A Singer’s Dozen — Laura

Laura has sung with Utah Chamber Artists for 12 seasons. She also manages our social media and designs our program brochures. She works for PBS Utah bringing the community together through events and engagement projects.

You can listen to her Spotify list by clicking HERE.

1. Gabriel Fauré: Cantique de Jean Racine, Op. 11
   Sometimes I listen to this on repeat. I just don’t want it to end…
   
2. Sergei Rachmaninov: All-Night Vigil, Op. 37 – Lord, Now Lettest Thou
   So Russian. So beautiful.
   
3. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker – Coffee (Arabian Dance)
   Going to see the Nutcracker was never an annual tradition in my family, although my parents took us once or twice. We did watch it on TV a lot, however, and the Arabian Dance was my favorite to watch and to simply listen to. Now, when I see the Nutcracker, I wait for this movement to see how it will be performed by both the orchestra and the ballet. It’s diferent each time. Listen for my favorite part. It begins at about 2:33.
   
4. Dario Marianelli: Pride and Prejudice (movie score) – The Secret Life of Daydreams
   Just a lovely piano piece to lose yourself in. And it’s fun to play as well.
   
5. James Newton Howard: The Village (movie score) – Will You Help Me?
   I might be the only person I know who liked this movie. But one of the reasons I like it is because the score is so beautiful. The melodies are haunting, and this track is particularly heartbreaking. I used to play the violin, and I remember wanting to learn how to play some of the songs on the album.
   
6. Elmer Bernstein: To Kill a Mockingbird (movie score) – End Title
   I always loved this movie. And every time I hear the score it makes me nostalgic for the innocence of childhood, late summer nights, and everything I learned while reading this book for the first time.
   
7. Tarik O’Regan: Triptych – 2. As We Remember Them
   I remember listening to this recording on repeat when I learned we’d be performing it at one of our concerts in 2009. The whole piece is magnificent, but the second movement is so beautifully satisfying I can’t get enough of it.
   
8. Leonard Bernstein: Chichester Psalms
   I was so excited to learn to sing The Bernstein Chichester Psalms when our choir performed it in 2011. I loved listening to it when I was younger, and would try to sing along. But there’s no singing along to Hebrew when you’ve never learned it before and you don’t have the words in front of you. The first movement is boisterous and loud, and the other two movements are equally fun.
   
9. John Tavener: The Lamb
   I find the resolution following the dissonance incredibly comforting.
   
10. Gerald Finzi: Eclogue for Piano & Strings, Op. 10
    When I was in college, I would use my dad’s office (he was a professor) to do homework when he was teaching class. He had a Finzi CD that I would play while I studied. I would always go back to this track to play on repeat because it was so calming.
    
11. Edvard Grieg: Holberg Suite, Op. 40 – 4. Air
    I learned to play this on the piano after hearing it performed live by an orchestra a couple times. I actually used it for an audition to become a certified pianist in some public spaces downtown. I’m not a concert pianist, but if my playing is just in the backgound, I’m totally comfortable with that.
    
12. Ludwig van Beethoven: Sym. #7 – 2. Allegretto
    Who doesn’t love this piece? It’s been used in movies such as The King’s Speech, and of course “It’s the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown!” It’s a great example of how music can be the ultimate assist to narrative by keeping you captivated by slowly building intensity.
    
13. Gustav Holst: The Planets, Op. 32 – 7. Neptune, the Mystic
    This movement is so quiet you barely notice it’s there. It’s beautiful and ethereal but doesn’t really have a melody until the women’s chorus comes in. When the singing fades, you’ve floated so far off into outer space that you feel you might never get back — and you’re OK with that. It’s an ecstatic experience.