Adam Haws
Composer
Photo by Jonathan Levin
Biography
Adam Haws is a composer of diverse musical interests. He is equally at home writing song cycles, chamber works, symphonic scores, and electronic music. Recent projects include an innovative concert of new works and arrangements for period instruments performed by Seattle-based group sound|counterpoint, and a piano work called Etenraku that was performed at various Seattle sister cities throughout Europe and Asia by concert pianist Angelo Rondello as part of the Seattle Music Exchange Project. His works have been commissioned and played across the United States and Europe. Festival performances include the Bang on a Can Summer Festival, Bowling Green State University’s New Music Festival, Aspen Music Festival, Bellingham Electronic Arts Festival, and the Prishtina DAM Festival in Kosovo. Adam also has an abiding interest in a variety of music forms, and has released the ambient/electronic albums Nightway (2016), The Locked Room (2018), Sunrise (2019), and Metamorphoses (2021) on the Somniloquy label.
Adam currently teaches on the faculty of the Seattle Conservatory of Music. He previously taught composition and music theory at Western Washington University in Bellingham and at the Academy of Music Northwest. He also enjoyed a lengthy affiliation interning with the education department of the Seattle Opera, where he particularly enjoyed exploring the minutia of Wagner’s Ring cycle with high school students. Adam holds degrees from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music (MM and DMA), and Western Washington University (BM). He currently lives in Seattle.
Music
ORCHESTRA
Scriabin: Preludes, op. 74 (arr. by Haws) (2018) for orchestra (2.2.2.2. 4.2.2.0. timp.1 perc.hp.cel. strings), 7’
The Melancholy of Resistance (2010) for orchestra (3.3.3.3. 4.2.3.1. 2 perc.pno. strings), 11’
Rain/Darkest Hour (2010) for orchestra (3.3.3.3. 4.2.3.1. 2 perc.cel.hp. strings), 2’ [arranged from melodies by grade-school students as part of the Kids Compose program]
Pale Light (2009) for orchestra (3.3.3.3. 4.2.3.1. 1 perc.harp.cel. strings), 6’
Why Tangos? (2006) for chamber ensemble (2 flutes, clarinet in Bb, percussion 1, timpani/percussion 2, piano, accordion, electric guitar, 2 violins, viola, violoncello, contrabass), 13’
au cœur d’une ville de rêve (2004) for orchestra (2.2.2.2. 4.3.3.0., timp.1 perc., strings), 18’
Metempsychosis (2002) for chamber ensemble (flute, oboe, clarinet in Bb, bassoon, two horns in F, trumpet in Bb, bass trombone, three 1st violins, two 2nd violins, two violas, two violoncelli, contrabass, electronics), 16’
VOCAL
Meditations (2017) for alto, flute, clarinet, violin, cello, percussion, and piano. 15'
Invocation/Chönyid Bardo (2010) for 2 sopranos, alto, clarinet in A, baritone saxophone, piano, and electronics. Text from Bardo Thodol. 7'
âzmân-khez (ascension) (2008) for soprano and ensemble (flute, clarinet in A, English horn, bassoon, trumpet in C, trombone, harp, harmonium (or chamber organ), 2 violin, viola, violoncello, contrabass, electronics), text by Rumi, 10’
Pt. Pt. Pt. said the Snowberries (2008) for soprano, flute, violoncello and harpsichord, text by Gunnar Ekelöf, 7’
Dada Gedichte (2007-08) cabaret songs for soprano and chamber ensemble (Eb clarinet, soprano saxophone, trombone, percussion (3 players), piano, mandolin, viola, contrabass, electronics), text by Hugo Ball, 14’
Vor dem Gesetz (2006-07) parable for bass baritone and chamber ensemble (flute/piccolo, oboe, English horn, clarinet in Bb/Eb, bassoon, horn, C trumpet, tuba, percussion (4 players), piano, harpsichord/celesta, violin, viola, 2 violoncelli, contrabass), text by Franz Kafka, 19’
