UPDATE: This campaign is now complete! Thanks to the generous donors who contributed $275 to Fair Fight, ACLU, and Rock the Vote Action Fund. As thanks, I will be donating free digital scores of Horizon for solo cello from October 5 through November 2, 2020.
Want to support our U.S. democracy while making scores of my chamber music accessible to more musicians? Please consider contributing to my fundraising campaign, Free Music for a Fair Election!
Donate through ActBlue here. Your contributions will support three organizations working for the integrity of the democratic process: Fair Fight, Rock the Vote Action Fund, and the ACLU.
To encourage donors to hit my fundraising goals before Sunday, October 4, 2020 (30 days before the General Election), I will be making scores for solo instruments, selected from my composition catalogue, available for free digital downloads:
If we raise $200, I will release the score of “Horizon” for solo cello for free download.
If we raise $500, I will add the score of “Walks at Brush Creek” for solo piano.
Finally, if we raise my goal of $1,000, I will also include the score of “Triptych” for solo classical guitar.
After this campaign is complete, musicians will be able to download the free digital scores from my website (nellshawcohen.com) from October 5 through November 2, 2020.
Thank you so much for helping me to support the incredibly important work these organizations are doing!
(Disclaimer: Only contributions received via my ActBlue fundraiser through October 4 will be counted. But you are very much encouraged to continue donating to these organizations after the campaign!)
About the Charitable Organizations
Fair Fight is an organization founded by Stacey Abrams to promote free and fair elections by fighting voter suppression efforts, particularly against people of color. They defend people’s right to vote through litigation, legislation, and grassroots activism and organizing.
Rock the Vote Action Fund is dedicated to building the political power of young progressives and leveraging that power for action on issues that affect their lives. They are the sister organization of Rock the Vote, which for 30 years has revolutionized the way we use pop culture, music, art, and technology to engage young people in politics and build our collective power.
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is fighting back against attempts to curtail an essential right in our democracy, the right to vote, and working to advocate for policies that make it easier for Americans to vote.
About the Scores
Click the titles for recordings and more information about these works.
Horizon (2013) for solo cello is a sparse, atmospheric work written to celebrate and reflect the aesthetic quality of the Parrish Art Museum in Water Mill, NY, and the surrounding landscape of the East End of Long Island (my former home). It has been given wonderful performances by cellists including Louise King, Karlos Rodriguez, Richard Vaudrey, and Fjóla Evans, and became part of a collaboration with dancer and choreographer Callie Lyons. Listen to Horizon.
Walks at Brush Creek (2017) for solo piano was inspired by my daily walks through rural Western scenery as an Artist-in-Residence at Brush Creek Foundation for the Arts, located on a ranch in southeastern Wyoming abutting Medicine Bow National Forest. With this score, I offer a musical illustration of my emotional responses to this landscape, from the ever-shifting cloud shadows playing over the grasses and sagebrush to the sweeping lines of wooden fences that frame them. Listen to Walks at Brush Creek.
Triptych (2011) for solo classical guitar was composed for guitarist Devin Ulibarri. Triptych (pronounced “trip-tik”) is a term from visual art describing an artwork divided into three sections that are displayed as a group. European Medieval and Renaissance triptychs were usually painted or carved wood or ivory panels connected by hinges for standing or folding, and would have two narrow panels flanking a larger, contrasting middle panel. My three-movement piece for solo guitar reflects this structural model. Listen to Triptych.
I am honored that my piece was selected by The Astoria Choir as a winner of their Call for Scores for a program celebrating International Women’s Day. This Saturday in Astoria, Queens, the choir will be performing the first movement, “My First Camera,” which sets a delightful autobiographical text by pioneering photographer Julia Margaret Cameron.
Next month another ensemble, Williams College Chamber Choir will perform the second movement, “In an Artist’s Studio,” in two performances featuring their ensemble of women’s voices. This movement features Christina Rossetti’s poetic critique of a painter’s depictions of an idealized woman.
Looking further ahead to June, the Grammy-nominated Skylark Vocal Ensemble,who commissioned and premiered this work in 2019,will reprise the full cycle, including the third movement celebrating the designs and aesthetic philosophy of William Morris. Stay tuned for details!
“In an Artist’s Studio” is a setting of a poem by Christina Rossetti. She offers an incisive, feminist critique of her brother, Pre-Raphaelite painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and his obsessive depictions of an idealized woman. 