Vineet Shende (1972- )
Vineet
Shende’s work has been called "startlingly intense and vivid"
(Boston
Musical Intelligencer). It often deals with conceptual issues of
timbral development, structural order, and the Japanese
aesthetic
concept of ma ("active" space and time). Shende’s music
incorporates a
wide variety of styles, including the modal and rhythmic world
of North
Indian classical music, the visceral energy of rock music, and a
harmonic language described as "hard to characterize, dissonant
in some
places and with celestial harmonies in others, but unusually
accessible" (Maine Sunday Telegram). His music has been
performed
throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia, and has brought
him
recognition in the form of awards, fellowships, and grants from
such
organizations as ASCAP and the Mellon Foundation. Recent
premieres have
included Naimittika Pralaya
for double string orchestra and prepared
piano, commissioned by the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, and
Three
Longfellow Poems for soprano soloist, two choirs and
orchestra,
commissioned by the Portland Symphony Orchestra. Ensembles such
as the
American Modern Ensemble, the Boston Modern Orchestra Project,
the
Cassatt String Quartet, the Aeolian Chamber Players, and the
National
Symphony Orchestra have all recently performed Shende’s music.
Recent
recordings (on the New Focus label) include the "vigorous and
sassy"
(Gramophone Magazine) Throw
Down or Shut Up! on Flexible Music’s debut album FM, and the "particularly
outstanding" (American Record Guide) Sonetos de amor performed by soprano Elizabeth
Weigle and guitarist Daniel Lippel on Lippel’s album Sustenence.
Shende's principal composition teachers have been Steven
Stucky,
Roberto Sierra, Michael Schelle, and Jonathan Chenette. He has
also
studied music with sitar virtuoso Ustad Usman Khan and
conducting with
Stanley DeRusha and Scott Tucker. Shende is an Associate
Professor of
Music at Bowdoin College, where he oversees the composition
program and
teaches courses in composition, electronic music, orchestration,
music
theory, music history, and Asian music. He is a member of ASCAP,
and a
charter member of Score Board, the Boston Modern Orchestra
Project’s
composer advisory organization.COMPOSITIONS Shende Links ~ ~ ~ Works by Genre ~ ~ ~ Shende on Shende
Memorial for a Sarajevan Orphan, orchestra (1993)
Tempest, orchestra (1993)
Les Plaintes d’un Icare, chorus (1994) [text: Charles Baudelaire]
Three Miniatures, guitar (1994)
String Quartet (1995)
Five Poems of William Carlos Williams, soprano and piano (1996) [text: William Carlos Williams]
Dark Carillon, orchestra (1996)
Romance, violin and piano (1997)
Lucy, baritone and chamber orchestra (1997-98) [text: William Wordsworth]
Two American Folksongs, female chorus [SSA] (1998) [text: trad.]
Fantasia on "Son de la loma", clarinet, violin, cello and piano (1998)
Struwwelpeterlieder, soprano and piano (1998-1999) [text: Heinrich Hoffmann]
Gloria, double chorus (1999)
O Aula Nobilis, chorus and chamber ensemble [brass qnt, 4 perc] (1999) [text: anon.]
Sonata, solo cello (1999-2000)
Seven Mirrors, string quartet (2000)
Snarl, chamber ensemble [fl, ob, cl, bsn, hn, tpt, trom, 2 perc, pf, 2 vln, va, vc, db] (2000)
- Snarl, chamber ensemble [fl, ob, cl, bsn, hn, tpt, trom, perc, pf, 2 vln, va, vc, db] (2007, rev. vers.)
Much Ado About Nothing, incidental music [cl, gtr, 2 sop, alto, perc, db] (2000) [for Ian Wooldridge production]
To Musique, female chorus [SSA] (2000) [text: Robert Herrick]
- To Musique, female chorus [SSA] (2002, rev, version) [text: Robert Herrick]
Vayu, woodwind quintet [fl, ob, cl, hn, bsn] (2001)
Prelude No. 1: Echoes, piano (2001)
East West, incidental music [recorder, lute, guitar, sitar, tabla & perc] (2002) [for adapt. of Salman Rushdie short stories]
Prelude No. 10: Washington Square Soliloquies, piano (2002)
Razzle, orchestra (2003)
Sonetos de amor, soprano and guitar (2003) [text: Pablo Neruda]
Janmatse Sarthak, chorus (2004) [text: traditional Marathi]
"…and round thy phantom glue my clasping arms", piano quintet [piano, 2 vln, va, vc] (2004)
Kiss Me in the Dark, short film score [str qt & electronics] (2005) [for silent film "Kiss Me in the Dark", Barry Gilbert, director]
Throw Down or Shut Up!, baritone sax, guitar, piano and percussion (2005; rev. 2007)
Music for a Summer Monsoon, alto flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano and percussion (2006)
Three Longfellow Poems, soprano, double chorus and orchestra (2008)
Vertical Tintal, violin and piano (2009)
Suite in Raag Marva, guitar (2010; rev. 2014)
Naimittika Pralaya, double string orchestra and prepared piano (2011)
…at the cusp of dawn, a breath, piano (2012)
Suryachi Saoli (Sun’s Shadow), piano and percussion [1 player] (2012)
Pravasa, Travels of the Guitar, chorus and guitar (2012-13) [texts: Pali, Persian, Chinese, and Arabic]
"...our last conversation was in Portuguese", wind ensemble and digital audio (2013)
And as to you, death, chorus [SSAATTBB] (2013) [text: Walt Whitman]
Thin Bits of Evidence, mezzo-soprano and string quartet (2014) [texts: Julie Gard]
Piano Concerto (2015)
String Quartet No. 2 (2015)
Five Doves, baritone and piano (2015) [text: Wallace Stevens]
WORKS BY GENRE Shende Links ~ ~ ~ Shende on Shende ~ top of page ~
Orchestra
Memorial for a Sarajevan Orphan, orchestra (1993)
Tempest, orchestra (1993)
Dark Carillon, orchestra (1996)
Razzle, orchestra (2003)
Naimittika Pralaya, double string orchestra and prepared piano (2011)
Soloist(s) w/Orchestra
Piano Concerto (2015)
Band/Wind Ensemble
"...our last conversation was in Portuguese", wind ensemble and digital audio (2013)
Chorus w/Orchestra
Three Longfellow Poems, soprano, double chorus and orchestra (2008)
- Daybreak
- The Warning
- The Occultation of Orion
Choral
Les Plaintes d’un Icare, chorus (1994) [text: Charles Baudelaire]
Two American Folksongs, female chorus [SSA] (1998) [text: trad.]
