Meet the Composer

Wayne Horvitz
photo by Robin Laananen

Smokestack Arias will be a song cycle for soprano, piano and pre-recorded electronic score created by composer Wayne Horvitz in collaboration with songwriter/librettist Robin Holcomb. The work takes its name from the nickname for the city of Everett, Washington at the start of the last century, and examines the labor uprising and resultant deaths of six individuals in an incident known as The Everett Massacre. The complete song cycle will be performed by soprano soloist Maria Mannisto and pianist Cristina Valdes—both featured performers in Horvitz and Holcomb’s 2008 chamber opera The Heartsong of Charging Elk. Individual songs will express the points of view of a variety of female characters: mothers, daughters, wives and comrades of the slain protesters. The electronic score, as interludes, will evoke the voices of the departed. Wayne Horvitz will compose the score for piano and soprano. Text will be written by Robin Holcomb. The electronic score will be created by Mr. Horvitz and will use original material in addition to manipulations of historical and environmental recordings. Both Ms. Holcomb and Ms. Mannisto will contribute vocally to the electronic component of the composition. The narrative seeks to evoke the personal toll and emotional impact of this historic tragedy, rather than to express an overtly political or didactic viewpoint.

World premiere: February 2012