Bridges: An American Short Cantata For Soprano And Chamber Orchestra is intended to build an ideal bridge between the Ponte Vecchio in Florence, where Becheri resides, and Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, where Bridges has its World Premiere. The text comes from American poems by Will Allen Droomgole, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Edward Pollock, William Henry Rhodes, and Joseph Baermann Strauss -- and has been arranged to build a poetic bridge. Verses from Droomgole's The Bridge Builder stay as pillars and maintain the principal theme, an ascending-descending melodic bridge permeating the entire cantata. Between pillars flows the river, pictured initally by Longfellow's The Old Bridge at Florence and subsequently in the Golden Gate Bridge dedication collection. The overall rondo scheme both of poems and music is A B A' C A''.

Ishi Emerges pertains to the last survivor of the Yahi tribe, who was found barely alive in 1911, shaking and emaciated, wandering down from Mt. Lassen to Orville, CA. Following the massacre of his people two years previously, he had lived alone in the wilderness. Ishi was brought to the Museum of Anthropology in San Francisco, where he became a full-time resident and educated people about Native- American life. At first it was challenging for Ishi to assimilate into a culture so radically different from his own, and to receive so much public attention. During these last five years of his life, Ishi developed close friendships with anthropologists and their families. His gentle and insightful manner had a transforming effect on those who knew him. The composer and librettist chose to convey the deep wisdom of his heroic life through opera, an art form that evokes powerful emotions through voice. Scene 1 takes place as Ishi emerges from Deer Creek, surrounded by the witnessing voices of nature. Echoing chants of ancestors continue to harmonize with voices of nature, as Ishi pantomimes his story through gestures of mourning. Floating remains of Ishi's family are witnessed by the chorus as Ishi appears -- the sole survivor of the Yahi tribe. He spins in circles, while the chorus tells his story of living in hiding for 40 years, hearing gunshots. As he sings alongside the chorus, Ishi counts down in Yahi from seven to one, seven survivors to only one. The chorus exits and Ishi remains alone on stage and sings: “The last one...”

Triangles is a composition in line with Pollock, which the San Francisco Composers Chamber Orchestra premiered 12 years ago. The present work uses guided improvisation and colorist techniques to create its soundworld. The title comes from the triangular number sequence that inspired the form of the piece. There are three large sections, lasting four minutes each. These large section have a fundamental pitch center of ii-V-I, typical jazz cadence. These large partitions are themselves made up of three subdivisions A (modal runs), B (intervalic movements), and C (chordal sustains). Each of these parts (A, B, C) are also made up of three variants, each lasting a value in the triangular number sequence (ex: 10, 15, 21, 28, 36, 45). One could also look at Triangles as a quasi rondo: A, B, C, B1, C1, A1, C2, A2, B2. While three is the magic number for this composition, the numerics are just the glue for the work. With sound-washes of runs, thick Ruggle-esque chords, and intertwining spontaneous melodies -- Triangles aims to paint pictures in the mind.

The Two Songs, Higgins is Gone (Variations for Two Pianos, Donald Justice, 1925-2004) and To Musick, to Becalm his Fever (Robert Herrick, 1591-1674), have been arranged from the song cycle The Trumpet. The premiere was by tenor John Bellemer and the Peninsula Symphony in 1995. A chamber version of Higgins (high voice, violin, tenor, and piano) has been published by Thompson Edition. Before taking up poetry, Pulitzer Prize-winner Justice (Selected Poems, 1980) studied music with Carl Ruggles. This poem, used by permission, deals with an actual incident, in which Thomas Higgins was denied tenure at the University of Central Arkansas. Herrick (1591-1674) was an English poet and cleric.

