Giovedì 28 febbraio 2002 - ore 21 - Villa Schifanoia: via Giovanni Boccaccio, 121 - 50133 Firenze
Lute conTacts over the centuries
Latest news: Composer Gerald Busby will be present at the world premiere of his song cycle "TODAY" at the EUI !!

Detailed information for

Gerald BUSBY (1935-): 

Today (2001/2002)
- prima mondiale -

TODAY, five songs for soprano and lute, set to quatrains by the poet, Jelaluddin Rumi (1207-1273). 
Rumi was born in Balkh, in what is now Afghanistan.  His father and many of his ancesters had been scholars, theologians, and jurists; and Rumi himself was a teacher until the age of 37.  Then, in 1244, he met a wandering dervish named Shams of Tabriz, experienced a spiritual rebirth, and began to write poetry.  His poetic output increased exponentially until his death December 17, 1273.

Meet the composer at the concert, where he will personally introduce his piece.

I - TODAY 

Today, like every other day, we wake up empty 
and frightened. Don't open the door to the study 
and begin reading. Take down a musical instrument. 

Let the beauty we love be what we do. 
There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground. 
 

II - INSOMNIA 

When I am with you, we stay up all night. 
When you're not here, I can't go to sleep. 

Praise God for these two insomnias! 
And the difference between them. 
 
 

III - BREEZE 

The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you. 
Don't go back to sleep. 
You must ask for what you really want. 
Don't go back to sleep. 
People are going back and forth across the doorsill 
where the two worlds touch. 
The door is round and open. 
Don't go back to sleep. 
 

IV - DAYLIGHT 

Daylight, full of small dancing particles 
and the one great turning, our souls 
are dancing with you, without feet, they dance. 
Can you see them when I whisper in your ear? 
 

V - GLIDING 

Think that you're gliding out from the face of a cliff 
like an eagle. Think you're walking 
like a tiger walks by himself in the forest. 
You're most handsome when you're after food. 

Spend less time with nightingales and peacocks. 
One is just a voice, the other just a color. 

(Translated by John Moyne and Coleman Barks) 
 

GERALD BUSBY, a native of Texas and graduate of Yale, made his professional debut as a composer with a commission from Paul Taylor for the ballet RUNES, which has received more than one thousand performances since its Paris premiere in 1975. The following year RUNES was chosen to be the first dance work featured on the PBS Great Performances Series "Dance in America." Busby's debut as a film composer came in 1977 with Robert Altman's THREE WOMEN, which won international acclaim and special critical praise for its music.
Several of Busby's theatrical chamber music scenarios were produced off-Broadway and at Carnegie Recital Hall (now Weill Hall) in the 1970s; three were made into a chamber music film, SLEEPSONG (1985), which premiered by invitation at the Berlin Filmfest. SLEEPSONG also marked the beginning of Busby's extensive collaboration with playwright Craig Lucas, with whom he received two commissions from the Houston Grand Opera. In 1988 he and Lucas completed ORPHEUS IN LOVE, a chamber opera; and they are now at work on BREEDLOVE, a grand opera about a pioneer Texas woman whose bizarre pedagogy and powerful personality deeply affected all whose lives she touched.
Besides composing music for dance, film and the theater, Busby has written over one hundred concert works for solo instruments, voice and piano, chorus, concert band and chamber music ensembles. These include PROLEGOMENA OF LOVES (1981) for chorus and chamber ensemble, MONDSAND (1986) for voices, percussion and winds, COURT DANCES (1980) for flute, cello and harpsichord, GLYPHS (1981) for chamber ensemble, US, THEM & IT (1984) for two choirs and piano, BULLET-PROOF BIKINI (1983) for piano, BODY ODE (1994) for mezzo-soprano, tenor, baritone and glass eater, SONGS FROM CALAMUS (1993) for baritone and piano, and THE MUSIC (2000) for soprano and piano. 
Busby has received commissions from The Gregg Smith Singers, Joffrey II Ballet, Les Percussions de Strasbourg, Speculum Musicae and Union Theological Seminary among others. His music has been performed by such distinguished musicians as Thomas Hampson, Craig Rutenberg and Kenneth Cooper, and has been recorded on the EMI label. Busby has received numerous honors, including grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, a fellowship from the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, a Rockefeller Foundation appointment as Scholar-in-Residence at Bellagio, Italy, and residencies at the MacDowell Colony and at Yaddo. He lives and works at the Chelsea Hotel in New York City.