Leilehua Lanzilotti

with eyes the color of time — string orchestra (2020)

Commissioned by the String Orchestra of Brooklyn, duration 32’

A finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Music, 2022, with eyes the color of time is hailed as “a vibrant composition, inspired by works in The Contemporary Museum in Honolulu, that distinctly combines experimental string textures and episodes of melting lyricism,” by the Pulitzer committee.

The titles of the movements in this piece refer to works of art that were featured in The Contemporary Museum (Spalding House) in Honolulu when it first opened: George Rickey’s kinetic sculpture Two Open Triangles Up, Gyratory III (1988), Deborah Butterfield’s Nahele (1986), James Seawright’s Mirror XV (1987), Toshiko Takaezu’s moons (a series of sculptures she often referred to by the Hawaiian word, mahina), and David Hockney’s L’Enfant et les sortilèges (originally conceived as a set for the opera by Maurice Ravel of the same name). The title of the entire work, with eyes the color of time, comes from a phrase in the Ravel opera. The main movements are framed by interludes referencing the bronze doors at the entrance of the museum which had silhouettes of women in them (by Robert Graham). The museum closed its doors permanently in December 2019 as I was finishing writing this work.

PERFORMANCE NOTE: The original performance used four Morfbeats Disc Shakers and one Morfbeats Slay Bell. However, similar objects may be used in their place for convenience. If the space does not allow for an offstage bell, the bell may be played by the conductor or from the back of the stage.

// Press for with eyes the color of time

“The music . . . was alive and vital, the kind you feel in your earbones and your viscera, infused with the specific manner of acoustic alchemy that makes us attend live concerts to begin with. The whole thing lasted no more than 45 minutes, but it was a deeply moving, profoundly satisfying experience—one I intend to repeat soon, and hopefully often.” — Steve Smith, Night After Night, on the premiere of with eyes the color of time, August 2021

“. . . [a] gorgeous piece . . . Its eight movements deftly juggle harmony-rich long tones that glide and shimmer, blending passages built around frictive, rumbling, extended techniques and ghostly overtones with brooding melodic shapes, particularly the harrowing ‘les sortilèges (the wound / the torn page).’ Lanzilotti, whose compositional voice grows more authoritative and versatile with each passing year, draws no line between pure sound and narrative structures, creating a work of elusive beauty and renewable mystery.” — Peter Margasak, “The Best Contemporary Classical on Bandcamp: July 2022,” Bandcamp Daily

“. . . with SOB's lustrous textures used to evocative effect throughout . . . Lanzilotti's vibrant, ever-adventurous piece is unpredictable in the best sense of the word, much like the orchestra itself.” — Textura

“. . . dramatic shifts drive with eyes the color of time as a whole, creating its visceral sensations. In the last breaths of with eyes the color of time, sound is but a haunted wisp, fading away yet ready to transform into whatever comes next.” — Vanessa Ague, The Road to Sound

“. . . painfully eloquent, there is ecstasy in the raspings of ‘silhouette’” — Gramophone

“Eli Spindel, al capdavant de la SOB, ressalta el caràcter subjugador i misteriós de la música de Lanzilotti, amb què l’autora aconsegueix arribar a l’excellència amb un acoloriment sonable ric i elaborat. [Eli Spindel, at the head of the SOB, highlights the mysterious character of Lanzilotti's music, with which the author manages to reach excellence with a rich and elaborate sonorous coloring.]” — Sonograma Magazine

“enthralling . . . a sonic memorial of otherworldly string sounds inspired by artworks in the Contemporary Museum in Honolulu.” — Mark Seed, Los Angeles Times

“[The] suspensions that open the piece made the entire room suddenly feel enchanted, as if the entire audience was holding their breath. Over the next six movements, Parnther and the orchestra adeptly execute the wild variety of string colors
that is so emblematic of Lanzilotti’s music, from scratching sounds and pitches so faint the audience almost wondered if they were real, to full on sul pont bariolage by the violins that get disrupted by the cellos violently throwing their bows against the strings . . . After all, she’s somewhat of an authority on wild sounds. A long line of fans waits to greet Lanzilotti (including yours truly), many telling her how deeply the piece affected them as we break for intermission.” — Anuj Bhutani, New Classic LA

Photos of the Contemporary Museum (above) by Lanzilotti of George Rickey’s kinetic sculpture Two Open Triangles Up, Gyratory III (1988), Deborah Butterfield’s Nahele (1986), and David Hockney’s L’Enfant et les sortilèges. Premiered by the String Orchestra of Brooklyn August 6, 2021 supported, in part, by a Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grant.

Past Performances

Tuesday, June 27, 2023 — The Revolution Will Not Be Televised, West Coast premiere, Anthony Parnther, conductor, Tuesdays @ Monk Space, Los Angels, CA

Thursday, October 6, 2022 — String Orchestra of Brooklyn, St. Ann’s Cathedral, Eli Spindel, conductor / Artistic Director, Brooklyn, NY

Friday, August 6th, 2021 — String Orchestra of Brooklyn, Portrait Concert: Anne Leilehua Lanzilotti, Tenri Cultural Institute, New York, NY, Eli Spindel, conductor / Artistic Director. This project was supported, in part, by a Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grant.