Ballad Mento (Evening Time) (2007), Jamaican folk song arrangement for choir, 3’
Sept poèmes de Rilke (2006) for mezzo soprano, oboe, lute, and cello. Text by Rainer Maria Rilke, 13’
Magnificat (2005, rev. 2015) for 12-part Chorus and 2 electric organs (or synthesizers), 14’
Nag Hammadi Fragments (2004) for mezzo soprano and chamber ensemble (alto flute, English horn, piano, celesta, percussion [2 players], 2 violins, viola, violoncello, contrabass), texts from English translations of original Coptic, 17’
Oh Cup (2002) for high soprano and piano, text by Alison Wonderland Bacich, 5’
Kaspar ist Tot (1999) for amplified mezzo-soprano, tam tam, and feedback, text by Hans Arp, 6’
CHAMBER
You Look Different (2017) for wind quintet, 5’
In Suspension (2016) for 2 recorders, violin, viola, and harpsichord, 4’
The Spiral & the Prism (2016) for recorder, oboe, violin, viola, and harpsichord, 5’
Elegy in memoriam Washington McClain (2013) for oboe, violin, and harpsichord, 5’
mono no aware (2011) for oboe, string quartet, and electronics (also version for electronics alone), 17’
The Temple Bell Dies Away (2010) for flute, clarinet, vibraphone, piano and string quartet, 3’
Inicial/Without Words (2009) for clarinet in Bb, violin, violoncello and piano, 6’
Abiogenesis (2008), for viola, violoncello, percussion (2 players) and harp, 4’
String Quartet (2007), 14’
gymopédie/drowned cities (2007) for three guitars, 7’
Pas seul (2006) for clarinet, violoncello and piano, 5’
ewig…(eismusik) (2005) for alto flute, viola, vibraphone, celesta, harp and synth, 11’
Piano Trio (2005), 24’
Five Elegies for String Quartet (2002), 14’
Three Sketches in the Shape of an Invisible Self-Portrait (2002) for percussion (two players), viola, and violoncello, 11’
Tango (2001) for string quartet, 5’
Somniloquy (2000, revised 2004) for flute, clarinet, English horn, celesta and piano, 8’
SOLO/DUO
Snowflakes (2018), for flute and piano, 7’
Sealed Documents (2018), for two pianos tuned a quarter-tone apart, 11’
Sonata (2017), for violin and harpsichord, 11’
Etenraku (for Abbas Kiarostami) (2016), for piano, 10’
Toccata (2016), for harpsichord, 5’
Dança (2015), for cello and piano, 6’
The Third Eye (2013) for piano, vibes, and electronics, 8’30
House Carpenter (2011) for piano and electronics, 11’
Floating World (2009) for harp, 6:30’
Impromptu (2008) for piano, 5’
…then sudden back (2008) for violoncello, 6’
…in memoriam György Ligeti (2006) for piano, 8’
long sudden gone (2005) for 2 violoncelli, 13’
Suite (2004) for piano, 12’
Six Short Pieces (2003) for violin and Piano, 12’
–mus. (2002) for flute and tape, (also revised for tape alone), 6’
etude and elegy (2001) for piano, 8’
ELECTRONIC
(stereo playback unless otherwise stated)
Metamorphoses (2021), electronic album, 65'
Sunrise (2019), electronic/ambient album, 38'
The Locked Room (2018), ambient album, 43’
Voice in a Jar (2017), [quad sound], 12’
Nightway (2016), ambient album, 43’
mono no aware (2011), 17’
Im Wald (2009), 11’
…zum Raum wird hier die Zeit (2008), [8-channel surround sound], 9:30’
Treasures from Grandma’s Piano Bench and Funeral March (2008), [5.1 surround sound and video], 13’
from Inner Shadow (for Andrei Tarkovsky) (2007), [5.1 surround sound], 7:30’
Threni (2006), [8-channel surround sound], 5’
Toccata (2006), harpsichord and playback, 6’
Et in Saecula Saeculorum (2005), [5.1 surround sound], 8’
mu (for ozu yasujiro) (2003), 24’
for (2002), 11’
(hommage á messiaen) (2001), 9’
alone (2001), 11’
where we were when the end occurred (2000), 7:30’
end of the rope (2000), 11’
NTMR SQNC (2000), 11’30”
The opening track from my third album, Sunrise, available 10/25