Variations On A Short Theme For Flute And Strings (a.k.a. Short Variations for Flute and Strings) began as a quartet commissioned by the Left Coast Chamber Ensemble for their inaugural Intersection Project. It is expanded here to string orchestra with flute. The variations are based on an eight-bar theme and ground bass in 5/8, and was inspired by the finale passacaglia to Brahms's Fourth Symphony. Lilting mostly in odd- meter patterns, with a few phrases of steady ensemble eighth notes, it progresses through a series of 13 variations, ending with the theme and ground bass imbedded in driving 16th-note patterns.

Rehem is a piece for orchestra that takes inspiration from Shostakovich's production from the early 1950's. The piece was original a much shorter solo cello composition, that metamorphosed into a quartet, a sextet, and finally this current version. It has a rather complex form generated by two main sections: A (the beginning slow section) and B (the following faster section), where each is in turn organized around a different group of recognizable motives. The sections are exposed in sequence and then intertwine in an overall ABABAB form (exposition of materials A, faster tempo section B, elaboration of materials found in A, restatement/elaboration of materials B, short reappearance of A, ending with B). The title reflects a sort of personal fascination with the God Hermes (Rehem is an incomplete anagram of his name): the trickster, the messenger between mortals and gods, the protector of the arts and thieves.

Hailed as ia strikingly gifted tenor, with a deeply moving, unblemished voicei (sfmusicjournal.com), Brian Thorsett is excelling in opera, oratorio, and recital across the world. Since taking to the operatic stage in 2001, he has been seen and heard in over 100 diverse operatic roles. As a concert singer Brian fosters a stylistically diversified repertoire of over 250 works, which has taken him to concert halls across the US and Europe. His voice has been featured in film and commercials, being the artist for Soundiron studio's Voice of Rapture: The Tenor. Brian's first solo album will be released fall 2014, featuring works of Frank Tours, Idabelle Firestone, Victor Herbert and their contemporaries arranged for salon orchestra. He will also contribute the Rossetti Songs of David Conte to a recording of that composer's music. Thorsett is a graduate of San Francisco Opera's Merola Program, Glimmerglass Opera's YoungAmerican Artist program, American Bach Soloists' Academy, the Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme at Aldeburgh, England and spent two summers at the Music Academy of the West. Brian has recently been named Assistant Professor at Virginia Tech and previously served on faculty at Santa Clara University and University of California at Berkeley.

A native of St. Petersburg, Maria Mikheyenko has sung with the Russian Chamber Orchestra, San Francisco Russian Festival, and presents recitals of Russian Romances throughout the Bay Area. Opera credits include Berkeley Opera, Pocket Opera, Capitol Opera Sacramento, Bay Shore Lyric Opera, Opera Lafayette, Oakland Opera Theater, and the Austrian American Mozart Academy of Salzburg. In the world of contemporary music, she is a frequent collaborator with Bay Area composers. She has performed in three world premiere works by Lisa Scola Prosek: Leonardo's Notebooks, Belfagor, and Trap Door. With San Francisco Cabaret Opera, she has multiple San Francisco and world premiere roles in Mark Alburger's operas (including Lennie Small in Mice and Men, Delilah in Sex and Delilah, and Edward Gibbon in Diocletian: A Pagan Opera), as well as portraying The Prophetess in Henry Purcell's Dioclesian and a Quark Sister in John Bilotta's Quantum Mechanic. Ms. Mikheyenko has been a guest artist on the national radio show West Coast Live! and is a member of the award-winning Pacific Mozart Ensemble, collaborating with artists such as Meredith Monk and Dave Brubeck.

Carla Brooke has collaborated with her husband John Beeman, as an author, librettist, and lyricist. Besides writing the libretto for his opera, The Answering Machine, Brooke also wrote the text for the choral Angel of Peace, performed at the Oregon Bach Festival. She co-authored Foam, a musical-dramatic work, and wrote the book and lyrics for the children's musical El Condor. As an author and poet, Carla has written Artfelt, a guide for helping children deal with grief, and recently, Hanai and I, a children's story. Her poetry and essays have been published by Insight Meditation Center in a collection called Passing It On.