Juliana Hall

Juliana Hall (born 1958) is an American composer of art songs, monodramas, and vocal chamber music. She has been described by the National Association of Teachers of Singing's (NATS) Journal of Singing as "one of our country's most able and prolific art song composers for almost three decades" and, in discussing her 1989 song cycle Syllables of Velvet, Sentences of Plush, the journal went on to assert that "Even at this very early stage in her life and career, Hall knew something about crafting music whose beauty could enhance the text at hand without drawing attention away from that text. This is masterful writing in every respect."^[1]

Early life

Juliana Hall was born in Huntington, West Virginia, in 1958 and grew up across the river in Chesapeake, Ohio. Her mother was a pianist and began teaching Juliana piano when she was six years old. She was active in the family church, where she played, sang, and wrote her first composition. Her grandparents also provided inspiration, exposing Juliana to folk music and poetry.

Hall began her professional studies at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music as a piano major (studying with Jeanne Kirstein). Still, her work in a composition for performers class demonstrated her potential as a composer. After Kirstein died, Hall completed the final year of her bachelor's degree at the University of Louisville (where she studied with Lee Luvisi). Upon graduation, she moved to New York City to study piano (with Seymour Lipkin), sing in the choir of Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church, and usher at Carnegie Hall.

After several years in New York, Hall went to graduate school at the Yale School of Music as a piano performance major (studying with Boris Berman), but also began formal composition lessons (with Martin Bresnick, Leon Kirchner, and Frederic Rzewski). At the urging of her composition teachers, she shifted her focus from piano to composition and, in 1987, earned her master's degree. She then went to Minneapolis to finish her formal composition studies (with Dominick Argento).^[2]^[3]^[4]

Professional life

While a student of Argento, Hall received her first commission in 1987 (from the Schubert Club of Saint Paul, Minnesota) for a song cycle – Night Dances – for soprano Dawn Upshaw, who, with pianist Margo Garrett, premiered the work in December of that year.^[5] After a performance of the cycle at the Library of Congress in 1988, Joseph McLellan of The Washington Post wrote that, "Juliana Hall used every trick in the book – melodic and half-spoken, tonal and nontonal. She did this to...deepen the impact of the texts dealing with night and sleep, to explore the implicit emotions in sounds that ranged from a whisper to a scream, with the piano supplying illustrations and comment and engaging in vivid dialogue."^[6]

In 1989, Hall was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in Music Composition.^[7] Since that time, Hall has composed works for many singers, among them acclaimed countertenors Brian Asawa and Charles Humphries; mezzo-sopranos Stephanie Blythe and Kitty Whately; sopranos Nadine Benjamin and Molly Fillmore; tenor Anthony Dean Griffey; baritones Richard Lalli, David Malis and Randall Scarlata; and bass baritone Zachary James. She has also composed several chamber works for the vocal duo of Korliss Uecker and Tammy Hensrud, known as Feminine Musique.^[8]^[9]^[10]^[11]^[12]^[13]^[14]^[15]^[16]

Hall was awarded the 2017 Sorel Commission from the American art song training program SongFest for a soprano song cycle, When the South Wind Sings.^[17] She was later invited to be the 2018 Guest Composer at the Fall Island Vocal Arts Seminar at SUNY Potsdam,^[18]^[19] and was also invited to be the 2018 Resident Composer at CollabFest at the University of North Texas.^[20]

During her professional career, Hall's music has been performed in dozens of countries worldwide. In addition to the Library of Congress, other performances have been presented at venues including the 92nd Street Y, Ambassador Auditorium, Blackheath Halls, Corcoran Gallery of Art, the French Library, Herbst Theatre, Morgan Library & Museum, Ordway Theater, St Paul's Cathedral, Warehouse Waterloo, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, and Wigmore Hall. Festival appearances include the Beverley Chamber Music Festival, Bitesize Proms, Buxton International Festival, Carmel Bach Festival, International Lied Festival Zeist, London Festival of American Music, London Song Festival, Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, Ojai Music Festival, Oxford Lieder Festival, Rhonefestival für Liedkunst, Salisbury International Arts Festival, Schumannfest Düsseldorf, Waterperry Opera Festival, and Tanglewood Music Center.

