoys learning and reading about new subjects whenever she can. After all, the moment you stop learning is the moment you stop living.
Sam looks forward to working on new compositions and collaborations. For more information, visit https://samanthahogan.com/.
CONSORTIUM MEMBERS
Lisa Neher