Gloria, double chorus (1999)
O Aula Nobilis, chorus and chamber ensemble [brass qnt, 4 perc] (1999) [text: anon.]
To Musique, female chorus [SSA] (2000) [text: Robert Herrick]
- To Musique, female chorus [SSA] (2002, rev, version) [text: Robert Herrick]
Janmatse Sarthak, chorus (2004) [text: traditional Marathi]
Pravasa, Travels of the Guitar, chorus and guitar (2012-13) [texts: Pali, Persian, Chinese, and Arabic]
And as to you, death, chorus [SSAATTBB] (2013) [text: Walt Whitman]
Chamber
String Quartet (1995)
Fantasia on "Son de la loma", clarinet, violin, cello and piano (1998)
Seven Mirrors, string quartet (2000)
Snarl, chamber ensemble [fl, ob, cl, bsn, hn, tpt, trom, 2 perc, pf, 2 vln, va, vc, db] (2000)
- Snarl, chamber ensemble [fl, ob, cl, bsn, hn, tpt, trom, perc, pf, 2 vln, va, vc, db] (2007, rev. vers.)
Vayu, woodwind quintet [fl, ob, cl, hn, bsn] (2001)
"…and round thy phantom glue my clasping arms", piano quintet [piano, 2 vln, va, vc] (2004)
Throw Down or Shut Up!, baritone sax, guitar, piano and percussion (2005; rev. 2007)
Music for a Summer Monsoon, alto flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano and percussion (2006)
Suryachi Saoli (Sun’s Shadow), piano and percussion [1 player] (2012)
String Quartet No. 2 (2015)
Instrument and Piano
Romance, violin and piano (1997)
Vertical Tintal, violin and piano (2009)
Solo Instrument
Three Miniatures, guitar (1994)
Sonata, solo cello (1999-2000)
Suite in Raag Marva, guitar (2010; rev. 2014)
Piano
Prelude No. 1: Echoes, piano (2001)
Prelude No. 10: Washington Square Soliloquies, piano (2002)
…at the cusp of dawn, a breath, piano (2012)
Suryachi Saoli (Sunshadow/Sun’s Shadow), piano and percussion [1 player] (2012)
Vocal
Five Poems of William Carlos Williams, soprano and piano (1996) [text: William Carlos Williams]
Lucy, baritone and chamber orchestra (1997-98) [text: William Wordsworth]
Struwwelpeterlieder, soprano and piano (1998-1999) [text: Heinrich Hoffmann]
Sonetos de amor, soprano and guitar (2003) [text: Pablo Neruda]
Three Longfellow Poems, soprano, double chorus and orchestra (2008)
- Daybreak
- The Warning
- The Occultation of Orion
Thin Bits of Evidence, mezzo-soprano and string quartet (2014) [texts: Julie Gard]
Five Doves, baritone and piano (2015) [text: Wallace Stevens]
Incidental/Film
Much Ado About Nothing, incidental music [cl, gtr, 2 sop, alto, perc, db] (2000) [for Ian Wooldridge production]
East West, incidental music [recorder, lute, guitar, sitar, tabla & perc] (2002) [for adapt. of Salman Rushdie short stories]
Kiss Me in the Dark, short film score [str qt & electronics] (2005) [for silent film "Kiss Me in the Dark", Barry Gilbert, director]
SHENDE LINKS Works by Genre ~ ~ ~ Shende on Shende ~ top of page ~
BMOP on Indian-Inspired Music (Sudeep Agarwala, The Boston Musical Intelligencer)
Flexible Music to Perform Vineet Shende's Work (Bowdoin.edu)
He Found Longfellow Positively Symphonic (Christopher Hyde, Portland Press Herald) - no longer online
Projecting the 'Spirit of India' (David Weininger, The Boston Globe)
Razzle: A Commission for the National Symphony Orchestra (Bowdoin.edu)
Shende Sounds Hopeful Note With Longfellow Poems (Bowdoin.edu)
Composer's website . . . contact Vineet Shende: here
Shende @ Boston Modern Orchestra Project also here
Shende @ Bowdoin College also here
Shende @ Classical Archives
Shende @ Facebook
Shende @ IMDb (Internet Movie Database)
Publisher
Shende @ Composer's website
Streaming Audio
Shende @ Bowdoin College
Shende @ Classical Archives
Shende @ Daniel Lippel - Guitarist
Recordings
Shende @ Amazon.com
Shende @ ArkivMusic
Shende @ CD Baby
Shende @ CD Universe
Shende @ DRAM Online
Shende @ Daniel Lippel - Guitarist
Shende @ New Focus Recordings
Video
Shende @ YouTube
~ top of page ~
Shende on Shende: Bowdoin's Composer of Note (streaming audio)
Composers
Speak on the Web at Pytheas~ click on composer picture to listen ~
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