Faculty Recital: Carrie Shaw, soprano: Wind Up Vocal Project

Faculty soprano Carrie Shaw’s new Seattle-based group Wind Up Vocal Project performs musical puzzles of the past and present, including selections from Ming Tsao's Das wassergewordene Kanonbuch (2017) and Meara O'Reilly's Hocket for Two Voices (2016) alongside polyphonic 13th- to 16th-century works by Willaert, Pérotin, Grimace, Ciconia, and Josquin des Prez.  Wind Up Vocal Project is Danielle Reutter-Harrah and Carrie Shaw, sopranos; Anjali Chudasama, alto; Lyon Stewart, tenor; Adam Freemantle, baritone; and Evan Norberg, bass.

Program

Wind Up Vocal Project
Danielle Reutter-Harrah, Carrie Shaw, sopranos
Anjali Chudasama, alto
Lyon Stewart, tenor
Adam Freemantle, baritone
Evan Norberg, bass

Salve sancta parens - Adrian Willaert (1490-1562)

14. Fuga trium temporum in diapente remissum- Ming Tsao (b. 1966)
from Das wassergewordene Kanonbuch (2017)

===

Salvatoris hodie-Novus - Adam Pérotin (fl. c. 1200)

Hockets for Two Voices (2016) - Meara O’Reilly (b. 1982)
III.
IV.

Se Zephirus - Se Jupiter Grimace (fl. mid- to late 14th century)

Hockets for Two Voices - O’Reilly
VII.

==

Le ray au soleyl - Johannes Ciconia (c. 1370-1412)

5. Dum tria percurris quatuor valet - Tsao
7. Omnia per circuitus
2. Die Zahlen
from Das wassergewordene Kanonbuch - (2017)

Gloria - Josquin des Prez (c. 1450-1521)
from Missa l’homme armé super voces musicales

Notes and Translations

Salve Sancta Parens - Willaert

Salve sancta parens enixa puerpera Regem
Qui caelum terramque regit in saecula saeculorum.

Virgo Dei Genitrix, quem totus non capit orbis:
In tua se clausit viscera factus homo.

Translation
Hail, Holy Mother, who in childbirth brought forth the King
who rules heaven and earth, world without end.

Virgin Mother of God, He whom the whole world can not contain:
Enclosed Himself in thy womb, and became a man.

from Das wassergewordene Kanonbuch - Tsao
14. Fuga trium temporum in diapente remissum - 
Translation: Fugue after three measures at the fifth below
Based on Willaert’s Salve sancta Parens - Virgo Dei Genitrix

Salvatoris hodie-Novus Adam - Pérotin

Salvatoris hodie
sanguis pregustatur
in quo Sion filie
stola candidatur.

Ecce nomen domini
de longin quo venit
hodie quod homini
perdito sub venit.

Ecce salva veritas
veraque salvatio
cuius in preputio
literalis cecitas
terminum invenit.

Novus Adam natus est
ut novetur mundus
a quo tamen factus est
primus et secundus.
Quippe tam principium
idem sit et terminus
servus atque dominus
nescit hoc prepucium
nescit hoc inmundus.

Translation
Today the Savior’s
blood is being consumed in advance,
in which the the daughter of Zion’s
robe is whitened.
                    
Behold, the name of the Lord, 
has come from afar 
today, and which lost mankind
aids.
                    
Behold saving truth
and true salvation, 
in whose circumcision 
the blindness of the Old Law 
finds an end.
                    
A new Adam has been born 
to renew the world;
yet by him were made
the first and second.
In fact, since the beginning 
and the end are the same, 
so are the servant and master. 
“Uncircumcision” knows this not; 
the unclean knows this not.

—Translation prepared with acknowledgements to Thomas B. Payne

Se Zephirus-Se Jupiter - Grimace (From Codex Chantilly)                           

I.             
Se Zephirus, Phebus et leur lignie 
Fussent d'acort pour moy douner confort, 
Et s'eüsse fortune pour amie,
En croi je bien qu'encor seroit ce fort 
Que eusse bien, santé ne reconfort
Quant a present, esbatement ne joye,
Se devant moy ma dame ne veoye.

Car c'est celle que me puet donner vie 
Ne je quier avoir autre ressort;
Si li sopli que me soit en aye,
Car certes je n'ay soulas ne depourt 
Et sa beauté si doucement m'a mort 
Que nullement estre liez ne pourroye, 
Se devant moy ma dame ne veoye.

II.                         
Se Jupiter, qui donna seigneurie
Au cler veant Argus pour amer fort 
Temis, qui fu sa deesse et s'amie,
Et me vousist d'amors douner le port,
Ne pouroit pas mon cuer estre d'acort 
Que fusse gay pour chose que je voye, 
Se devant moy ma dame ne veoye.
                    
