Program Notes

“Reid, in a word, has arrived,” proclaimed the Los Angeles Times when composer Ellen Reid’s opera p r i s m received its world premiere by Los Angeles Opera in 2018. Reid’s work would go on to receive the 2019 Pulitzer Prize in Music, confirming her presence as one of the leading compositional voices of her generation. Recipient of a BFA from Columbia University and an MA from California Institute of the Arts, Reid has effectively nurtured a bi-coastal career, splitting her time between Los Angeles and New York. Her breadth of work spans opera, sound design, film scoring, and ensemble and choral writing. Along with composer Missy Mazzoli, she co-founded the Luna Composition Lab, a mentorship program for young, female-identifying, non-binary, and gender non-conforming composers. She has served as Creative Advisor and Composer-in-Residence for the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra since fall 2019. 

Ellen Reid offers the following on Fear / Release:

Fear / Release is about reframing the familiar in a new light. The composition is built around a five-note phrase that is echoed and developed in both melodic and textural ways. To create a sense of hyper resonance and spatialization, no note is struck by itself; each hit is doubled by another player on a different but similar instrument. Fear / Release was commissioned by the Los Angeles Percussion Quartet to be recorded for Sono Luminus in surround sound.