Meta-Music by Howard Kilik

(composed for the Spring 2022 WestConn Production of
Metamorphoses by Mary Zimmerman, Sal Trapani, Dir.)

Love Lost

This theme recurs throughout the play but is most emphatically used as the centerpiece of the scene where Orpheus and Eurydice are returning from Hades.

The Storm Sequence

Starting off in calm waters, Ceyx and his crew set off on a journey in calm waters with a gentle breeze only to find themselves in a great storm, washing them all off the ship to their deaths.
Aphrodite appears as Ceyx drowns and brings back the calm waters.

The Instrumental Ensemble:

2 keyboards (first key plays electric piano, piano and synth harp, while second key plays string, brass and synth pads)
2 woodwind players (one plays flute and clarinet, the other plays clarinet, bass clarinet and English horn)
French horn, Violin, Cello,
Guitar (acoustic and electric), and
Percussion (Bass Drum, Snare, Cymbals, Bells, Marimba and Vibraphone)

How this project came about:

As Music Director (resume), I had done many shows at WestConn, and was arranger for "Ubu" with original music by the Director, Sal Trapani.

In January of 2022, I looked at the Metamorphoses script (that Sal had already started to direct) and persuaded him to allow me to provide original music for the upcoming April Production (not a hard sell as my 2 Juilliard degrees are actually in Composition).

Composing hastily, as the show was already in rehearsal, I wrote music to underscore, punctuate and delineate the many sections of the script as well as music for some parts of the script to be sung.
Because of the time pressure, all of the music was written as a piano score and realized on the fly by a three-piece ensemble (2 keyboards and guitar) (with the intention of having it performed by a 9-piece ensemble in the future).

For these demos, the audio is a mock up, entirely generated by computer and, because there are instrumental parts ready to print,
hopefully there will be a recording of a live ensemble available in the future.

Credits and Thanks:

David Sherman for being a constructive ear through my attempts at orchestration.

Peggy Stewart: Photography
Lisa Renée Jordan: Costume Design
Scott Cally: Lighting Design
Elizabeth Popiel: Set Design