Si pri amours et a merci supplie
Que pitié, qu'ou cuer ma dame dort, 
recueillent pour estre de ma partie;
Ou autrement, certes, brief m'aroit mort, 
Car ma langor trop fort me point et mort, 
Si qu'ensement vivre ainsy ne porroye, 
Se devant moy ma dame ne veoye.

Translation
I.
If Zephyrs, Phoebus, and their line
make a pact to comfort me,
and if I had Fortune for a friend,
Then I believe that it would be as difficult
to find health and comfort,
as it is now, or pleasure or joy, 
if, before me, I do not see my lady .

For it is she who can give me life,
nor do I wish any other resort;
So I beg her to give me what I need,
for surely I have neither solace nor pleasure,
and her beauty has bitten me so sweetly
that in no way can I be happy
if, before me, I do not see my lady.

II.
If Jupiter, who gave power
to clear-seeing Argus to love
Venus, who was his goddess and his beloved,
wished to grant me entry through the door of love,
my heart could not agree
to be happy on account of any thing I see,
if,  before me, I do not see my lady.

Thus I pray Love and beg for mercy
that pity, which sleeps in my lady’s heart,
agrees to take my side,
for otherwise, surely, it will quickly kill me,
for my suffering too sharply pierces and stings me,
so that I can not live like this
if,  before me, I do not see my lady.

Le ray au soleyl - Ciconia

Le ray au soleyl qui dret som kar meyne
En soy braçant la douce tortorelle,
Laquel compangnon onques renovelle,
A bon droit sembla que en toy perfect regne.

Translation
The ray of sunlight, who drives his chariot straight on
Is embracing the sweet turtledove, 
Whose companion is ever reborn, 
With good reason it seems that in you perfection reigns.  

from Das wassergewordene Kanonbuch - Tsao
5. Dum tria percurris quatuor valet
Translation: While three traversed, four counts. Third octave but it makes delays one under a white
Based on Johannes Ciconia’s Le ray au soleyl

7. Omnia per circuitum
Translation: Everything about
Based on Baude Cordier’s Tout par compas suy compose

2. Die Zahlen
Translation: The Numbers
Based on Johannes Ockeghem’s Missa Prolationum Kyrie

DIE ZAHLEN, im Bund 
mit der Bilder Verhängnis 
und Gegen –
verhängnis.
                    
Der drübergestülpte 
Schädel, an dessen 
schlafloser Schläfe ein irr – 
lichternder Hammer
all das im Welttakt besingt.

Paul Celan Atemwende        

Translation            
THE NUMBERS, in league 
with the images‘ doom 
and counter –
doom.    

The clapped – on
skull, at whose 
sleepless temple a will – 
of – the – wisping hammer 
celebrates all that in 
worldbeat. 
                
Translation - Pierre Joris, 2014

Gloria - Josquin
                           
Gloria in excelsis Deo, 
et in terra pax hominibus 
bonae voluntatis. 
Laudamus te. 
Adoramus te. 
Benedicimus te. 
Glorificamus te.
                    
Gratias agimus tibi 
propter magnam gloriam tuam. 
Domine Deus, rex coelestis, Deus Pater omnipotens. 
Domine Fili unigenite, Jesu Christe. 
Domine Deus, Agnus Dei, Filius Patris:

Qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis. 
Qui tollis peccata mundi, suscipe deprecationem nostram. 
Qui sedes ad dexteram Patris, miserere nobis.

Translation
Glory to God in the highest, 
and on earth peace, 
goodwill toward men.
We praise thee. 
We adore thee.
We bless thee. 
We glorify thee.

We give thanks to thee 
on account of thy great glory. 
Lord God, king of heaven, God the omnipotent Father. 
Lord the only- begotten Son, Jesus Christ. 
Lord God, Lamb of God, Son of the Father:

Who takest away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us. 
Who takest away the sins of the world, hear our prayer. 
Who sittest at the right hand of the Father, have mercy upon us. 

 Biographies

The composer Ming Tsao writes music with a sensuality that arises out of a focus on the inherent qualities of sound – what the composer calls its “materiality” – coupled to an extreme formal rigour and a highly precise, finely-crafted compositional style. In the foreground of his music is a contemporary conception of musical lyricism, which is fractured, multi-faceted and problematised to reflect the modern experience.
Many of Ming Tsao’s works are the result of a critical and deep-thinking examination of the Western classical tradition as well as his serious engagement with Chinese traditional music. Increasingly, opera is the forum where Ming Tsao brings these interests together. The chamber opera Prosperos Garten consists of two acts that are also separate works: Die Geisterinsel, commissioned by the Staatsoper Stuttgart, is a re-working of Johann Rudolph Zumsteeg’s 18th century opera on Shakespeare’s The Tempest and Mirandas Atemwende, premiered in Berlin, takes Schoenberg’s Erwartung as the starting point for an exploration of language and expression that focusses on the poetry of Paul Celan and J. H Prynne. His large-scale opera Mudan ting (The Peony Pavilion) is a re-working of the Chinese Ming dynasty Kunqu opera of the same name, which will have its world premiere at the National Theatre Mannheim in 2026.

