Indigo Crow

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Description +
- I have long admired crows for their mysterious beauty and unique personalities.
  
  These are sturdy and rugged birds, and they wouldn’t hesitate to confront a hawk. I’m intrigued by their intelligence, their alleged fondness for shiny objects, and their ability to communicate. I once witnessed a gathering of crows engage in a conversation while perched in a stand of trees. There were a few short sounds, a few longer responses, and then a robust debate ensued. All of a sudden it went quiet as if they were listening intensely. Something inevitably caused them all to take off as one. Each individual was an integral part of the larger whole.
  
  My imagination conjured a crow within the flock glowing with an aura of vibrant indigo. That image became the inspiration for this work.
  
  Indigo Crow very loosely imagines a day in the life of the flock. When setting these thoughts to music, an arch form emerged; A-B-C-B-A.
  
  A - Gliding, circling, exploring
  B - Conversation, debate
  C - A mission
  B - Conversation, less debate
  A - Gliding, circling, roosting
  
  A very special thanks to my wife, Patsy O’Meara, for the beautiful cover art.
  
  I’m very grateful for the collaboration that developed with composer and percussionist Aaron Locklear during the creation of this work. Tapped by Edition Svitzer to perform the premiere of Indigo Crow via a high quality video production, he gave me valuable feedback along the way and helped to shape the final form.
  
  Rich O’Meara
Instrumentation +
- Marimba (5.0 Octave)
Watch+
About the composer +
- Rich O’Meara is most known for his compositions for marimba that are performed and recorded throughout the world. His solo album, Red Chard, presents the premiere of Tsubaki Dance for marimba and drumset. It also features works for solo marimba, chamber percussion, electronic music, and improvisation. His work has been featured on the NPR program “New Sounds” and the PBS documentary “The Music Instinct, Science and Song”. He presented a master class and concert of his works at the Eighth International Festival of Percussion in Argentina and has received four ASCAP Plus awards.
  
  As a founding member of Silent Orchestra, he began a collaboration with Carlos Garza to develop and perform new scores for classic silent films. They have appeared at museums, theaters, and film festivals throughout the U.S., as well as at PASIC in 2001. Their scores for the iconic films Nosferatu (1922) and Salome (1923) are available on DVD.
  
  Working with playwright/actor David Kessler, he created and performed music for two live multi-media theater productions during the Capital Fringe Festival in Washington, DC.
  
  O’Meara has performed with Kwo’m Percussion, Sandbox Percussion, One Earth Percussion Theatre, the Contemporary Music Forum, the National Symphony Orchestra, and as a soloist with the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony and The Women Composer’s Orchestra. Along with the members of So Percussion and his son, Kevin O’Meara, he has played with the Dan Deacon Ensemble and appears on Deacon's albums Bromst, America, and his soundtrack for Well Groomed. He is an active member of the experimental music scene, and has produced three albums with Colla Parte, a quartet that creates music in the moment.
  
  Rich and his wife, Patsy, currently live in Bethel, Connecticut with their extended family and four dogs.
  
  https://richomeara.bandcamp.com
  https://www.facebook.com/richomeara
  http://youtube.com/madeinmarimba
Credits +
- Cover art: Patsy O’Meara
  Front Cover Graphics and Layout: Nicola Lee
  Photo: Rick Bowser
  Engraving: Rich O’Meara
  Printed in Copenhagen, Denmark
  Copyright © Edition SVITZER
  www.editionsvitzer.com

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