Karen Siegel

Composer & Conductor

"To Be Free" on Danish Television

The Danish National Vocal Ensemble, conducted by Phillip Faber, performed “To Be Free” in October 2022 in Copenhagen.  The concert was broadcast live on national television.

"Despertar" Premieres

The Yale Glee Club, director Jeffrey Douma & conductor Ryan Rogers, performed one of the premieres of “Despertar” in November 2022.  A collaboration with acclaimed poet Carlos Pintado, “Despertar” (“Awakening”) uses a technique I call “overtone trills” to create a shimmering texture. The YGC was one of a consortium of choirs commissioning the work.
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"Vision of Flight" Premiere by the Danish National Girls' Choir​

The Danish National Girls Choir (DR Pigekoret), director Phillip Faber, and cellist Henrik Dam Thomsen, premiered “Vision of Flight”  at the DR Koncerthuset in Copenhagen on May 27th.  This project was a unique collaboration with the choir—I spoke at length with a subset of the choir about their experiences as young women today, and their insights and ideas inspired the poem I wrote for this work.  It was incredible to work with these talented and dedicated musicians in Copenhagen and experience the premiere. 

An Aleatoric Year

The 2020-2021 season was a time of connecting with choirs online, and composing works that embrace the latency of the internet. Thus, all of the recent additions to my catalogue make great use of aleatoric technique. Many, such as Here I Am and Reunion, enabled singers to make music together during lockdown and extended pandemic restrictions. Some, such as Meditation (above) and Isolation, were performed both online and in-person. All may be performed in-person as we always have, though with a new sense of gratitude.
bio
Composer Karen Siegel creates innovative, exciting, and meaningful choral and vocal works.
Her works are frequently performed by the New York City-based ensemble C4: the Choral Composer/Conductor Collective, which she co-founded in 2005.  Her opera The Hat: Arendt Meets Heidegger, with librettist Zsuzsanna Ardó, premiered at the Pride Arts Center in Chicago with Thompson Street Opera in 2019. 
Karen’s works are featured on albums by the Harmonium Choral Society, the Choir of Trinity College Melbourne, Tonality, and C4; and are published by See-A-Dot Music Publishing, Chestnutoak Press, and the Justice Choir Songbook. 

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Conductor Testimonials

We need more barnburners like this in the repertoire.
—Jonathan Talberg

Director of Choral Activities, Bob Cole Conservatory of Music, California State University, Long Beach
Brilliant work – inventive and uplifting.
—Jeffrey Douma

Director, Yale Glee Club
Exactly what we had hoped for: warm, beautiful, peaceful, and also inventive and unique.
—Matthew Christopher Shepard

Artistic Director, Te Deum Chamber Choir

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