dominickdiorio
conductor composer
two letter D inside a blue circle

All Is

Choral Music

chorus with chamber ensemble

work detail

instrumentation: SATB, mezzo-soprano solo, viola, and piano

completion date: june 2016

duration: 7 1/2 minutes

texts: Misha Penton, "First Day"

events

12

AMERICAN CHORAL GEMS

Bloomington Chamber Singers

St. Mark's United Methodist Church - Bloomington, IN

7:30 pm

The Bloomington Chamber Singers and artistic director Gerald Sousa will perform masterworks by composers from the 20th century as well as those currently forging new paths in the repertoire. Among the works to be presented will be Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms and In the Beginning by Aaron Copland. Also on the program will be pieces by Barber, Whitacre, Lauridsen, Elaine Hagenberg, IU’s Dominick DiOrio (All Is for mezzo-soprano, mixed chorus, viola and piano), and BCS’s own Abby Henkel.

5

CHORUS PRO MUSICA: ROTHKO CHAPEL

Chorus pro Musica - Jamie Kirsch

Church of the Covenant - 67 Newbury St - Boston, MA

8:00 pm

Jamie Kirsch and Chorus pro Musica present their concert, Rothko Chapel, featuring music of Feldman, Betinis, Green, Hagen, Mozart, and my original work All Is for mezzo-soprano, viola, piano, and mixed chorus. Tickets and more information.

audio

All Is

Texas State University Chorale - Joey Martin, conductor

Soon Cho, mezzo-soprano; Ames Asbell, viola
Recording session - May 1, 2017

videos

All Is

Performance: Texas State University Chorale - Joey Martin; Soon Cho, mezzo-soprano; Ames Asbell, viola
Purchase the score.

performances

april 29, 2017 (premiere)

Texas State University Chorale
Soon Cho, mezzo-soprano
Joey Martin, director
Texas State University - San Marcos, TX

october 29, 2017

University of Minnesota University Singers
Matthew Mehaffey, conductor
Rebecca Blackwell, mezzo-soprano; Arjun Ganguly, viola
Ted Mann Concert Hall - University of Minnesota - Minneapolis, MN

november 04, 2017

University of Minnesota University Singers
Matthew Mehaffey, conductor
Rebecca Blackwell, mezzo-soprano; Arjun Ganguly, viola
Ted Mann Concert Hall - University of Minnesota - Minneapolis, MN

november 19, 2017

Texas State University Chorale
Joey Martin, conductor
Texas State University - San Marcos, TX

february 16, 2018

Texas State University Chorale
Joey Martin, conductor
Soon Cho, mezzo-soprano; Ames Asbell, viola
TMEA Conference - Grand Hyatt Texas Ballroom - San Antonio, TX

february 23, 2018

Butler University Chorale
Eric Stark, conductor
Schrott Center for the Arts - Butler University - Indianapolis, IN

march 09, 2018

Texas State University Chorale
Joey Martin, conductor
Soon Cho, mezzo-soprano; Ames Asbell, viola
SWACDA Regional Conference - Civic Center Music Hall - Oklahoma City, OK

march 10, 2018

Back Bay Chorale
Scott Allen Jarrett, conductor
St. Paul's Church - Cambridge, MA

april 08, 2018

Choral Arts Initiative
Brandon Elliott, conductor
St. Mark Presbyterian Church - Newport Beach, CA

june 15, 2018

Choral Arts Initiative
Brandon Elliott, conductor
St. Mark Presbyterian Church - Newport Beach, CA

february 28, 2021

Baltimore Choral Arts
Anthony Blake Clark, conductor
Digital Performance

november 05, 2022

Chorus pro Musica, Jamie Kirsch, conductor * Sonic Liberation Players * Church of the Covenant - Boston, MA

purchase

publisher: G. Schirmer

Purchase

commission and dedication

Commissioned by and dedicated to the Texas State University Chorale and their director, Dr. Joey Martin

