Gilda Lyons
An Anchor in Time
“Listen… draw your chair up close… and I'll tell you a story.”
— F. Scott Fitzgerald
An Anchor in Time, by Gilda Lyons
I. draw your chair up close
II. ‘Big Bang’ Theory of Cosmos Backed
III. It is quite true
IV. Human Genome
V. Double Decker Rainbow
VI. slow sand
World Premiere & Resonance Works 10th Anniversary Commission
Performance recording from March 5, 2023
Andrew Carnegie Free Library & Music Hall, Carnegie, PA
— scroll down for composer’s program note & texts —
“A more appropriate commission for Resonance Works and their special occasion would be hard to imagine.”
— OnStage Pittsburgh
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Timothi Williams
MEZZO-SOPRANO
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Daniel Teadt
BARITONE
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Gilda Lyons
COMPOSER
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Maria Sensi Sellner
CONDUCTOR/PRODUCER
Resonance Chamber Orchestra
Violin I
Sandro Leal-Santiesteban
Therese West
Violin II
Ashley Freeburn
Marissa Weston
Viola
Si Yu
Rafael Gargate Santamaria
Cello
Simon Cummings
Jake Nathanson
Bass
Emily Tarantino
Flute
Lindsey Goodman
Clarinet
Ryan Leonard
Bassoon
James Rodgers
Piano
Robert Frankenberry
Composer’s Notes
An Anchor in Time
on texts of remembrance and possibility
for mezzo-soprano, baritone, and chamber orchestra
It may be that most lives unfold around a continually oscillating concern for past and future events. Hart Crane, in his poem The Bridge: The Dance, traces his narrator’s journey drifting, climbing, and reaching a summit where they’ve “gained the ledge,” carrying with them all they have seen while looking out toward all that is ahead. Landmarks in time and achievement intensify the human tendency to look forward and to reflect at the same time. As Resonance Works marks its 10th anniversary season, I turned to text that looks in both directions to celebrate the occasion, looking back into the public record and poetry of the past and forward through the eyes of children interviewed for the project who speak to memory, to the present moment, and to their tomorrows.
A conversation with composer Gilda Lyons about the genesis and world premiere of An Anchor in Time!
Text
1. draw your chair up close
from The Crack-Up, by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Listen, little Elia: draw your chair up close to the edge of the precipice and I'll tell you a story.
2. ‘Big Bang’ Theory of Cosmos Backed
The New York Times, London, Feb. 10, 1961
British Astronomer Asserts Radio Signals
Disprove a Continuous Creation
“The universe had a beginning.”
The distribution of the signals confirmed that the universe was expanding and that irregular groups of galaxies, or star kingdoms were flying outward into space.
...there was a moment of creation when all matter was together.
“The universe had a beginning.”
3. It is quite true
from Journalen (1843)
Søren Kierkegaard
from The First Day
Christina Rossetti
“It is quite true what Philosophy says:
that Life must be understood backward.
I wish I could remember that first day, First hour, first moment of your meeting me, So unrecorded did it slip away, So blind was I to see and to foresee
But that makes one forget:
that Life must be lived—forward.
4. Human Genome
public record
GATC / AATG / AGGT / GGAC
ACCA / GAGG / CGGG / GACT
TGTA / AATA
ACAC / TGGG
CTGT / AGGA
GTGA
The first line is...
The first complete, gapless sequence
of a human genome, published two decades after the
first draft human genome sequence...
The first line of Chromosome 1 is beautiful.
5. Double Decker Rainbow
Lark Wright, age 11
Well...well, what’s happening now is
I'm excited to go to England.
And to meet my grandma's old friend.
I think my mom has it all planned out so
I'm not 100% sure what else we will do.
My brother and my dad will go to a fancy
sneaker store just to look around.
But I know
I know I want to...
I want to ride on a double decker bus.
I have always loved them.
It’s like: there’s the bottom! And then the top!
And it’s just so cool! It’s like:
are there STAIRS?
are there STAIRS. IN. the bus?
It's so confusing, but so amazing.
like a miniature house on wheels...
but not... but, YES!
And I wonder: are they all red?|
I don’t think so... but they should be.
Or, maybe, it’s like a parade of:
one’s red! one’s orange! one’s yellow!
and it’s a whole rainbow
and they just drive together with a
bunch of people on them and it’s like...
It’s a double decker rainbow.
VI. slow sand
Lark Wright, age 11 & Seamus Hagen, age 11
The whole sky is changing colors—
all these different oranges,
reds, and blues
and all the clouds
are just drifting
Every time you do something
you drop an anchor in time.
and you can see the sun.
It’s less bright now.
And when you drop them every year
in the same way
the anchors become connected.
It's just drifting down
They are heavy and strong
and they are one.
And you can conjure that moment—
like it's sinking into something,
you can conjure that moment—
like its sinking into slow sand—
And you can conjure that moment—
of all those combined anchors—
from anywhere, in any time.
then all the oranges and reds start
turning darker like there’s a curtain
that reveals a whole new sky
you can conjure that moment
and then night starts coming
from anywhere, in any time
and then the stars come.