Groups performing Hall's music include ÆPEX Contemporary Performance, CHAI Collaborative Ensemble, Duo Emergence, Ensemble for These Times, Fourth Coast Ensemble, Mallarmé Chamber Players, Mirror Visions Ensemble, Prismatic Arts Ensemble, The Song Company, and Voices of Change. Art song organizations, opera companies, and other presenters programming Hall's music include Art Song Colorado, Baltimore Musicales, Boston Art Song Society, Calliope's Call, Cincinnati Song Initiative, Concerts of the Earth, Contemporary Undercurrent of Song Project, Dame Myra Hess Concert Series, dell'Arte Opera Ensemble, Joy in Singing, Lynx Project, Lyric Fest, MassOpera, Northern Ireland Opera, Opera on the Avalon, On Site Opera, Re-Sung, Seattle Art Song Society, Société d'Art Vocal de Montréal, Source Song Festival, Sparks & Wiry Cries, taNDem–Kunst und Kultur, and the Voces8 Foundation.

Hall's works have been broadcast over the BBC and NPR radio networks, classical stations including WFMT (Chicago), WQXR (New York) and WGBH (Boston), and overseas stations including Radio France (Paris), Radio Monalisa (Amsterdam), Radio Horizon (Johannesburg), RTVE Radio C (Madrid), and Radio SRF 2 Kultur (Zürich). Commercial recordings have been issued on the Albany, Arsis Audio, Blue Griffin, MSR Classical, Navona, Solo Musica, Stone Records, and Vienna Modern Masters labels.^[21]

Juliana Hall's art song catalogue was signed by publisher E. C. Schirmer in 2017. One earlier song cycle, Syllables of Velvet, Sentences of Plush, was published by Boosey & Hawkes in 1995.^[22]

