Author: Ashley Killam

  • Sonnets to Orpheus

    Year composed: 1989Duration: 20′Instrumentation: mezzo soprano and chamber orchestra (flute, oboe, clarinet, horn, trombone, percussion, harpsichord, 2 violins, viola, cello) Notes: Premiere by ALEA III, Theodore Antoniou conducting, Boston, 1992 (single strings version) From The Sonnets to Orpheus, II, 13By Rainer Maria RilkeTranslated by Stephen Mitchell Be ahead of all parting, as though it already…

  • Cathedral Spires

    Year composed: 1993Duration: 14′Instrumentation: orchestra Notes: Commissioned and premiered by the Women’s Philharmonic, May 1993National Symphony, Leonard Slatkin conducting, January 1997National Symphony, East Coast Tour, Spring 1997 back to full catalog

  • las aguas del sur

    Year composed: 2012Duration: 14′Instrumentation: orchestra (3.2.3.3/4.2.3.0/timp.1 perc/strings) Movements:I. Las aguas del sur (“The southern sea”)II. La tierra caliente que duerme (“The sleeping warm earth”)III. Ballenas australes y pingüinos de Magallanes (“Southern right whales and Magellanic penguins”) Premiered by the UC Berkeley Symphony Orchestra at the International Women’s Forum/World Leadership Conference, San Francisco 10/26/2012

  • The Road to Xibalba

    Year composed: 2024, in progressDuration: 90′Instrumentation: four singers, narrator, 2 dancers, chorus, field recordings, electronics, and large ensemble (flute, clarinet, keyboard sampler, 2 percussion, prepared piano, violin, viola, cello, double bassConcept and Libretto: John Campion Funded with support from the Guggenheim and Mellon Foundations Eco Ensemble, Music of Cindy Cox – Photo credit: Grant Kerber…

  • Hierosgamos

    Seven Studies in Harmony and Resonance Year composed: 2003Duration: 30′Instrumentation: solo piano Movements:I. Strong, JoyousII. DelicateIII. SonorousIV. Meditative, StillV. Playful, But DrivenVI. FleetingVII. Transcendent Notes: The hierosgamos is an ancient principle which reveals the ultimate wholeness concealed among pairs of apparent opposites. Literally “sacred marriage”, this mysterious union involves a simultaneous moment of creation and…

  • The Shape of the Shell (bass clarinet)

    Perusal score Purchase Text: My daughter brought a shell and bade me put my ear to it: —That’s the sound of the ocean, I said. —Is the ocean inside of it, she asked? —The shape of the shell causes the sound, I said. —Then the ocean is the shaper of things, said Sophia. You throw…

  • Patagón

    Year composed: 2011Duration: 28′Instrumentation: string quartet Movements: I. Las aguas del sur (“The southern sea”)II. La tierra caliente que duerme (“The sleeping warm earth”)III. Ballenas australes y pingüinos de Magallanes (“Southern right whales and Magellanic penguins”)IV. La tierra fría que duerme (“The sleeping cold earth”)V. La cruz del sur y el cielo que gira “(The…

  • Dreaming a world’s edge (full orchestra)

    Year composed: 2021Duration: 12Instrumentation: full orchestra (3.3.3.3/4.3.3.1/timp.2 perc/strings) World premiere of the full orchestra version by the UC Berkeley Symphony Orchestra, conducted by David Milnes, on September 22-23, 2023. Notes: Dreaming a world’s edge was commissioned by the League of American Orchestras with the generous support of the Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation. The movements are…

  • Dreaming a world’s edge (chamber orchestra)

    Year composed: 2020, rev. 2024Duration: 12′Instrumentation: chamber orchestra (2 flutes (2 doubles piccolo), oboe, English horn, clarinet (doubles bass clarinet), 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 1 trumpet, 1 percussion, strings) World premiere by The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Pekka Kuusist Ordway Hall, Saint Paul, MN/ May 20-22, 2022 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkGk0meKJus&ab_channel=TheSaintPaulChamberOrchestra Full Performance Perusal score Version…

  • In a Landscape

    Album Overview: Release Date: January 1, 2007Label: ArpaVivaPerformer: Victoria Jordanova, electric harp Tracks: back to albums>