works
by Jake Landau
if you'd like to license a performance or rent/purchase score materials, get in touch
opera
P I E T À
a new one-act opera
Music by Jake Landau
Libretto by Jake Landau and Andrea DelGiudice
Premiering onstage 2021 at The Narnia Festival in Narni, Italy, conducted by the composer. Commissioned as part of Landau's Composer-in-Residency.
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Film version
Editor and Cinematographer Jacob Maximillian Baron
Director Andrea DelGiudice
Starring Devony Smith Claire Leyden
Sishel Claverie Alexia Bigari
Stacey Canterbury Jordan Weatherson Pitts
Erik Van Heyningen Erin Kennedy
Kristina Shafranski Kayla Faccilongo
Christine Duncan Melanie Long
Program for the filmed reading.
Trailer for the filmed reading.
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Pietà was written for the Narnia Festival's 2020 season to be paired with Puccini's Suor Angelica.
Version 1: c. 90 minutes (evening-length)
Version 2: c. 60 minutes (for performance with Suor Angelica)
Orchestrations available
Piano/vocal
Chamber orchestra
Full orchestra (the same forces as Suor Angelica)
For additional information on this project, contact Kathy Olsen at Encompass Arts Management.
Birds of Paradise
an operatic short
Music and libretto by Jake Landau
Story by Harris Ferguson and Jake Landau
Electronics by Harris Ferguson
Introduction
Middle-aged lovebirds Polly and Paul have been married for a number of years now, living together in a house on top of an old giant woman’s head. One morning, Paul steps outside to find that their lawn, the giant woman’s hair, has changed overnight from its normal grey to a shocking purple. The giantess, Gladys, has apparently gone through some sort of late-life crisis and dyed her hair. This seemingly benign change to Polly and Paul’s surroundings calls to the fore their deepest- repressed marital issues, forcing the two birds to decide how to handle their crumbling relationship else it slips through their talons.
a 10-minute opera for soprano, baritone, and piano with optional electronics
ballet
Music by Jake Landau
Choreography by Nadège Hottier
Based on the short story by Edgar Allen Poe
Commissioned by Premiere Division Ballet as part of Landau's Composer-in-Residency.
Premiered 2018 at Martha Graham Studio Theater.
c. 1 hour
vln 1; vln 2; pno
2018
Music by Jake Landau
Choreography and original story by Nadège Hottier
Commissioned by Premiere Division Ballet as part of Landau's Composer-in-Residency.
Premiered 2015 at New York Live Arts Theater.
c. 1 hour 30 min
sop; vcl; elec; kbds (toy piano, melodica, shruti, piano)
2015
voice
songs, cycles, collections, monodramas
click on each title for a score sample
on poetry by Sappho, tr. Anne Carson
an intimate prayer to Hera. only part of Sappho's text survives. as the poem breaks off, so does the voice, leaving behind the rhythmic shadow of Sappho's meter tapped onto the body of the lyre.
c. 3 minutes
vx (high male or low female); lyre
English
2020
on poetry by Robert Graves
"As green commands the variables of green /
So love my many loves of you."
c. 2'
vx; pno
English
2019
on poetry by Sappho, tr. Emily Garber
the narrator's love is slowly revealed to be obsession.
Premiered at the Jacqueline du Pré Music Building at Oxford University.
c. 10'
version 1: sop; pno
version 2: sop; vln I; vln II; vla; vcl; cbs; perc (1 player); pno
English
2018-20
Scotch Lyrics
a collection of songs on Scottish texts
text by Marion Angus
text by Marion Angus
text by Marion Angus
setting of a folk song as collected by Pleyel
each song between 2-5'
vx (originally low. medium and high keys available); pno
Scottish / English
2018-present
Elizabethan Songs
a collection of songs on Elizabethan lute song texts
on lyrics by John Donne
on lyrics by Ben Johnson
on lyrics by Thomas Campion
on lyrics by Thomas Campion
Sweet, Come Away
on lyrics by Robert Jones
When Laura Smiles
on lyrics by Thomas Campion
on lyrics by Thomas Campion
on an anonymous text
on lyrics by Thomas Campion
Bundles:
Three Suits for Understanding
"Still To Be Neat", "Never Love Unless", and "Corinna"
Ayres
"Sweet, Come Away", "When Laura Smiles", "Fair, If You Expect Admiring", "Fire, Fire"
Original versions of "Sweet, Come Away" and "When Laura Smiles" for two-part chorus and piano are available as part of the Judith Clurman G. Schirmer collection.
each song between 2-5'
vx; pno
Elizabethan English
2011-present
a monodrama
on lyrics by Joni Mitchell
a failed love story told in reverse.