Vocal works

Ahab (2020) – monodrama for baritone or bass baritone and piano on a libretto by Caitlin Vincent
And It Came To Pass (2018) – canticle for countertenor and piano on the Nativity Story from the Biblical Gospel of Luke
A Northeast Storm (2015) – song for soprano and piano on a letter of Emily Dickinson
A Pocketful of Peacock (2024) – 4 songs for countertenor and piano on poems by Walter de la Mare
At That Hour When All Things Have Repose (2023) – song for baritone and piano on a poem by James Joyce
A World Turned Upside Down (2016) – 7 songs for soprano and piano on excerpts from The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
Bells and Grass (1989) – 5 songs for soprano and oboe on poems by Walter de la Mare
Bredon Hill (2020) – song for tenor and piano on a poem by A. E. Housman
Buffalo Dusk (2023) – song for soprano, mezzo soprano, or tenor and piano on a poem by Carl Sandburg
Cameos (2017) – 6 songs for soprano and piano on poems by Molly Fillmore
Cameos (2018) – 6 songs for mezzo soprano and piano on poems by Molly Fillmore
Christina's World (2016) – 5 songs for soprano and piano on poems by Christina Rossetti
Christmas Eve (2013) – song for soprano and organ on the poem by Christina Rossetti
Death's Echo (1992) – 5 songs for baritone and piano on poems by W. H. Auden
Dreams in War Time (2003) – 7 songs for mezzo-soprano and piano on poems by Amy Lowell
Fables for a Prince (1990) – 6 songs for soprano, mezzo-soprano, tenor, baritone, and piano on fables of Jean de La Fontaine
Frost Bites (2024) – 3 songs for baritone and piano on poems by Robert Frost
Godiva (2019) – monodrama for soprano or mezzo-soprano and piano on a libretto by Caitlin Vincent
Great Camelot (2016) – 3 songs for tenor and piano on poems by Sameer Dahar
How Do I Love Thee? (2015) – 5 songs for soprano and piano by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
I Can No Other Answer Make (2016) – song for tenor and piano on excerpts from Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare
I Know a River Wide and Deep (2017) – song for soprano and piano on a poem by Amelia Forrester Petersen
In Closer Bonds of Love to Thee (2017) – song for soprano and piano on a hymn text by Fanny J. Crosby
In Reverence (1985) – 5 songs for soprano and piano on poems by Emily Dickinson
In Spring (2016) – 3 songs for unaccompanied solo soprano on poems by E. E. Cummings
Julie–Jane (2007) – 5 songs for baritone and piano on poems by Thomas Hardy
Leaving Gatsby (2022) – monodrama for soprano and piano on a libretto by Caitlin Vincent
Leaving Gatsby (2025) – monodrama for soprano and chamber ensemble on a libretto by Caitlin Vincent
Letters from Edna (1993) – 8 songs for mezzo-soprano and piano on letters of Edna St. Vincent Millay
Look Twice (2023) – 5 songs for mezzo-soprano and piano on poems by Antigoni Gaitana
Love's Pilgrimage (2000) – 5 songs for baritone and piano on sonnets by William Shakespeare
Lovestars (1989) – 5 songs for soprano, cello, and piano on poems by E. E. Cummings
Marguerite (2025) – monodrama for soprano, flute, cello, and piano on a libretto by Lisa Moore
Music Like a Curve of Gold (2015) – 2 songs for soprano, mezzo-soprano, and piano on poems by Sara Teasdale
Night Dances (1987) – 6 songs for soprano and piano on poems by Elizabeth Bishop, Emily Brontë, Emily Dickinson, and Edna St. Vincent Millay
Nine Steins (2023) – 9 songs for soprano and piano on poems by Gertrude Stein
Nocturne of Remembered Spring (2020) – setting for baritone and piano of the poem by Conrad Aiken
Of That So Sweet Imprisonment (2017) – 7 songs for contralto and piano on poems by James Joyce
Old (2021) – song for mezzo soprano and piano on a haiku by Christina Kelly
O Mistress Mine (2015) – 12 songs for countertenor and piano on texts from plays of William Shakespeare
