About

Group

Modern Songtales is a fresh, new vocal chamber ensemble, committed to bringing new music, primarily in English and from the last 100 years, to new audiences. Based in Southern California, we are classically trained, professional musicians.

Challenge

Just as visual artists of the 20th century have broken ground using new materials and techniques in their work, composers have made great developments in the sounds they use to craft their music. But artists in both fields have seen these innovations generate enormous controversy, and both have seen a marked decline in support from popular audiences. Even today, many people question the value of many beautiful and evocative paintings because they haven’t learned how to look at abstract or cubist works, for instance, and relate the work to their own lives. In music, pieces that rely heavily on dissonant chords, extended vocal techniques and fragmented melodic lines can be hard for typical listeners to enjoy if they don’t already have some of these new sounds in their listening vocabulary. All they need is some way to get a handle on what they’re hearing.

Mission

We want to provide lay audiences with something more than the traditional recital format: blank stage, walk in, bow, sing, bow, sing…

While lecture recitals have had some success in academia, they often lack the pizzazz necessary to appeal to a broader audience. Pre-concert lectures can help, but are primarily attended by concert buffs who already feel some connection to the music. (And it’s already hard enough to get there on time!)

With this in mind, we’re using another approach that presents new music in a more accessible format, closer to theater than concert. Programs are crafted using a number of different approaches:

1) Deliberately selecting a significant portion of each program from works that are melodic and sonorous, giving the audience a “home base”;

2) Programming pieces and sets that are inherently story-based, e.g. a song cycle of fairy tales or a collection of songs about biblical characters;

3) Sharing stories of the composers and poets as part of the presentation to provide fuller context for the individual works;

4) Drawing disparate pieces together to create a new story--one narrative told through the works of several composers, for instance.

Our greatest hope is to create a whole new generation of art music enthusiasts by giving them a way to grab hold of these incredibly expressive and fascinating lesser-known works.

Spin ‘em a yarn, tell ‘em a tale, and bring ‘em something new…

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