Persis Parshall Vehar *

Persis Parshall Vehar was one of three composers for Pittsburg State University's New Music Festival in Pittsburg, Kansas. As part of the Festival, the SouthEast Kansas Symphony Orchestra performed her The Inevitable Dawn and In Celebration, concertino for piano and string orchestra, with Vehar as soloist. The Pittsburg State Wind Ensemble performed her Pan-American Overture. She also conducted workshops on composing and songwriting. Ms. Vehar is currently in her fifth year as Composer-in-Residence at Canisius College. The spring 2003 Journal of the IAWM (International Alliance for Women in Music) featured "Persis Parshall Vehar: a personal profile" written by Cheryl Gobbetti Hoffman, assistant professor of music at SUNY at Buffalo. The 2003 Fall Living Forge, a new literary magazine, included an article on her Bukowski songs with a CD. Upcoming commissions include a work for the Corona Guitar Quartet (Denmark) for its USA fall tour in 2004; the opera George Sand: Heart, Mind & Body, for 2004 New Dimensions Series, Austin Peay State University, TN; and City of Light Concerto for clarinet and orchestra, for John Fullam, principal clarinet, and the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, under the direction of JoAnn Falletta, for the 2005-06 season.

Premieres

Life Dances was introduced at the SAI Centennial Convention, August 3, 2003, Dearborn, MI, by Andrea Steves, soprano saxophone, Sarah Roberts, alto saxophone, with the composer at the piano. The Ars Nova Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Marylouise Nanna, commissioned Concerto Ripieno for its 25th Anniversary Season Concert, November 16. Bright Phoenix Ascending, for solo alto sax and wind ensemble, was presented by Dr. Donald Sinta, alto sax, and the Clarence Wind Ensemble conducted by William Eicher, December 19, Mid-Western Band Clinic, Chicago, IL. Laughing Song, for 2-part voices and piano, was commissioned and premiered in December by the Western New York Children's Chorus, conducted by John Fleischman.

Performances

Dona Nobis Pacem, SATB, was presented by the Freudig Singers, conducted by Ron Martin, on October 25-26, 2003. Bukowski: Love iz a Big Fat Turkey and Every Day Iz Thanksgiving was heard in a November 11 performance by Valerian Ruminski, NY City Opera bass, in Lyons, France. The composer served as narrator and pianist for her Nine Silences for Song, November 14, Trinity Episcopal Art Series. Sound-Piece, for clarinet and piano, and Aria, were performed by John Fullam, principal clarinet with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, and the composer, on a November 16 Buffalo Alumnae Chapter SAI Benefit.

Publications

The Swan of Avon (three-song cycle, Shakespeare on Music), treble voices, SATB, 2 trumpets, piano; Doreen Rao's Conductor's Choice Series, Boosey and Hawkes. Storm Warning, elementary orchestra; Northfield Press.

Recordings

Bukowski: Love iz a Big Fat Turkey and Every Day iz Thanksgiving song cycle and the Bukowski songs, "yes sirree," "2 Carnations," "war," "that I have known the dead," and "spring swan;"by Valerian Ruminski, bass, William Hicks, and Persis Parshall Vehar, piano; on Opera Meets Skid Row, Loft.

*Sigma Alpha Iota Member

Further Information

• 2000-2001 American Composers Update
• 1999-2000 American Composers Update
• 1998-1999 American Composers Update
• 1997-1998 American Composers Update
• 1996-1997 American Composers Update
• SAI's Composers Bureau Online
• SAI's Music for Young People section