Ming Tsao has composed works for ensembles including the Arditti Quartet, ELISION Ensemble, ensemble ascolta, ensemble recherche, Ensemble KNM Berlin and Ensemble SurPlus and has had premieres at the Darmstadter Ferienkürse, Donaueschinger Musiktage, MaerzMusik Berlin, Wien Modern and the Wittener Tage für neue Kammermusik. In recent seasons his major projects include two works for large ensemble: Refuse Collection, a reaction to the oeuvre of French filmmakers Danièle Huillet und Jean-Marie Straub; and Plus Minus, the first full realisation of Stockhausen’s open composition of the same name. In May 2022, the Ensemble Musikfabrik under Emilio Pomàrico premiered the Triode Variations in Cologne, a piece for 22 instruments lasting about half an hour, the recording of which was released in 2023 on the Kairos label. A second realization of Stockhausen’s Plus Minus, titled Plus or Minus, will premiere in the Wittener Tage für neue Kammermusik Festival in 2025, with the GrauSchumacher Duo and the Experimental Studio Freiburg.

Ming Tsao was born in Berkeley, California. His father emigrated from China and his mother’s parents emigrated from Austria. He studied violin and viola before travelling to Suzhou, China, to study with the renowned Guqin (Chinese zither) performer Wu Zhao-ji. He studied composition at Berklee College of Music in Boston and Ethnomusicology at Columbia University in New York before studies in Logic, Philosophy and Mathematics. Returning to composition, he gained a Ph.D. in Music Composition from the University of California, San Diego under Chaya Czernowin and Philipp Manoury as well as studying privately with Brian Ferneyhough. He was Professor of Composition at Göteborg University and Visiting Professor of Composition at the Hanover University of Music, Drama and Media. He was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2021 for music composition. In 2024, he was appointed as Birge-Cary Professor of Music at the University of Buffalo in New York.

A selection of his chamber works was collected on the portrait CD Pathology of Syntax, released by Mode Records. Kairos Music has released his works on three CDs, Die Geisterinsel, Plus Minus and Triode Variations. A fifth CD was released in 2025 under the title Plus or Minus with the Neos label. His music is published by Edition Peters. Ming Tsao is represented worldwide by the Berlin–based Karsten Witt Music Management.

Meara O'Reilly is a composer and artist, focusing on perception and new musical interfaces. Her Hockets for Two Voices album was released on Cantaloupe in 2019. It was named in several year-end best of lists, including Art Forum, Bandcamp, and Second Inversion. Sonic Youth’s Lee Ranaldo reviewed the album for Talkhouse, saying it “sends you, moves you, destroys you with beauty“.

Her music served as score for Daniel Soares’ short film “Bad for a Moment”, which won Mention Spéciale at Cannes in 2024. She wrote, performed, and recorded vocal arrangements for several tracks on the 2020 grammy nominated Fleet Foxes album, Shore. Most recently, she co-created a musical primate language for Isaiah Saxon’s 2025 A24 fantasy film “The Legend of Ochi”.

She is co-creator of the Rhythm Necklace app, a musical sequencer that uses two-dimensional geometry to create rhythm. In 2013 she completed a permanent exhibit at the Exploratorium, titled Chladni Singing. Her collaboration with design firm Snibbe Interactive on sound-based 'cymatic' concert visuals for Björk's Biophilia album was included in the world tour.

Her work has been presented at Carnegie Hall, Bang on a Can, National Sawdust, Los Angeles' Walt Disney Hall, Rewire Festival, SF Davies Symphony Hall, the Bauhaus Dessau, and as part of Wild Up’s Endless Season. Selected past performances also include The Kitchen, SFMOMA, the Berkeley Art Museum, Jeffrey Deitch Gallery in New York, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, and the Brooklyn Academy of Music, opening for artists such as Beck, Kronos Quartet, Meredith Monk, Laurie Anderson, Lucky Dragons, Dirty Projectors, Deerhoof, Michael Hurley, Bill Callahan, Matmos, and Dinosaur Jr. She toured internationally as a solo musician and in the bands Feathers and Brightblack Morning Light.