GIlda Lyons, Timothi Williams, Daniel Teadt, and Maria Sensi Sellner joyful after the world premiere of An Anchor in Time.
Artist Biographies
GILDA LYONS, composer
As a composer, vocalist, and visual artist, Lyons combines elements of renaissance, neo-baroque, spectral, folk, agitprop Music Theater, and extended vocalism to create works of uncompromising emotional honesty and melodic beauty. Her works and performances are available on Clarion, GPR, Naxos, New Dynamic, New Focus, Roven Records, and Yarlung Records labels. Laura Strickling’s Grammy-nominated 2021 release of Lyons’ Songs of Lament and Praise (Yarlung) was described by Opera News as “quietly devastating.” A fierce advocate of contemporary music, Lyons has commissioned, premiered, and workshopped new music by dozens of composers. As vocalist, Lyons’ collaboration with Laura Ward (Naxos), was described by Opera News as “winning delivery, full of character.” David Shengold of Opera, UK writes “Gilda Lyons's clear soprano compels admiration” of her performance in Daron Hagen’s Shining Brow (Buffalo Philharmonic/Falletta/Naxos). Lyons serves as Co-Chair of Composition at Wintergreen Music Academy and as Chair of Composition at The Hartt School. She is Executive Director of the Richard P. Garmany Chamber Music Series, Founding Director of The Phoenix Concerts, NYC, and serves on the Board of Advisors of Composers Now, the Steven R. Gerber Trust, and Sparks & Wiry Cries. Her music is published by Schott, E.C. Schirmer, and Burning Sled Media. www.gildalyons.com
Timothi Williams, mezzo-soprano
Timothi Williams, mezzo-soprano, is a West Virginia native and a graduate of Pennsylvania State University where she received her Master of Music degree in Vocal Performance and Pedagogy. She received her Bachelor of Music degree in Vocal Performance from West Liberty University in 2014. In addition, Ms. Williams also holds a Professional Performance Certificate from the Penn State School of Music.
Timothi has had the pleasure of performing several operatic roles on stage such as Jo March in Mark Adamo’s Little Women, Rosina in Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Ruggiero in Handel’s Alcina, Dinah in Bernstein’s Trouble in Tahiti, Mélisande in Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande, Dido in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, Donna Curson in Mozart/Guerreiro's Figaro 90210, Maddalena in Verdi’s Rigoletto and Hansel in Hansel and Gretel.
Quickly gaining popularity as a soloist, Ms. Williams performs regularly with many orchestral, vocal, and chamber ensembles throughout the east coast and particularly throughout the Pittsburgh area. She has been making debuts in opera programs around the country, most recently in Duluth, MN with Lyric Opera of the North. She looks forward to many new symphonic endeavors in the year ahead.
Among her most notable credits, Timothi was named a Metropolitan Opera National Council Audition Winner (Pittsburgh District) in 2018, and again in 2021 under its new name, The Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition.
Timothi has a passion for education and enjoys sharing the gift of voice with others through her private voice studio, offering masterclasses, and teaching at the university level. She is currently on the voice faculty at Slippery Rock University, where she acts as Adjunct Professor of Voice, and Director of Opera Performance. Recently, Timothi was selected as the music department representative for the President’s Award: Excellence in Teaching. When not performing or teaching, she enjoys spending time with daughter Kennedy, partner Joe, and dogs Millie and Tober.
Daniel Teadt, baritone
With a career spanning four continents, acclaimed baryton-Martin Daniel Teadt is well known for his decades long experience on the recital, concert, and operatic stage.
Teadt performs major roles throughout the United States and Europe including engagements with New York City Opera, Arizona Opera, Pittsburgh Opera, San Francisco Opera, Anchorage Opera, Aix-en-Provence Festival, Opera Theater of Saint Louis, Ashlawn Opera Festival, Opera Company of Philadelphia, Opera Theater Summerfest, and Central City Opera among many others.
Concert highlights include GRAMMY Award winning performances with the London Symphony Orchestra, guest appearances with Los Angeles Philharmonic, Pacific Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Kansas City Symphony, New Haven Symphony, Akron Symphony, I Pomeriggi Musicale di Milano, Concerto Köln, Riverside Symphonia, Los Angeles Master Chorale, Resonance Works, Bell’Art Ensemble, Het Gelder Orkest, Orquestra Symphonique de Minais Gerais, Conspirare, Canticum Novum, and the Orchestras of the San Francisco Opera and Metropolitan Opera.
Recitalist appearances include the Ravinia Festival Steans Institute, New York Festival of Song, Music In A Great Space Recital Series, Aix-en-Provence Festival, Pittsburgh Song Collaborative, Lyric Fest of Philadelphia, San Francisco Opera Schwabacher Debut Recital Series as well as venues across the US and Europe. Daniel is a Professor of Voice at Carnegie Mellon University and lectures on English and American Song Literature. Masterclasses and Voice Residencies include major universities and institutions across the United States, Brazil, China, and Qatar.
Teadt’s recordings include releases from EMI Classics and Naxos.