The Boys Are There

2020
/
Vocal

Details

Category

Vocal

instrumentation

Soprano & Double Bass

duration

19'

commissioned by

Departure Duo and made possible by the Chamber Music America Classical Commissioning Program with generous funding provided by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

premiered by

Departure Duo

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In 2019, Nina Guo and Eddie Kass (of Departure Duo) introduced me to the wonderful world of Dorothy Parker’s writing. I was immediately drawn to her wit, boldness, sarcasm, and dark humor—all amidst an underlying feminist viewpoint. It was the first time I had worked with a singer who helped guide my choice of text, and it made the process all the more personal. In particular, Parker’s hilarious and wry Men I’m Not Married To jumped out at me, making me laugh from the moment I started reading it. I felt this text was a brilliant commentary on what women in the 1920s—and too often still—go through when feeling the pressure to find a husband/partner. In this work, I decided to trace what begins as a seemingly harmless exposé on these various men to whom she’s not married, as she veers more and more sardonically into an exasperated and manic frustration of simply not wanting to conform to these ridiculous patriarchal norms. These men run the gamut of being wildly boring, bizarrely quirky, and/or just downright someone she doesn’t want to give the time of day to... isn’t that enough?