Alex Shapiro, composer: Immersion

Immersion

(Symphonic wind band and CD).
Accompanying CD tracks include a conductor click track.
Total duration ca. 23 minutes (2010)
Published by Activist Music (ASCAP).

Three movement work:
Depth, dur. 7:49
Surface, dur. 3:54
Beneath, dur. 10:16.

Any of the movements may be programmed individually.

Immersion was commissioned by a consortium of partners:

Dr. Milton Allen, The Ohio State University
Dr. Tom Duffy, Yale University
Encore Wind Ensemble, Minneapolis, MN
Glenn C. Hayes, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater
Jerry Luckhardt, University of Minnesota
Steve Olsen, Rosemount High School, Rosemount, MN
Dr. Robert Taylor, University of British Columbia

First premiere February 16, 2011 by the University of Minnesota Symphonic Band, Jerry Luckhardt, conductor, Minneapolis, MN.

Second premiere, February 23, 2011 by The Ohio State University Symphonic Wind Band, Milt Allen, conductor, Columbus, OH.

The Minneapolis premiere of Immersion was recorded by Minnesota Public Radio for later broadcast. Click here to listen to each movement in its entirety.

View pages from the score to Immersion
Listen to excerpts from each movement:
DEPTH	1.
SURFACE	2.
BENEATH	3a.
BENEATH	3b.
First premiere performance, recorded live at Ted Mann Hall in Minneapolis, MN. February 16, 2011 by Minnesota Public Radio, performed by the University of Minnesota Symphonic Band, Jerry Luckhardt, conductor.
Score, parts and CD for all three movements available from Activist Music for $350.00. Each movement available separately for $150.00 Conductor scores: $60.00 for IMMERSION; $35.00 for any movement separately.

Program note:

Immersion brings listeners on a sonic journey into a private, aquatic realm. Beneath the surface of the ocean is a world of liquid beauty and grace hidden from our eyes and from our imagination. Even in this habitat of life and hope, exquisite creatures remain vulnerable to events triggered from beyond their fragile sanctuary. Follow your ears and your heart to the depths of a place we sometimes forget to look.

Hear the entire symphony

To hear the Minnesota Public Radio Performance Today streaming broadcast of IMMERSION, click below.

LIVE PREMIERE PERFORMANCE, February 16, 2011, by the University of Minnesota Symphonic Wind Band, Jerry Luckhardt, conductor. Recorded by Minnesota Public Radio; Produced by Alex Shapiro.

Downloads for perusal

To download each movement separately, email Alex for the guest access code, then click below.

	Listen to a live premiere of Immersion email Alex for the guest access code	Download the perusal scores to Immersion email Alex for the guest access code	Purchase the full set of score, parts, and audio tracks
DEPTH (7:49; 16 pages)	1.
SURFACE (4:07; 32 pages)	2.
BENEATH (10:11; 27 pages)	3.
PURCHASE ALL THREE (IMMERSION; 75 pages):

Note from Alex:

Immersion is a three-movement symphony that can be presented as one longer piece, or modularly, in any combination of movements together or separately. Depth, and Beneath, are moderate in tempo, while Surface is very fast and percussive, and even suitable as an encore, with or without the accompanying electronic track.

The sea has been a constant in my life, and I have always lived on or next to the water. From my upbringing by the rivers flanking Manhattan, to my earlier adult life on the Pacific ocean in Malibu and Santa Barbara, living on the beach and also on a sailboat, to my current existence on the Salish Sea in the Pacific Northwest where I can kayak from my home in the San Juan Islands to outlaying atolls, I’ve spent a lot of time observing water and water-based life.

My studio on San Juan Island is in a largely glass house built on the very edge of the sea with an enormous view across the Salish Sea from the San Juans to the U.S. mainland, and as I composed Immersion, the ocean and its fascinating wildlife were my constant companions. Had I not been a musician, I might have become a marine biologist, and my interest in these sciences is reflected by my participation on the Board of Directors of University of Washington's Friday Harbor Laboratories, a preeminent marine science research center. I have a deeply fortunate life, to be a composer with an inner view to working scientists, and most of all, to have a window to the daily lives of wild creatures whose private existence is often beneath the surface, in the depth of the sea. I seek to share this private world, through music.

Immersion would not have been possible without the endless support, enthusiasm and collaborative work of Jerry Luckhardt, whose vision and assistance are deeply appreciated.

Dial-a-Mood

"There are less than a handful of [electroacoustic] pieces in the repertoire, and nothing like this one. Alex has a unique voice in music that I find stunningly beautiful and connected."

-------— Jerry Luckhardt, Conductor, University of Minnesota Symphonic Band

UofM Immersion premiere
The video and lighting effects for the premiere of "Immersion" at University of Minnesota.

*Click to enlarge these pages from the conductor score for DEPTH.*
*Page 4*	*Page 11*

*Click to enlarge these pages from the conductor score for SURFACE.*
*Page 13*	*Page 29*

*Click to enlarge these pages from the conductor score for BENEATH.*
*Page 5*	*Page 12*

Click here for a larger flyer

Orca

Shapiro writing studio
Alex Shapiro's studio, and her view while composing "Immersion."

The University of Minnesota is the lead organization in a consortium of U.S. schools that commissioned Alex to compose this multi-movement electroacoustic symphonic band work. Immersion had its first premiere in Minneapolis, MN on February 16 2011, by the University of Minnesota Symphonic Band, Jerry Luckhardt, conductor. This premiere enjoyed a multimedia aspect as well, with video and lighting designed by Jay'd Hagberg. The second of the consortium premieres took place the following week on Feb. 23rd by the symphonic band at The Ohio State University, conducted by Milton Allen.

Other participating institutions include Yale University, The Ohio State University, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, University of British Columbia, Rosemount High School, and Encore Wind Ensemble.

University of Minnesota consortium partners include:

Shapiro and Luckhardt
Alex Shapiro and conductor Jerry Luckhardt, on the University of Minnesota TCF Bank stadium football field
during a marching band practice, October 2010.

Surface sketch
Alex Shapiro's initial sketch of "Immersion" second mov't, "Surface"

Studio sunset
Sunset from the writing desk; Canada's Vancouver Island (L) and Salt Spring Island (R).

UofM Immersion premiere
The premiere of "Immersion" at University of Minnesota, Jerry Luckhardt, conducting.

How did this mostly-chamber music composer get into writing for symphonic band? Listen to her describe how it happened, in this two-minute excerpt from an interview she gave to Carey Nadeau from the American Composers Forum:

shore