CD released with work of music professor

“C’e la Luna Questa Sera?”, a work by Laura Schwendinger, professor of Composition in the School of Music, is featured on a newly released Cedille CD, “Notable Women,” with the Lincoln Trio.

The title of the work translates to “Is There Moonlight Tonight?”, and is an evocation of Schwendinger’s memory of the moonlight as it played off of the waters on Lake Como, when she was a fellow at the Rockefeller Bellagio Center in Italy.

“This piece reflects my reaction to seeing the moon reflect over the magical setting of Lake Como,” she said. “”It was mysterious yet enchanting.” 

Schwendinger’s piece, a piano trio, and Augusta Read Thomas’s “Moon Jig,” also included on “Notable Women,” both reference the moon as a subject of their works. Thomas’s reflection of the moon, however, is quite different from Schwendinger’s, depicting the moon as mischievous entity.

The great variety of works represented on “Notable Women” highlight the talents of six of celebrated contemporary women composers, as well as one the finest ensembles in the Chicago classical music scene.

Schwendinger’s compositions have been played at some of the most prestigious venues in the world by leading concert artists. She was the first composer to win the American Academy in Berlin Prize fellowship, and is the recipient of Guggenheim, Koussevitzky, Fromm and American Academy of Arts and Letters fellowships. Schwendinger’s work “Shadings” was premiered last year at Carnegie Hall with the American Composers Orchestra and her “Seven Choral Settings” will be performed there this coming May. Two additional CDs of her work will be released in 2012.

“C’e la Luna Questa Sera?” was performed at the Ravinia Festival in August and will be performed on tour in the coming year at multiple venues, including (le) Poisson Rouge, in New York City on Oct. 26.

To listen to Schwendinger’s composition and the rest of “Notable Women,” click here.