text

First Day
by Misha Penton
 

My little boy stands
With his back to where he’d like the trees to be
Darkness smooths out the low baby hills
             into a starless not-yet horizon
                           laid out before his eyes in I-want-to waves
His blue jeans, all dirt and wonder from an afternoon wishing for sun
His hair, barely blonde on the
             not-yet first ever night breezes
His freckles, a pattern of tomorrow worlds,
Running-through-cornfields sweat and the very newest bee pollen dust
a striped blue and white grass stained shirt, untucked on this
             not-yet first ever day
He breathes in beauty
He breathes out imagination
His small hand closes on the marble in his pocket
“This will be a special one,” he thinks
“This will be the best of the bunch”
“This is the last one”—
In a swooping swooshing swirl of an arc,
Quicker and more certain than the other times,
He casts the little multicolored sphere out! and over the out-of-breath
And last skipping seconds of childhood
Up, up, up!
And into the soonest celestial expanses
And what was that?- a snap? a crack? a shudder? a thunder?
In less than a trillion-trillionth of a second
All Is stars and breath and life and blood and men and war

program note

I have enjoyed a long and rich creative collaboration with the poet, artist, soprano, and mover-and-shaker Misha Penton. My first opera, Klytemnestra: the original subversive female, was written on her original libretto and she premiered the title role. Her work on my couture song The Captured Goddess continues to inspire me. And so it was that I asked her if she would honor me by allowing me to set her poetry to music once again. 

All Is is a creation story refashioned. In Misha’s tale, God is but a little boy wasting away the afternoon while toying with clouds and marbles, imagining the beginning of a world in the same way that a child discovers for the first time. And behind this young boy is the Mother: always watching and observing, caring from behind the scenes, and taking pride in the new world that her child is creating. This character is taken in the music by the mezzo-soprano.

My music is restless and unbridled, as a child who fusses and pouts when not wanting to be restrained. The music is optimistic as a child is naïve, until the final warning words of the work: creation is not just fun and games, but brings with it the possibility of tragedy, usurpation, and deceit.

Dr. Joey Martin and the Texas State University Chorale commissioned this work from me, and I am glad to share a wonderful history of collaboration and friendship with Joey and his students. I lovingly dedicate this work to them. 

information

events

12

AMERICAN CHORAL GEMS

Bloomington Chamber Singers

St. Mark's United Methodist Church - Bloomington, IN

7:30 pm

The Bloomington Chamber Singers and artistic director Gerald Sousa will perform masterworks by composers from the 20th century as well as those currently forging new paths in the repertoire. Among the works to be presented will be Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms and In the Beginning by Aaron Copland. Also on the program will be pieces by Barber, Whitacre, Lauridsen, Elaine Hagenberg, IU’s Dominick DiOrio (All Is for mezzo-soprano, mixed chorus, viola and piano), and BCS’s own Abby Henkel.

5

CHORUS PRO MUSICA: ROTHKO CHAPEL

Chorus pro Musica - Jamie Kirsch

Church of the Covenant - 67 Newbury St - Boston, MA

8:00 pm

Jamie Kirsch and Chorus pro Musica present their concert, Rothko Chapel, featuring music of Feldman, Betinis, Green, Hagen, Mozart, and my original work All Is for mezzo-soprano, viola, piano, and mixed chorus. Tickets and more information.


audio

All Is

Texas State University Chorale - Joey Martin, conductor

Soon Cho, mezzo-soprano; Ames Asbell, viola
Recording session - May 1, 2017


videos

All Is

Performance: Texas State University Chorale - Joey Martin; Soon Cho, mezzo-soprano; Ames Asbell, viola
Purchase the score.


performances

april 29, 2017 (premiere)

