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Cycles of Life is a concert of music for voice and piano, together and in solos, exploring the experiences and emotions we encounter as we navigate the path of life. The music is lyrical, dramatic, funny, and poignant, with works exploring the sleepless excitement of your first crush and the night before your wedding, the loneliness of losing a loved one or moving away from home, the joy of feeling at home in your body, the search for gratitude in the face of struggle, the loving protection of parents for their children during a time of climate crisis, and more.
Cycles of Life is a unique concert in that performers Dianne Davies, piano, and Lisa Neher, mezzo-soprano are also the composers of the music you will hear. They bring their perspectives as composer-performers and their lens as women creators to this program.
DIANNE DAVIES’ musical roots harken back to her childhood growing up in a musical family. Early on, she was playing by ear her favorite Christmas carols. Her mom, a church choir director, sought to foster her love of music, and so Dianne started formal lessons at eight years old and began serving in her church as a pianist by the age of ten. All through high school and college she also served as music director for summer church camps, infusing these retreats with her love and knowledge of music. Her educational background includes a Bachelor of Arts degree in piano performance from Lewis and Clark College with certification for K-12 public school instruction. In the summer of 2023, Dianne earned her National Certification through the Music Teachers’ National Association (MTNA).
Dianne’s multi-faceted career includes composing, arranging, and performing. Her finely crafted piano music is centered on the natural world of creation or sonic representations of her life experiences. Her arrangements are an amalgam of her two greatest loves of music: traditional gems of sacred music and the works of major composers from a classically trained pianist’s repertoire. Her shows span from deeply personal to slap stick comedy that combine piano music with dance, live visual art creation, and theatre.
Dianne holds memberships in National Federation of Music Clubs (NFMC), Oregon Music Teachers’ Association (OMTA), Cascadia Composers, Oregon’s local chapter of the National Association of Composers USA (NACUSA) and Christian Fellowship of Art Music Composers (CFAMC). For the state level in Oregon (OMTA), Dianne chairs the annual State Composition Festival for honored student composers and at the national level (MTNA) she chairs the State of Oregon’s Composition Competition. As an artist/educator, Dianne is deeply committed to the creation and performance of new music. For her upcoming projects, check out Dianne and her music at www.musiqPOWER.com.
DR. LISA NEHER (she/her, “NEER”) is an award-winning composer and new music mezzo on a mission to transform audiences through sound, story, and vulnerability. With a voice praised as “full and rich” and “especially alive” (Oregon ArtsWatch), Neher’s musical-theatrical fluency and passion for contemporary music have led to performances with Third Angle New Music, Experiments in Opera, Renegade Opera, Really Spicy Opera, Big Mouth Society, Portland Columbia Symphony Orchestra, New Music Gathering, the Resonance Ensemble, Opera Theatre Oregon, Queer Opera, and the International Saxophone Symposium. She is a member of Portland Opera Chorus. Neher created the roles of Jennifer in Chamber Sounds of Singapore’s One Thousand Paper Cranes for Japan by Rita Ueda and Julian of Norwich in Brooke Joyce’s The Showing of Love.
Neher is described as a “visionary composer” (Willamette Week) “supremely talented,” a “maestro of beautifully wacky noises” (Oregon ArtsWatch), and author of “liquid, impressionist piano writing and fluent melding” of voices (New York Classical Review). Her compositions are inspired by the climate crisis, the tender love of family and friends, and the eerie mystery of deep ocean life. She has been commissioned and performed by the National Association of Teachers of Singing, Cincinnati Song Initiative, Mirror Visions Ensemble, Third Angle New Music, FearNoMusic, Dinosaur Annex, Alma Ensemble, Opera Elect, Opera Theatre Oregon, Opera Santa Barbara, and New Opera West, among others.
Her awards include the Flute New Music Consortium Competition, ICDA/ICF Choral Competition and the Mirror Visions Ensemble Young Composer Competition and runner up in the Celebris Ensemble Choral Competition. She is an alumnus of the Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music and the NATS Composer Mentorship Program, working with Tom Cipullo. Neher is on faculty at Lewis & Clark College and runs a thriving private studio in which she coaches singers and composers on the technique, craft, and business of music. www.lisanehermusic.com.
The Noon Concert Series is a weekly opportunity to experience the sounds of the PSU School of Music & Theater. Join us on Thursdays during fall, winter, and spring terms for a diverse program of concerts featuring students, faculty, and special guests.
See the full Noon Concert schedule at pdx.edu/music-theater/noon-concert.
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