Scott Gendel

Scott Gendel (born June 24, 1977) is an American composer, pianist, and vocal coach. Gendel is known mostly for his art songs and choral music, but has also written numerous operas and musical theatre works, as well as orchestral and chamber music.

Scott Gendel headshot. [Photography by Katrin Talbot.]

Career

Gendel attended Bard College from 1995-1999, where he studied composition with Joan Tower and Daron Hagen. He then received his MM and DMA degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he studied vocal coaching & piano with Martha Fischer, and composition with Stephen Dembski.

His art songs first achieved national attention with his song cycle "Forgotten Light", which won First Prize in the inaugural ASCAP / Lotte Lehmann Foundation Art Song Composition Competition, as well as having selected songs recorded by soprano Julia Faulkner and pianist Martha Fischer for Naxos Records’ “Between The Bliss And Me.” More recently, Gendel’s song “At Last” was recorded by soprano Camille Zamora and cellist Yo-Yo Ma for “An AIDS Quilt Songbook: Sing for Hope.” Opera News called Gendel’s song on that recording “luminous, transcendently lyrical.”

Gendel’s art song output is now published by Classical Vocal Reprints, and those songs receive frequent performances. His cycle “I’m Afraid It’s You” won second prize in the 2015 NATS Art Song Composition Competition. Writing in NewMusicBox, Daron Hagen said “Scott Gendel's art songs combine superb craftsmanship, a sophisticated and well-honed sense of prosody, texts of excellent literary quality, and a sure heart.”

Other notable works of Gendel’s include the choral/orchestral cantata “All Souls” for All Souls Church Unitarian in Washington D.C., the musical theatre piece “Unearthed” written with poet/playwright Nick Lantz for Endstation Theatre, the oratorio “Barbara Allen” which combines Appalachian folk song with orchestral concert music, and the opera for young audiences “Super Storm,” being written in collaboration with Opera For The Young.

List of works

Source:

Voice and piano

• To Wander in the Dark (1998)
• Meditation at Oyster River (1999)
• Keats Songs (2000)
• Spring (2001)
• Violi Songs (2003)
• My Symphony (2003)
• For Miriam (2004)
• Annabel Lee (2005)
• Forgotten Light (2005)
• Return and Return Again (2006)
• The Space Between (2006)
• The Saddest Noise (2007)
• My Beloved (2007) (unaccompanied)
• My Songs Do Not Belong To Me (2011)
• Love Songs of Marichiko (2012)
• Italian Art Songs & Arias, Reimagined (2002-2013)
• I’m Afraid It’s You (2014)
• What We Did Not Know (2014)
• Advice to Those Like Me, With Hearts Like Kindling (2015)
• Kids Who Die (2016)

Theatre and Opera

• A Song That’s True (1999) one-act opera for young audiences
• Iphigenia at Aulis (2004) evening-length one-act opera
• The Night Knight (2007) madrigal comedy / a cappella opera for all ages
• Hibernation (2007) songs and incidental music for the play
• Across a Distance (2010) music theatre work in two acts for soprano and Deaf actor
• Unearthed (2013) musical in two acts
• Seven Princesses and a Bear (2015) - ballet for young audiences
• The Snow Goose (2016) songs and incidental music for storytelling / radio play
• Everlasting Faint (2023) - opera based on the Greenbrier Ghost with libretto by Sandra Flores-Strand.

