APNM COMPOSER: Anthony Cornicello

Anthony Cornicello has been cited by author Joan Peyser, in her book “To Boulez and Beyond,” as ‘one of the most gifted composers
under 40 in the United States.’ He has received fellowships and awards from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, the American
Music Center, as well as commissions from Meet the Composer, the New York New Music Ensemble, and the InterEnsemble of Padova,
Italy. Recently, he was commissioned to write a work for voice, chamber ensemble, and electronics, which was premiered as part of
the Guggenheim Museum’s 2001 “Works and Process” series. He has also received commissions from The Auros Group for New Music
to write a series of works for instruments and interactive electronics.

Dialogues for Trio was written in 1986 for the Frank-Harris-Cowley trio; the piece was subsequently choreographed by Margaret Lodico
for the “Eight Days of Dance” Festival at Florida State University. Dialogues was a breakthrough piece for me as I moved from a neo-
romantic style, in the early 90s, towards one of increasing complexity. This transition can be seen during the progress of this piece as
the texture changes from one of post-romantic melody-and-accompaniment to contrapuntal. The extended instrumental effects which
appear, albeit tentatively, in this piece are the seeds of my current fascination with timbre. One can also hear remnants of my jazz
background in the long bebop-like lines and the free-flowing, impromptu quality of the work as a whole.

Fractured Landscape, Suspended Song, commissioned by the Vermont Chamber Music Ensemble, is in response to the 9/11 attacks.
Still overwhelmed with grief, I felt the piece needed to project a message of hope and understanding at a time when such concepts
were difficult to grasp. My thoughts kept turning to current events; it became difficult even to think about writing. I decided to write
a piece about writing a piece after September 11, a theatre-esque piece as a chronicle of my own thoughts: disarray, confusion, foll-
owed by the eventual desire to return to work. The piece includes samples of eyewitness accounts, Hubert Parry’s choral anthem,
“I was glad when they said unto me”, the hopeful words of Psalm 112 “pray for the peace of Jerusalem,” an Arabic chant quoting
the opening incantation of the Koran, as well as a passage instructing Islamic believers to “repel evil deeds with good deeds, and
then you will find that he with whom you had enmity will become your friend

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