Elem Eley Featured on Two New CDs

Professor of Voice Elem Eley is featured on two new recordings on the Albany label - Drifts and Shadows: American Song for the New Millennium and On Course.

Drifts and Shadows features Eley, baritone, performing songs composed by Tom Cipullo, David Eddleman, Daron Hagen, Richard Hundley, Martin Hennessy and Lee Hoiby.  He is joined by pianist JJ Penna for all but the Hennessy songs, in which he’s accompanied by, Martin Hennessy, piano, and Bruce Williamson, clarinet.

On Course features Eley performing “Three Antarctica Songs” accompanied by the composer Laurie Altman.

“Drifts and Shadows beckons the listener to an exhilarating journey—via stimulating songs of integrity, substance and passion,” says Eley.  “I am fortunate to have worked with each of the six imaginative composers, some of whom are close friends. Their compositional styles range from aggressive, hyper-kinetic, and jazzy to compellingly melodious and richly harmonized.”

To celebrate the recordings’ release, a special CD release party will be held on Wednesday, October 22 at 7:30 p.m., in Williamson Hall on the Westminster campus in Princeton.

The event will feature a discussion by composers Daron Hagen, Martin Hennessy and Laurie Altman with Rider English faculty members Robbie Sethi and Vanita Neelakanta and JJ Penna and Eley.  Christian Carey, a member of Westminster’s music composition, history and theory department, will moderate.   The evening will focus on the creative process, and it will include readings of some of the poems that were set to music for the CD and musical examples drawn from the recording.  A reception and CD signing will follow the discussion.

Admission is free and open to the public.