Choral works

• We Must Be Slow (1997) SSA
• Now Blue October (2000) SSATTB
• The Premonition (2000) SSATTB
• Instructions for Angels (2001) SSATBB
• Love Song (2001) SSAA
• A Dream Within a Dream (2003) SATB
• Two Spring Songs (2003) SATB
• All Weeping Things (2004) SATB
• Eternal Summer (2005) SATB
• The Last Invocation (2005) SSATBB
• Prayer (2005) SATB and piano
• Ave Verum Corpus, After Byrd (2006) SSAATTBB
• The Vine (2006) TTB
• Ten Thousand Miles (2007) 4 SATB choirs
• The Road of Excess (2007) SSATTB
• Invocation to the Muse / Persephone’s Spring (2008) multiple choirs, violin, cello, piano, percussion
• Midwinter (I Sorrow Not) (2008) 4 SATB choirs and one SSA choir
• Hower-Glass (2009) SSATBB and piano
• No Room at the Inn (2009) SATB and piano
• The White Birds (2010) SATB and piano
• Juno’s Garden (2010) SSATBB
• It Was My Father’s Custom (2011) SATB, percussion, harp, and string orchestra
• There Came a Wind Like a Bugle (2011) SATB and piano
• In Praise of the Mind (2012) SATB and brass quintet
• Just Delicate Needles (2013) SSATB and piano
• Peace Everywhere (2013) SATB with 3-part descant
• The Singing Place (2013) SATB and piano
• All Souls (2013) - cantata for soprano and baritone soloists, SATB choir, and chamber orchestra
• Sound and Fury (2014) SATB, piano, violin, and drum
• #dreamsongs (2014) SATB, cello, and piano
• Una Sañosa Porfía & Ayo Visto Lo Mappamundi (2014) SATB, recorder, harp, and string quartet
• We Are Such Stuff as Dreams are Made On (2014) SSATB
• In Summer (2015) SATB
• Across the Water (2016) SSA + treble choir, flute, piano, and guitar
• That Which Is Near (2017) SATB, string quartet, and piano
• Barbara Allen (2017) - oratorio for soprano and tenor soloists, SATB choir, and chamber orchestra

Chamber music

• Time and Time Again (2000) string quartet
• Effusion (2000) tuba and piano
• A Tango for Closed Eyes (2001) violin, 2 saxophones, guitar, piano, and bass
• Breath (2002) English horn, viola, and piano
• Fantasy Pieces (2002) clarinet and piano
• Just Thinking of You (2003) solo piano
• Wisp (2004) solo flute
• 4th Avenue (2005) solo piano
• A Gleam in Her Eye (2005) percussion ensemble
• Elder Tree (2008) viola and piano
• For Lotte, Asleep (2009) piano quintet
• Heat Lightning (2011) 2 harps, 3 percussionists, piano

Vocal chamber music

• DiPrima Songs (1996) soprano and clarinet
• Spelt from Sibyl’s Leaves (2001) medium-high voice, violin, and harp
• Evensong (2002) soprano, alto flute, 2 violins, harpsichord, and cello
• Player Piano (2002) singing actor and piano 4-hands
• Patterns (2003) mezzo-soprano, flute, and piano
• GIC to HAR (2004) high voice and string quartet
• Songs for Marie’s Lutebook (2004) voice and guitar
• Shadow Songs (2005) soprano and violin
• Since I Left You (2005) tenor, violin, guitar, and harp
• Facts About the Moon (2010) soprano, flute, cello, guitar, piano, and percussion
• Metamorphosis (2011) voice and harp
• Worship Songs (2016) high voice and percussion

Orchestra/band

• Clinging Fire (2000) for symphony orchestra
• Requiem Humana (2001) - secular Mass for SATB choir, string quartet, and percussion
• Crackle and Snap (2001) for small chamber orchestra
• Behind Glass (2002) for chamber orchestra
• Nimbus (2003) for wind ensemble
• For Miriam (orchestrated version) (2004) for high voice and chamber orchestra
• Aulis (2004) for small chamber orchestra
• Nova (2005) for symphony orchestra
• Dynamo (2006) for concert band
• It Was My Father’s Custom (2011) carol for SATB choir, percussion, harp, and string orchestra
• All Souls (2013) - cantata for soprano and baritone soloists, SATB choir, and chamber orchestra
• The Raven (2013) for string orchestra and timpani
• Barbara Allen (2017) - oratorio for soprano and tenor soloists, SATB choir, and chamber orchestra