I. Sunny Sunday
II. Borderline
III. Lucky Girl
Premiered at Paul Hall of the Juilliard School.
c. 15'
Version 1: sop; organ; pno
Version 2: sop; pno
transposition for mezzo available
English
2017
a song cycle
on poetry by Nik Richard
accompanied solely by an electronic chorus of their own voice, the singer tries to think their way over a one-sided relationship.
I. to different people
II. cigarette
III. long enough to see the sun
Premiered at Paul Hall of the Juilliard School.
c. 8'
vx (medium or low); vocoder (live electronics)
English
2016
a monodrama
on poetry by Alfonsina Storni
and translations by Landau
a man struggles giving up his soul to the moon.
I. Prologue
II. Viaje
III. Interlude
IV. Over
Commissioned and premiered by the Young Artist Studio at Houston Grand Opera.
c. 17'
bari; pno
Spanish and English
2016
on poetry by Keats, excerpted from "Ode to a Nightingale"
c. 5'
bari; vln (no pno)
English
2014
En El Huerto de la Petenera
Premiered at the Young Artists Vocal Academy of Houston Grand Opera.
c. 3'
mez; pno
Spanish
2013
piano
Psyche Nocturnes
set of nocturnes derived from the music of Psyche, an original musical/opera co-written with Emily Garber
i. Eros
ii. Aphrodite
iii. Adonis
iv. Psyche
c. 15'
2020
Distance
arranged from the original for mixed sextet
c. 5'
2014
Album
for the intermediate pianist
eight diverse pieces of progressive difficulty
c. 15'
2012
solo instrument
unaccompanied
Genuflect
for trombone
a postlude to Berio's Sequenza V
Commissioned by the Praemium Erasmianum Foundation.
Premiered at the Royal Palace of Amsterdam.
c. 5'
2017
Violin Sonata No. 2
I. Rhapsody
II. Scherzo
III. Chorale with Doubles
IV. Pedals
c. 20'
2015
with herself
for violin
written as a companion piece to Florid, for violin and orchestra
Premiered in New Albany, Ohio for the New Albany Symphony.
c. 6'
2014
Hydrangea Prelude
for harp
written at the Boston Unversity Tanglewood Institute
c. 2'
2011
solo instrument
accompanied
Billiards
for piano and electronics
collaboration with Maurice Marion of Sunspeaker
live electronics or tape
Premiered at Paul Hall of the Juilliard School.
c. 5'
2017
Violin Sonata No. 1
for violin and piano with optional drumset
I. Presto tocatissimo
II. Rubato espressivo
III. Finale: Presto
Premiered at Paul Hall of the Juilliard School.
c. 15'
2013-16
Stasis
for viola and piano
a virtuosic chaconne
Premiered at Paul Hall of the Juilliard School.
c. 6'
2014
Lounge Fantasy
for violin and piano
a tuneset
Premiered at Paul Hall of the Juilliard School.
c. 10'
2013
chamber music
for miscellaneous ensemble
Crown and Anchor
an acoustic remix of the piano part of "Blue" by Joni Mitchell from the eponymous album
c. 6'
vib; mar; 4 pnos
2018
Second Jennifer
written for the The Sibelius Academy’s Creative Dialogue Symposium VIII
Premiered at St. Francis Auditorium in Santa Fe, NM.
c. 4'
vcl; e-bass
2016
"All Things Considered" Remix
written for the NPR program "All Things Considered"
recorded at the Aspen Music Festival and School
c. 1'
12 vcl
2014
Suite for 2 Violins
I. Prelude: Slope
II. Aria Waltzes
III. Fairy Tale March
IV. The Tipsy Canoneer
V. Skylit
also arranged for 2 violas
c. 10'
2014
Distance
a concertino
Version 1: cl; vib; pno; vln; vla; vcl
Version 2: e-guitar; org; pno; vln; vla; vcl
Premiered at the Aspen Music Festival and School.
c. 7'
2014
orchestra
a concert opener
Published by Edition Peters.
c. 5'
2017
Florid
an encore piece for violin and orchestra
Commissioned and premiered by the New Albany Symphony.
c. 6'
Sonatine for Strings
for string orchestra
c. 5'
2013
2 Shorts for Orchestra
Spouting Bombast premiered by the New York Philharmonic.
c. 5'
2011
chorus
Dona Nobis Pacem
c. 3'
SATB
2017
Were All The World Like You
on poetry by Arthur Macy
c. 4'
SATB and piano
2017
Ayres
on Elizabethan lute song texts
Published as part of the Judith Clurman G. Schirmer Collection.
c. 5'
SA and piano
2016