One Art (2003) – 4 songs for mezzo-soprano and cello on poems by Elizabeth Bishop
Paradise (1999) – 5 songs for soprano and piano on poems by Emily Dickinson
Paw and Tail (2024) – 10 songs for soprano or mezzo soprano and piano on texts by Caitlin Vincent
Peace On Earth (2019) – song for soprano and piano on a poem by William Carlos Williams
Peacock Pie (1992) – 20 songs for tenor and piano on poems by Walter de la Mare
Piano Lessons (2018) – 6 songs for tenor and piano on poems by Billy Collins
Poets of the Dawn (2023) – 5 songs for baritone or bass baritone and piano on poems by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Propriety (1992) – 5 songs for soprano and piano on poems by Marianne Moore
Roosters (2016) – setting for soprano, mezzo-soprano, and piano of the poem by Elizabeth Bishop
Seeker of Truth (2006) – 14 songs for soprano, mezzo-soprano, tenor, alto and baritone saxophones (one player), cello, and pianist on poems by E. E. Cummings
Sentiment (2020) – monodrama for unaccompanied solo mezzo soprano on texts by Caitlin Vincent
Sentiment (2017) – monodrama for unaccompanied solo soprano on texts by Caitlin Vincent
Setting Sail (2022) – 12 songs for soprano, mezzo soprano, or tenor and piano on poems by Emily Dickinson
Songs for the End of Time (2025) – 5 songs for baritone and piano on poems by Dana Gioia
Songs of Enchantment (1989) – 10 songs for soprano or mezzo soprano and piano on poems by Walter de la Mare
Strike for the Heart (2025) – 5 songs for contralto and piano on poems by W. H. Auden
Syllables of Velvet, Sentences of Plush (1989) – 7 songs for soprano and piano on letters of Emily Dickinson
That Delicate Dance (2024) – 5 songs for soprano and piano on poems by Kim Josephson
The Bells (2014) – setting for soprano and piano of the poem by Edgar Allan Poe
Theme in Yellow (1990) – 7 songs for mezzo-soprano and piano on poems by Robert Frost, Amy Lowell, Edna St. Vincent Millay, and Carl Sandburg
The Holy Sonnets of John Donne (2013) – 9 songs for tenor and piano on sonnets of John Donne
The Mystic Trumpeter (2021) – setting for tenor and piano of the poem by Walt Whitman
The New Colossus (2018) – setting for baritone and piano of the poem by Emma Lazarus
The Poets (2015) – 5 songs for bass and piano on poems by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
The Poet's Calendar (1999) – 12 songs for tenor and piano on poems by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
The Walrus and the Carpenter (1992) – setting for soprano, oboe, clarinet, and bassoon of the poem by Lewis Carroll
Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird (2020) – setting for soprano or mezzo-soprano and alto saxophone of the poem by Wallace Stevens
Through the Guarded Gate (2018) – 5 songs for mezzo-soprano and piano on poems by Margaret Widdemer
To Meet A Flower (2009) – 3 songs for soprano and piano on poems by Emily Dickinson
Tornado (2019) – song for soprano and piano on a poem by Kathleen Kelly
Two Old Crows (2020) – song for soprano and piano on a poem by Vachel Lindsay
Upon This Summer's Day (2009) – 3 songs for soprano and piano on poems by Emily Dickinson
When the South Wind Sings (2017) – 7 songs for soprano and piano on poems by Carl Sandburg
Winter Windows (1989) – 7 songs for baritone and piano on poems by Walter de la Mare, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Edna St. Vincent Millay, and Percy Byssche Shelley
Winter Windows 2023) – 7 songs for mezzo soprano and piano on poems by Walter de la Mare, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Edna St. Vincent Millay, and Percy Byssche Shelley
Woods in Winter (2014) – song for baritone and piano on a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Instrumental works

