Featured Composition
Vincent to Theo: An Artist’s Life
A song cycle for tenor and piano. Vincent van Gogh’s 4000-word letter to his brother, dated July 1880, offers insight into the artist’s struggles that plagued him throughout his life – loneliness, poverty, insecurity, and mental illness. This six-part song cycle includes: “Dear Theo,” “Passions,” “Appearances,” “Bird in a Cage,” “Illusions,” and “Friends and Brothers.”
Recent Works
As I See It
For tenor and piano. Three songs based on poems by Robert Louis Stevenson recalling childhood scenes – hearing a lecture on proper etiquette, playing with toy soldiers among the bed quilts, saying good bye to the summer’s farm vacation. (Audio & video performed by Michael Boley, tenor and Catherine Hamner, piano)
1. Good and Bad Children
2. The Land of the Counterpane
3. Farewell to the Farm
Up in the Air
For soprano and piano. Colorful childhood scenes as remembered by Robert Louis Stevenson. Three poems describing playtime, the seasons, and forces of nature. (Audio & video performed by Andrea Edith Moore, Soprano and Catherine Hamner, Piano)
1. The Swing
2. Autumn Fires
3. The Wind
In Performance
I Met a Man Who Wasn’t There
Poem by Hughes Mearns, for high voice and piano
Performed by Andrea Edith Moore, Soprano
and Robert Buxton, Piano
A haunted house. An apparition. What to do? Cower in the corner? Serve up a verbal eviction notice? “Go Away and don’t come back anymore!” Fiercely, yet fearfully, the owner approaches the enigmatic visitor. Fade away lyrics and diminished seventh chords dot the landscape.
Patience
For baritone and piano
Performed by Derek Gracey, baritone and
Catherine Hamner, piano
Vincent van Gogh, being treated for a mental health crisis, receives a letter of encouragement from his brother Theo.
Love’s Lessons, 1
Three songs based on poems by Sara Teasdale
Audio and video performed by Laura Alexander, Mezzo-Soprano, and Shoko Abe, Piano
1. Advice to a Girl
2. Barter
3. After Love
Song two in the song cycle entitled Love’s Lessons, 1. Sara Teasdale’s poem “Barter,” values beauty above all possessions, worthy of total commitment and sacrifice. Other songs include “Advice to a Girl” – a sassy yet realistic response to love gone sour, and “After Love” – when the romantic starlight has dimmed set as a tango.
Love’s Lessons, 2
Three songs based on poems by Dorothy Parker
Audio and video performed by
Andrea Edith Moore, Soprano
1. One Perfect Rose
2. Chant for Dark Hours
3. Ultimatum
Dorothy Parker never minces words when discussing relationships. These three humorous poems turn propriety upside down. A gift of “One Perfect Rose” may be romantic, but wouldn’t a limousine be a more significant sign of affection? In “Chant for Dark Hours” the singer confesses that she is sick and tired of waiting around for her man to finish a round of golf! In “Ultimatum,” she acknowledges the wisdom of discussing the probable end of a relationship before even agreeing to begin it.
About Sue T. Klausmeyer
Composer Sue Klausmeyer, long recognized in the Triangle area of NC for her career in conducting and singing, holds graduate degrees in music from UNC- Chapel Hill, Westminster Choir College in Princeton, NJ, and the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music. Upon retirement from her artistic leadership of numerous choirs, her love of vocal music led her in a new direction: composition. “I think that my extensive background in performing and my love of piano and vocal music was the impetus for these songs. And, of course, the poetry provided inspiration for each one. I try to create a unique melodic and rhythmic structure for each one and to compose songs that I would enjoy singing!”
