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PROJECT : ENCORE NEWS

A Catalog of Contemporary Choral Music

ProjectEncore.org

Music as emotion—from real-life experiences

The music of Michael Bussewitz-Quarm emerges directly out of real-time, often difficult
life events or circumstances. “What drives me to start a project is something that I feel
deeply about. Sometimes I feel helpless about a certain situation, and [composing is]
a way for me to work through that helplessness.” One particularly poignant example
is her concert-length cantata written in response to gun violence against children.

Michael relates how the despair she felt at the time of the Parkland Shooting (February
of 2018) was so great that she initially tried to block it out by avoiding the news
and social media. Quickly realizing
“What drives me to start a project that was not the answer, she set

is something I feel deeply about.” aside another project on which she
was working at the time, in order
to focus fully on developing what
would ultimately become the eight-movement cantata called The Unarmed Child*.
Her navigation through the heart-wrenching subject evokes inevitable tears, yet
concludes with an energized call to action that is infused with hope.

Michael’s musical journey began at the age of five, when the gift of a piano was made
to her family. She recalls being drawn to specific tones and specific intervals as a
very small child. As a young adult, she taught public school music in Long Island, and
began writing for her school choirs. A significant influence as a young professional
was Gregg Smith, whose assistant she became with his Long Island Symphonic Choral
Association, and by whose Gregg Smith Singers she had several pieces performed.

“[Even with really tough subjects], we can’t stay stuck in despair.

I try always to include a call to action, or some element of hope
toward the end.”

When I asked Michael if she could describe her compositional style to someone
unfamiliar with her work, she conceded difficulty in doing so, primarily because
the style completely depends on the story. She describes her writing, however, as
“always tonal, with dissonance as it presents itself [according to the subject].”

* The Unarmed Child is one of 13 scores by Michael Bussewitz-Quarm, endorsed as of exceptional
value in the PROJECT : ENCORE catalog of contemporary choral music.

PROJECT : ENCORE™ is sponsored by Ember Choral Arts
EmberArts.org