Anne LeBaron, experimental composer, harpist, and faculty member of The Herb Alpert School of Music at CalArts, recently joined the UK-based independent publisher Composers Edition. LeBaron also releases an upcoming album Unearthly Delights later this fall.
LeBaron was praised in a recent Composers Edition newsletter announcing her partnership:
Often inspired by contemporary and historical cultural moments both real and imagined, [LeBaron’s] oeuvre encompasses a dizzying array of forms and influences, skilfully brought together with great originality.
“As a composer, musician, and creative artist, I feel the urge to respond to unprecedented challenges that we are living through,” LeBaron told Composer’s Edition. “I’m now developing projects that address inequity, abuse, and injustice, that celebrate visionary yet overlooked individuals, and that go even further to explore themes of universal destiny. These range from an opera that investigates the notion of karma to a three-year venture celebrating one thousand heroines. Through my creative endeavors, my intention is to bring exposure, attention, and impact to the mistreated, the overlooked, and the unknown.”
LeBaron will also release Unearthly Delights, a new two-CD recording to be released on Innova Recordings on Nov. 13. Described by LeBaron as a “self-contained musical memoir,” the collection includes LeBaron’s performances and compositions from the past decade.
Among the album’s performers are CalArtians Kirsten Ashley Wiest (Music MFA 13) and Stephanie Aston (Music MFA 06), as well as School of Music faculty Julie Feves, Alison Bjorkedal, Nicholas Deyoe, and former faculty Mark Robson. Former School of Music Visiting Artists Nic Gerpe and Mark Menzies are also credited as performers on the album.
Many of the pieces on Unearthly Delights were commissioned by organizations and individuals, including the Library of Congress, the Montecito Festival, the Library Foundation of Los Angeles, Sequitur; Ana Cervantes, Julie Feves, Jay Barksdale, and the Panic Duo. Preorder Unearthly Delights here.