Today we’d like to introduce you to Mary Warwick.
Hi Mary, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
When finishing my doctoral studies in music composition at Florida State University in 1980, I wanted to write an opera for my dissertation. My professor suggested I study with opera composer Carlisle Floyd at the University of Houston. I began my studies with him in 1981, completed my DMA degree in 1985, and continued my post-doctoral studies with him at the U of H until he retired in 1996. During that time he – as co-founder of the prestigious Houston Opera Studio – recommended me to Houston Grand Opera, and I subsequently wrote 8 children’s operas for HGO. I also served as Composer-in-Residence for the Greenbriar Consortium, a chamber organization of musicians from the Houston Symphony, writing both instrumental and vocal chamber music. In my early years in Houston, I was commissioned by Theater Under The Stars to write an environmental musical, Celebrate the Earth. But perhaps my most unusual request was from astronaut Sonny Carter for a wake-up call in space for NASA’s Mission #STS 33. Throughout my career, most of my music reflects my social concerns: 21 songs set to poems by breast cancer survivors; The Aids Cycle, on poems of people living with AIDS; Who Am I?, set to the writings of incarcerated and at-risk youth; When Shall i Be Heard? – an oratorio based on early civil rights activist, Lillian Smith; and numerous instrumental and vocal animal-based compositions, that reflect my desire to protect animals, which I personally did as a Wildlife Rehabilitator for 18-plus years.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Well, women writing operas in what was throughout history a man’s work, has finally broken through the glass ceiling and now we see many women writing operas – as well as librettos, and women being recognized as excellent conductors. If I hadn’t had a mentor who was well-known and recognized and in a position of prominence in the opera world, I am sure my struggles would have been much more difficult.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I have been playing the piano since I was 4 years old. I could play anything I could hear. My mom said I never played with one finger, but always with all fingers. I was “making up” music from the beginning too. I would stage plays and dance recitals in my home with the neighborhood children being the actors/dancers. Their parents would attend these “recitals” and mother would serve refreshments. I am very happy to say that the people who perform my music – whether a singer or an instrumentalist – express to me that they very much like singing and performing it and would like to perform and hear it again. As a composer for the Greenbriar chamber group, I wrote lots of music for combinations like viola and piano, 2 oboes, bassoon and piano, soprano, flute and piano, mezzo soprano,oboe and piano, piano trio, women’s chorus, SATB music, and many other chamber combinations. Most of my operas for HGO for children are written for Sop, Mezzo Sop, Tenor, Baritone, Bass-Baritone with piano accompaniment, and were designed to travel to schools to educate by entertaining children about opera. Seattle Opera and other opera companies have performed these operas. My style could probably be described as: melodic, full of tonal center changes, rhythmically interesting, agreeable to the ear, and hopefully – memorable!
Are there any books, apps, podcasts or blogs that help you do your best?
I study music scores. While studying with Carlisle Floyd, I learned to look at scores in a new way…not just the theoretical and harmonic structure of the music, but to look for what the music tells the listener. For instance, Carlisle said that the first music we hear in a opera should tell us place and time…should tell us where we are and introduce the mood and the location of the opera…be it a salon or a church, and what country and time in history it is. I am influenced by studying the lieder of Hugo Wolf; the musicals of Stephen Sondheim (I especially love Sweeney Todd, for which I have served as music director and accompanist for several performances); books on architecture – especially Frank Lloyd Wright – but also Antoni Gaudi, known for his naturalistic, organic architectural creations. I am also fascinated by Frida Khalo, both her life and her work. Being interested in a healthy life style and healthy eating, I have many cook books from many countries and am very interested in reading and knowing more about the foods of the people who live in the “Blue Zones”, who are active and healthy for many more years than most of us. My music listening list is extremely varied: flamenco, jazz – anywhere from Blues to Bill Evans to Jelly Roll to Berg’s WOZZECK. I am most inspired in life by the fellowship of friends and family and I am filled with the hope that people will care for earth and each other and the animals that inhabit our earth with us.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://marycarolwarwick.com
- Other: mcwarwick@sbcglobal.net
