Music & Theater Students Collaborate with Composer David Sisco
Composer, singer, actor, and music educator David Sisco joins MSUM students in a premiere performance of his latest composition Friday, March 4, at 7:30 p.m. on the Gaede Stage in the Roland Dille Center for the Arts on the MSUM campus.
Variations on a Theme of You: the Songs of David Sisco is partially based on text provided by MSUM music students. Sisco calls the composition a “theatrical song cycle” which explores relationships in their various stages.
“Together with the MSUM students, we crafted a collection of personal reflections that have universal resonance,” says Sisco. “The piece highlights a wide range of musical styles, from art song to jazz and contemporary musical theatre, while telling a unique, yet collective story.”
Sisco’s performance is the culmination of a week-long residency with music students at MSUM. He was also on campus last fall to perform and to audition students for the new work.
“It is thrilling for our students to work with such a world-class artist,” says Jenny Dufault, voice instructor at MSUM. “Last year, David’s music sold out Carnegie Hall in an exclusive program of his work. For him to compose music written with the MSUM students’ own words is so meaningful. These students will never forget working with him.”
Sisco is a member of the Dramatist’s Guild and BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theater Workshop (Advanced) and is an alumnus of the New Dramatists Composer-Librettist Studio in New York. He is the author of Here I Am: A Musical Personal Ad, and Bait n’ Swish. David is currently collaborating with book writer and lyricist Tom Gualtieri on two musicals: Falling to Earth, and I’m Afraid, You’re Afraid: 448 Things to Fear And Why. He is also working with Los Angeles-based playwright Sylvan Oswald on a forthcoming show. A winner of the 2010 NATS (National Association of Teachers of Singing) Composition Award, David is a prolific art song composer.
For tickets to the performance, go to www.mnstate.edu/tickets or call the MSUM Box Office Monday through Friday from noon to 4 p.m. at (218) 477-2271 or buy at the door before the performance.
For more information about the information in this press release, contact Dr. Jenny Dufault at dufault@mnstate.edu.