Texas State University Chorale
Soon Cho, mezzo-soprano
Joey Martin, director
Texas State University - San Marcos, TX

october 29, 2017

University of Minnesota University Singers
Matthew Mehaffey, conductor
Rebecca Blackwell, mezzo-soprano; Arjun Ganguly, viola
Ted Mann Concert Hall - University of Minnesota - Minneapolis, MN

november 04, 2017

University of Minnesota University Singers
Matthew Mehaffey, conductor
Rebecca Blackwell, mezzo-soprano; Arjun Ganguly, viola
Ted Mann Concert Hall - University of Minnesota - Minneapolis, MN

november 19, 2017

Texas State University Chorale
Joey Martin, conductor
Texas State University - San Marcos, TX

february 16, 2018

Texas State University Chorale
Joey Martin, conductor
Soon Cho, mezzo-soprano; Ames Asbell, viola
TMEA Conference - Grand Hyatt Texas Ballroom - San Antonio, TX

february 23, 2018

Butler University Chorale
Eric Stark, conductor
Schrott Center for the Arts - Butler University - Indianapolis, IN

march 09, 2018

Texas State University Chorale
Joey Martin, conductor
Soon Cho, mezzo-soprano; Ames Asbell, viola
SWACDA Regional Conference - Civic Center Music Hall - Oklahoma City, OK

march 10, 2018

Back Bay Chorale
Scott Allen Jarrett, conductor
St. Paul's Church - Cambridge, MA

april 08, 2018

Choral Arts Initiative
Brandon Elliott, conductor
St. Mark Presbyterian Church - Newport Beach, CA

june 15, 2018

Choral Arts Initiative
Brandon Elliott, conductor
St. Mark Presbyterian Church - Newport Beach, CA

february 28, 2021

Baltimore Choral Arts
Anthony Blake Clark, conductor
Digital Performance

november 05, 2022

Chorus pro Musica, Jamie Kirsch, conductor * Sonic Liberation Players * Church of the Covenant - Boston, MA


press


commission and dedication

Commissioned by and dedicated to the Texas State University Chorale and their director, Dr. Joey Martin


published


text

First Day
by Misha Penton
 

My little boy stands
With his back to where he’d like the trees to be
Darkness smooths out the low baby hills
             into a starless not-yet horizon
                           laid out before his eyes in I-want-to waves
His blue jeans, all dirt and wonder from an afternoon wishing for sun
His hair, barely blonde on the
             not-yet first ever night breezes
His freckles, a pattern of tomorrow worlds,
Running-through-cornfields sweat and the very newest bee pollen dust
a striped blue and white grass stained shirt, untucked on this
             not-yet first ever day
He breathes in beauty
He breathes out imagination
His small hand closes on the marble in his pocket
“This will be a special one,” he thinks
“This will be the best of the bunch”
“This is the last one”—
In a swooping swooshing swirl of an arc,
Quicker and more certain than the other times,
He casts the little multicolored sphere out! and over the out-of-breath
And last skipping seconds of childhood
Up, up, up!
And into the soonest celestial expanses
And what was that?- a snap? a crack? a shudder? a thunder?
In less than a trillion-trillionth of a second
All Is stars and breath and life and blood and men and war


program note

I have enjoyed a long and rich creative collaboration with the poet, artist, soprano, and mover-and-shaker Misha Penton. My first opera, Klytemnestra: the original subversive female, was written on her original libretto and she premiered the title role. Her work on my couture song The Captured Goddess continues to inspire me. And so it was that I asked her if she would honor me by allowing me to set her poetry to music once again. 

All Is is a creation story refashioned. In Misha’s tale, God is but a little boy wasting away the afternoon while toying with clouds and marbles, imagining the beginning of a world in the same way that a child discovers for the first time. And behind this young boy is the Mother: always watching and observing, caring from behind the scenes, and taking pride in the new world that her child is creating. This character is taken in the music by the mezzo-soprano.

My music is restless and unbridled, as a child who fusses and pouts when not wanting to be restrained. The music is optimistic as a child is naïve, until the final warning words of the work: creation is not just fun and games, but brings with it the possibility of tragedy, usurpation, and deceit.

Dr. Joey Martin and the Texas State University Chorale commissioned this work from me, and I am glad to share a wonderful history of collaboration and friendship with Joey and his students. I lovingly dedicate this work to them. 


dominick smiling and looking out