Michael Broder


Photo credit: Megan Mahoney

Michael Broder writes music in which agile melodies, expressive rhythms, and dramatic climaxes typically come to the forefront. His compositions have been performed on various festival programs and on tours in New York state, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Louisiana, Georgia, and Florida by artists such as the Mana Saxophone Quartet, Singularity, and composer-percussionist Jamie Wind Whitmarsh. Broder’s compositions encompass a variety of ensembles, including chamber winds and strings, concert band, orchestra, voice, and various solo works. He is a multi-year finalist for an ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Award, a winner of Duo Fujin’s 2011 One-Day Composition Contest, and a two-time recipient of the Arnold Salop Memorial Composition Prize. His studies include work with Leonard V. Ball, Clifton Callender, Adrian P. Childs, John Corina, and Ladislav Kubík. Broder holds degrees of D.M. and M.M. in Theory and Composition from Florida State University and B.Mus. in Composition from the University of Georgia. He currently resides in Boca Raton, Florida, with his wife and dog. [www.brodermusic.com]

List of Works

Con ritmo (2018) — 7.5'
for Flute, Trumpet in B-flat, and Piano
Flee, Pursue (2017) — 14'
for Clarinet in B-flat and Percussion
Discourse for Orchestra (2015) — 16'
3d1.2d1.2.2+1–4.3.3.1–timp.3perc.hp—str
Lullaby III (2015) — 3'
for solo Organ
Stairwell Music (2014) — 4'
for solo Oboe or Saxophone
(to be played in a highly reverberant space)
Lullaby II (2013) — 3'
for solo Vibraphone
Variations for Brass Quintet (2013) — 7'
for two Trumpets in B-flat, Horn, Trombone, and Tuba
What I Was For Years (2013) — 6.5'
for Choir (SSSAAATTTBBB), Two Percussion, and Piano
Text by Walt Whitman
Harbinger (2012) — 7'
for solo Guitar
Musica derivata (2012) — 18'
for Saxophone Quartet
Lullaby (2011) – 2.5' for solo Piano
The Shield of Achilles (2011) — 20'
for Soprano, Flute/Piccolo, Clarinet in B-flat/Bass Clarinet, Violin, Violoncello, and two Percussion
Text by W. H. Auden
That's Entertainment? (2011/2012) — 2'
(Winner, Duo Fujin 2011 One-Day Composition Contest)
for Flute and Alto Saxophone
Juggling Act for Trombone (2010/2012) — 5'
for solo Tenor or Bass Trombone
Monuments (2010) — 11.5'
for solo Piano
Radio Play (or Associations (2010) — 9'
for Electronic Media
surge (2010) — 20'
chamber ballet for Flute/Piccolo, Clarinet in B-flat/Bass Clarinet, Violin, Percussion, and Piano/Synthesizer
Choreography by M. Danielle Clark
Densities (2009) — 9.5'
for Symphonic Wind Band
Identities (2009) — 5'
for Flute/Piccolo, Oboe/English Horn, Trumpet in B-flat, Horn, and Baritone Saxophone
MUSE (2009) — 5'
for solo Percussion
Fern Hill (2008) — 10'
for Baritone voice and Piano
Text by Dylan Thomas
Three Episodes (2008) — 10'
for String Quartet
Suite for Clarinet and Piano (2007) — 3'
for Clarinet in B-flat and Piano

Compositions

Musica derivata—IV. Unforced Errors: from Melodic Lines
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Unforced Errors is a series of strictly canonic episodes, in the midst of which a careless foul-up by the baritone saxophone derails the group, and they must rally to recover.
Monuments (excerpt)
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The atmosphere of Monuments is one where three distinct musical landmarks appear and reappear and, for the most part, avoid interaction with one another. These landmarks are each archetypes of an expressive indication — agitato, tranquillo, or giocoso, poco frenetico. The three landmarks' distinctive moods are realized in their unique constructions: each occurs in a distinctly different range of the piano with a distinct polyrhythmic identity (formed by the overlap of two conflicting beat divisions) and favors a unique type of harmonic and melodic interval in its counterpoint. A drifting ritornello passage comprising back-and-forth pairs of sustained notes occurs between the landmarks and seems impartial to its surroundings. This ritornello begins the piece and returns between most of the landmarks' appearances and reappearances, its sustained sonorities often contrasting their more active textures. After the three landmarks first appear, they begin to recur with some of their elements swapped. In some of these reappearances, the landmarks seem much the same as they were before, but colored by a different interval type or polyrhythmic identity. Other cases are marked by more dramatic changes or sudden switches between the landmarks themselves. As the landmarks trade features with each reappearance, the ritornello passage between them becomes freer and eventually presses the piece to its peak before a poignant lament into silence.
Stairwell Music
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Stairwell Music is a brief meditation on the majesty of a space and the transformative power that an environment can have on those who enter it, however quotidian it may be. It is intended to be performed in a highly reverberant space as a private deliberation, or, if played in the concert hall, with a microphone and an electronic reverb effect of fixed parameters. As is stated in the piece's notes to the performer, the reverberation called for in performance is not intended as a superfluous effect, but as an integral component of the music and one on which the proper realization of the composition depends.