A Certain Tune (2009) – 5 songs for English horn solo, based on poems by Sara Teasdale
A Certain Tune (2021) – 5 songs for flute solo, based on poems by Sara Teasdale
Crucifixus (2010) – piece for cello and piano, based on the story of the Passion from the Gospels of Luke, Mark and Matthew
Ding Dong Bell (2007) – 8 epitaphs for cello solo, based on epitaphs by Walter de la Mare
Dream of the Rood (2012) – piece for cello and piano, based on an anonymous 7th-century Anglo-Saxon poem
Evening Sun (2015) – short piece for piano solo
Orpheus Singing (2010) – 5 songs for alto saxophone and piano, based on sonnets by Rainer Maria Rilke
Rilke Song (2013) – song for English horn and piano, based on a sonnet by Rainer Maria Rilke
The Ballad of Barnaby (2010) – ballad for cello solo, based on the poem by W. H. Auden
The Ballad of Barnaby (2021) – ballad for viola solo, based on the poem by W. H. Auden
Two-Bit Variations (2010) – variations for piano solo on the theme "Shave and a Haircut, Two Bits!"

References

^ Gregory Berg (2017). "The Listener's Gallery: Love's Signature: Songs for Countertenor and Soprano by Juliana Hall, MSR Classics MSR1603". Journal of Singing (review). 74 (2): 256–258.^{[dead link]}, reproduced at julianahall.com.
^ "Juliana Hall Composer Profile". Sparks & Wiry Cries.
^ "Review of "Love's Signature: Songs for Countertenor and Soprano by Juliana Hall" (PDF). NATS Article re-posted at Juliana Hall.
^ "Beauty, Truth, and Insight through Song: Interview with Juliana Hall". "In Tune" ECS Publishing Group Blog and News.
^ "Commissions". Schubert Club of Saint Paul, MN.
^ "Music Review: Dawn Upshaw at the Library of Congress". The Washington Post.
^ "Juliana Hall, Fellowship in Music Composition". John Simon Guggenheim Foundation.
^ * Alexandre, Ivan A. "Hommage à Brian Asawa, 1966–2016", remembrance in Diapason, April 20, 2016; updated on March 9, 2017.
^ "A contemporary Christmas from Britten – December 12th 2018 7pm". wareconcertseries.com.
^ "Of That So Sweet Imprisonment". Juliana Hall, American Art Song Composer.
^ "Molly Fillmore: Professor of Voice, Chair of the Division of Vocal Studies". University of North Texas School of Music Faculty.
^ "Careful the tale you tell..." Wigmore Hall.
^ "Emergence: Songs to Emily Dickinson's texts". MusicWeb International.
^ "Winter Windows". Juliana Hall, American Art Song Composer.
^ "Off the Beaten Track: Zachary James' 'Call Out' – A Wild Trip with a Literary Bent". OperaWire. 23 January 2021.
^ "World Premiere of Juliana Hall's "The Roosters"". Feminine Musique. 27 January 2015.
^ "SongFest awards 2017 Sorel Commission to art-song champion & composer Juliana Hall!". SongFest. 28 January 2017.
^ "Past Seasons, 2018 Guest Composer". Fall Island Vocal Arts Seminar.
^ "Fall Island Vocal Arts Seminar Features Juliana Hall". "In Tune" ECS Publishing Group Blog and News.
^ "2018 CollabFest Faculty". Collaborative Piano, College of Music, University of North Texas.
^ "Juliana Hall". Song of America, Hampsong Foundation.
^ "E. C. Schirmer signs Juliana Hall Art Song Catalog". ECS Publishing Group.

External links

[1] Gregory Berg (2017). "The Listener's Gallery: Love's Signature: Songs for Countertenor and Soprano by Juliana Hall, MSR Classics MSR1603". Journal of Singing (review). 74 (2): 256–258.^{[dead link]}, reproduced at julianahall.com.

[2] "Juliana Hall Composer Profile". Sparks & Wiry Cries.

[3] "Review of "Love's Signature: Songs for Countertenor and Soprano by Juliana Hall" (PDF). NATS Article re-posted at Juliana Hall.

[4] "Beauty, Truth, and Insight through Song: Interview with Juliana Hall". "In Tune" ECS Publishing Group Blog and News.

[5] "Commissions". Schubert Club of Saint Paul, MN.

[6] "Music Review: Dawn Upshaw at the Library of Congress". The Washington Post.

[7] "Juliana Hall, Fellowship in Music Composition". John Simon Guggenheim Foundation.

[8] * Alexandre, Ivan A. "Hommage à Brian Asawa, 1966–2016", remembrance in Diapason, April 20, 2016; updated on March 9, 2017.

[9] "A contemporary Christmas from Britten – December 12th 2018 7pm". wareconcertseries.com.

[10] "Of That So Sweet Imprisonment". Juliana Hall, American Art Song Composer.

[11] "Molly Fillmore: Professor of Voice, Chair of the Division of Vocal Studies". University of North Texas School of Music Faculty.

[12] "Careful the tale you tell..." Wigmore Hall.

[13] "Emergence: Songs to Emily Dickinson's texts". MusicWeb International.

[14] "Winter Windows". Juliana Hall, American Art Song Composer.

[15] "Off the Beaten Track: Zachary James' 'Call Out' – A Wild Trip with a Literary Bent". OperaWire. 23 January 2021.

[16] "World Premiere of Juliana Hall's "The Roosters"". Feminine Musique. 27 January 2015.

[17] "SongFest awards 2017 Sorel Commission to art-song champion & composer Juliana Hall!". SongFest. 28 January 2017.

[18] "Past Seasons, 2018 Guest Composer". Fall Island Vocal Arts Seminar.

[19] "Fall Island Vocal Arts Seminar Features Juliana Hall". "In Tune" ECS Publishing Group Blog and News.

[20] "2018 CollabFest Faculty". Collaborative Piano, College of Music, University of North Texas.

[21] "Juliana Hall". Song of America, Hampsong Foundation.

[22] "E. C. Schirmer signs Juliana Hall Art Song Catalog". ECS Publishing Group.

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