Marilyn Herman is a composer with a strong folk and jazz, as well as classical, background. Her compositions have been characterised as "jazz-classical", and are also deeply influenced by various world musics. She has researched, published, performed and danced Ethiopian and Yemenite music. Her works have been performed by top class musicians & singers - recently, recitals of "Rozsa's Wish" & "The Angel of Chomutov" were video-recorded at Exeter College Chapel, Oxford, under the baton of Karin Hendrickson, and streamed at an event at the Jewish Museum in London. In 2022, "100 Full Moons of Autumn" was commissioned by LSO Soundhub, and performed by LSO players and a jazz and classical singer at LSO St Luke's. Other highlights include a number of world premieres performed by superb musicians at 7 London New Winds Festivals. "Transcarpathia" was developed after being selected for a PRS workshop with John Woolrich, with the Berkeley Ensemble under the baton of Quentin Poole. "Swing Abeba" and "On Raglan Road" received a U.S. premiere at the IAWM 20th Anniversary Online Congress. Her current projects include planning a holocaust-themed concert to include her trilogy: "Transcarpathia", "Rozsa's Wish" & "The Angel of Chomutov".
Recordings
SCORES
SWING ABEBA for solo bassoon can be purchased here:
https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/swing-abeba-digital-sheet-music/22258506
GEORGIA for solo piano can be purchased here:
https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/georgia-digital-sheet-music/22516814
For other scores, please contact
Marilyn Herman on this website.
LIST OF WORKS
Performed Classical Compositions
The Light of a New Day for bassoon & piano
Commissioned by Abi Adam, bassoonist.
Liel & Yanai For flute & clarinet
Performed at the London New Winds Festival Spring Concert 2024, at Heath Street Baptist Church, London.
When I was on a meditation retreat in Israel some years ago, throughout the hours, days, culminating in perhaps 10 days of silence and meditation, a bird which I never managed to see, could be heard clearly and loudly, repeating four notes.
At this time, in the south of same country, twins Liel and Yanai Hetzroni were toddlers.
At the age of 12, they were both tragically murdered in the massacre of 7/10 on Kibbutz Be'eri, where they had lived since birth. I have dedicated this work to them.
The antiphonal sections in this work are interspersed with two playful sections in which the flute and clarinet are in synchronization. The birdsong phrase makes its first appearance after the first playful section, and recurs throughout much of the piece, mainly given to the flute in response to the longer lines of the clarinet.
100 Full Moons of Autumn
For flutes, clarinets, cello, percussion, soprano and jazz alto.
Commissioned by LSO Soundhub, & performed at LSO St Luke's on 15th June 2022.
Rozsa's Wish For mezzo-soprano, flute, harp/piano, 2 violins, viola, cello, double bass.
Performed & recorded at Exeter College Chapel, Oxford on 6th December 2021.
The Angel of Chomutov. For soprano, French horn, harp/piano, 2 violins, viola, cello & double bass.
Performed & recorded at Exeter College Chapel, Oxford on 6th December 2021.
Tizita for Aklilu For flute, oboe, clarinet, French horn, cello & double bass, performed at the
London New Wind Festival, December 2021
Noites da Floresta Goiana For wind quintet and piano,
21st London New Winds Festival 2018
Vocalise For flute, oboe and clarinet in Bb,
Concert of Music by Contemporary Women Composers for Winds and Piano,
Iklectic Art Lab, London, March 2017
Transcarpathia For clarinet in Bb, bassoon, 2 violins, viola, cello and double bass.
Performed by the Berkeley Ensemble conducted by Quentin Poole,
PRS: 'Piecing It Together’, January 2017.
On Raglan Road For soprano, electric guitar & Irish bodhrán.
Words by Patrick Kavanagh
Recorded performance by Denise Alonzo (soprano), Nick Fitch (electric guitar)
& Ed Dunlop (bodhrán)
Streamed at the IAWM (International Alliance of Women in Music)
20th Anniversary Online Congress, April 2015.
Also performed at The Loft, Crouch End, June 2006.
I composed this work at the request of soprano Denise Alonzo who had the idea that rock guitar can sound very operatic. Therefore, in this work, the relationship between the voice and the electric guitar does not comply to that usually found between voice and instrument, in which the latter accompanies, and is subordinate to, the former. Sometimes the voice is accompanied by the guitar, and sometimes the guitar is accompanied by the voice. At other times, the two are intertwined contrapuntally, or in a conversational, or imitative relationship. There are also guitar solos based on climactic screaming rock. Meanwhile, the bodhran improvises within set parameters, particularly under the guitar drones providing their rhythmic context.
Denise Alonzo came up with the words, and since they are Irish I have given the melodic, rhythmic and formal aspects of the work a character strongly influenced by Irish folk music. This connects with heavy rock, and minimalism which appears in one of the guitar solos.
There are four verses, and each is treated differently, with interludes, although combined into a coherent whole, so that work resembles is a song-cycle rather than a single song.
Swing Abeba For solo bassoon.
Performed by Glyn Williams at the 17th New Winds Festival, London, November 2014,
Recorded performance by John McDougall streamed at IAWM Online Congress, April 2015.
Performed by Abi Adam at Arthur Conan Doyle Centre, Edinburgh. November 2021.
Michal 06 For solo clarinet in Bb
Performed by Phil Edwards at the10th & 18th London New Wind Festivals, 2007 & 2015 Also performed by Ralph Lane at Concert in Aid of Refugees, All Saints Church, Hertford, 2016.
Georgia For piano.
Can be performed as a classical or jazz piece.
Performed by Sasha Valeri Millwood at the 25th London New Winds Festival October 2021.
Above Me Broods For SATB chorus and piano.
Performed by Cambridge Voices at Cambridge Buddhist Centre, 2013.
Reaching Beyond For string quartet
Performed by The Impromptu String Quartet, at Lauderdale House, London, October 2012
& by The Trelawn Quartet at Middlesex University, 2005.
At One For trumpet in Bb and string quartet
Performed by Clare Thorn (trumpet) & The Impromptu String Quartet at Lauderdale House, October 2012
Na-ava For trumpet in Bb and string quartet
Performed by Clare Thorn (trumpet) & The Impromptu String Quartet
at Lauderdale House, October 2012
Dance of Triumph For soprano and piano Words by Denise Alonzo.
Performed by Denise Alonzo (soprano) & Elizabeth Challenger (piano) at Lauderdale House, October 2012
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