What They’re Saying: The Music of Juliana Hall

Press Quotes

“beguiling”
– Noel Goodwin (Times of London)

“a brilliant cycle of songs”
– Joseph McLellan (The Washington Post)

“the most genuinely moving music of the afternoon”
– Richard Dyer (Boston Globe)

“beautiful in ways both traditional and strikingly original”
– Robert Faires (The Austin Chronicle)

“These songs were intimate, melancholy, haunting…legitimate modern heirs to the great tradition of German lieder”
– Philip Greene (New Haven Register)

“she is a composer of great talent…her music is tonal, very accessible, colorful and often profound”
– Robert Cummings (Classical Net)

“a composer who savours lyrical lines and harmonies peppered with gentle spices”
– Donald Rosenberg (Gramophone)

“giving a strong sense of the poet’s voice”
– Robert Hugill (Planet Hugill, London)

“much to admire in Hall’s music…graceful, nuanced vocal lines and imaginative piano parts”
– Arlo McKinnon (Opera News)

“music whose beauty could enhance the text at hand without drawing attention away from that text…masterful writing in every respect”
– Gregory Berg (NATS Journal of Singing)

“The tonal language is adventurous, and Hall’s text-setting is spot on and exquisite, even when she elevates the text to the vocal stratosphere”
– Kathleen Roland-Silverstein (NATS Journal of Singing)

 

Musician Quotes

“through her brilliant tonal, textural, and rhythmic language, her work is immediately recognizable and wonderfully familiar…it is positively magical”
– Stephanie Blythe, mezzo soprano (Metropolitan Opera, Fall Island Vocal Arts Seminar, Tanglewood)

“wonderful and effective art songs from one of America’s most prolific composers who is dedicated to song composition”
– Alan Louis Smith, pianist and composer (USC Thornton School of Music, SongFest, Tanglewood)

“remarkable songs – gems with both substance and beauty”
– Richard Lalli, baritone (Yale University)

“singers of every level will find challenging and satisfying repertoire in the music of Juliana Hall”
– Darryl Taylor, countertenor (Director of Vocal Arts, University of California at Irvine)

“Juliana Hall writes true chamber music, creating an intimate and deep relationship between the piano and vocal line.”
– Maggie Finnegan, soprano (First Place Winner, Washington International Competition for Voice)

“a treasure trove of vocal and musical opportunity that is worthy of anyone’s exploration”
– Samuel Martin, pianist (Founding Artistic Director, Cincinnati Song Initiative)

“rich harmonies and hauntingly beautiful melodies”
– Brian Armbrust, composer (Founding Artistic Director, Seattle Art Song Society)

“Some day soon, every recital in the world will have on it some songs by Juliana Hall!”
– Dominick Argento, Pulitzer Prize-winning composer

“Juliana has mastered the ability to compose gorgeous art songs for any voice type”
– Brian Asawa, countertenor (Metropolitan and San Francisco Operas, first countertenor to win the Operalia International Competition)

“her songs create a unique sound world that weave a wonderfully complex dramatic journey that always leaves you wanting more”
– Megan Roth, mezzo soprano (Founding Artistic Director, Calliope’s Call, Boston)

“Juliana Hall’s works should be in every studio, and they should absolutely be included in every coaching and collaborative setting, and in every art song literature course and text.”
– Maya Hoover, mezzo soprano (University of Hawaii at Manoa)

“while this is music that is not for the beginner, navigating the shifting sands of her harmonic language would be a great exercise for any young mind in developing a thorough understanding of contemporary song in the 21st C.”
– Martha Guth, soprano (Ithaca College, Co-Founder of Sparks & Wiry Cries)

“Juliana’s work is pure delight.”
– Jayne West, soprano (Longy School of Music)

“sophisticated, thought provoking art songs”
– Katherine Eberle, mezzo soprano (University of Iowa)

“When my voice professor handed me the score to Juliana Hall’s O Mistress Mine, I had no clue that I was holding a key to many of the pedagogical questions that needed answering in my technique.”
– Michael Skarke, countertenor (Master’s student at Baylor University)

“Music that gives singers the ability to be better than their best, so natural and well-written it is…”
– Margo Garrett, pianist (Juilliard, NEC, SongFest, Ravinia, Tanglewood)

“Composer Juliana Hall’s music is to poetry what light is to a prism;  it brings out a wealth of colors from the text, enabling the musician-interpreters to travel down a variety of expressive pathways.”
– Molly Fillmore, soprano (University of North Texas, Metropolitan Opera)

“Even in the most conflicting text-painting moments, Juliana is always able to weave in one of her trademark compositional qualities, delicacy.”
– Joel Burcham, tenor (University of Oklahoma)

“Singing Juliana’s work is like inhabiting a world…a powerful experience!”
– Catherine Gardner, soprano (East Carolina University)