Musical Compositions

Musical philosophy:

Whether composing music for the concert hall or for the theater, Sam’s music is exploratory, passionate, and irreverent, full of absurdity and flamboyance. Because they have often been frustrated with the conventions of abstract concert music, they seek to create art that transgresses the boundaries of style, form, and medium. Sam is perennially interested in creating pieces of new music that are also inherently theater, abandoning the classical music performance tradition and embracing the possibilities of music as performance art. 

Sam’s work uses vivid expressionism to entertain and emotionally move the listener, but also to surprise and challenge them. They are drawn to chaotic and experimental forms that play with the listener’s expectations. As a composer, Sam is devoted to questioning the cult of (male) genius and introducing an element of play or clown. Their work often embraces the direct juxtaposition of high and low art, couching silliness in seriousness, and mixing pathos with bathos. All of their composition is deeply informed by a dramatic sensibility and awareness of the audience. Their music draws historical influence from John Cage, Pauline Oliveros, Alfred Schnittke, and Richard Strauss, as well as direct influence from their teachers Caroline Shaw and Joan La Barbara.

 

Highlights

 
 
 

Corpus is a piece inspired in form, texture, and color by the varied experiences of living in an imperfect body. Recorded live April 18th, 2018 by Mivos Quartet at NYU Steinhardt School of Music

Isolde’s aria at the end of Wagner’s opera Tristan und Isolde is often lauded as an ultimate illustration of physical and spiritual ecstasy, a feminine proclamation of love-death or Liebestod, and a representation of the female orgasm. Isolde is one of many late Romantic operatic heroines, including the eponymous characters of Strauss’s Salome and Elektra, whose desires lead her along an arc that includes professing eternal love, achieving a single climax, and then dying. These depictions of female sexuality, however, stem from a more-typically masculine attitude towards sex as linear and goal-oriented. Dionysia, however, explores a feminine (feminist?) approach to sex as improvisatory, constantly changing, and endlessly unfolding. Recorded live May 6th, 2019 by the NYU Contemporary Music Ensemble, dir. Jonathan Haas. Conducted by Sean Statser

Percussion Quartet "Corrective Thinking" is about the broken patterns of thought that we, as a society and as individuals, are beholden to with regards to race, gender, class, religion, status, education, employment, etc. The arc of this piece illustrates a conscious effort to amend these ingrained patterns, to realize our biases, and, ultimately, to disentangle our Culture from our Selves. If we can fix our habits - for instance, of predicting gender as a binary - we can begin to help the people who are left out by these assumptions. Orchestrated for double duet: 2 players on pitched metal pipes and kitchen utensils, and 2 players on planes of glass, rope, and two buckets. Recorded live by Cisum Percussion members Alex Appel, Sarah Bennett, Nicholas Hall, and Alex Appel on November 29th, 2019.

Jolie Laide (or “Ugly-Pretty”) is a trio for mezzo and two sopranos that embraces the weirdness of the vocal instrument. What is worth looking at or listening to? Why does our culture deem certain things unworthy of our collective attention? What if we examined, and loved, those things? Featuring members of Quince Ensemble: Amanda DeBoer Bartlett, Liz Pearse, and Kayleigh Butcher

 

All Concert Music

This Obtrusive Flesh for piano and mezzo-soprano

"It is not within my power to morph my body into the shape that I desire." This piece is about my years-long struggle to access gender-affirming medical care, specifically top surgery.


Piano and vocals by Sam Kaseta

 

I wrote this piece, 01.06.21, on the day the capitol was stormed to voice my anger at this action and the white supremacy behind it.

01.06.21, for treble vocal quartet

I wrote this piece, 01.06.21, on the day the capitol was stormed to voice my anger at this action and the white supremacy behind it.

Vocals by Sam Kaseta

 

Misremembered, for treble vocal quartet

I wrote this piece on what I thought was a theme by Strauss, but it turns out I misremembered it.

Vocals by Sam Kaseta

I wrote this piece on what I thought was a theme by Strauss, but it turns out I misremembered it. Vocals by Sam Kaseta

 

Recovery Pieces, for treble vocal quartet

“Recovery (Is Hard to Do)” is about the repetitive - yet ever-changing - aspects of recovering from an eating disorder. Movement II expands on these themes, and Movement III is an improvisatory reflection.

Performed by Sam Kaseta

Recovery II, for treble vocal quartet This piece is about the difficulty and repetition of engaging in recovery from an eating disorder. Performed by Sam Kaseta

Recovery III, for treble vocal quartet This piece continues exploring the themes of Recovery I and II, of the difficulty but reward of recovering from an eating disorder. Performed by Sam Kaseta

 

Created in collaboration with artist Beatrice Antonie Martino, What Remains is a multimedia installation exploring grief, loss, and the ephemeral traces we leave behind, through the artistic lenses of video art, projection, sound, sculpture, and performance. Vocals by Sam Kaseta

Memory Song from “What Remains” installation (NYU Gallatin Gallery, March 2020)

Created in collaboration with artist Beatrice Antonie Martino, “What Remains” is a multimedia installation exploring grief, loss, and the ephemeral traces we leave behind, through the artistic lenses of video art, projection, sound, sculpture, and performance. What memories, objects, and legacies of a lived life are left behind when someone dies? And how do these traces live on in the bereaved? What is the experience of reconstructing one’s life after a shattering loss? And what do we learn about our own mortality and ephemeral existence in the process?
Vocals and electronics - Sam Kaseta

 

Percussion Quartet "Corrective Thinking" is about the broken patterns of thought that we, as a society and as individuals, are beholden to with regards to race, gender, class, religion, status, education, employment, etc. The arc of this piece illustrates a conscious effort to amend these ingrained patterns, to realize our biases, and, ultimately, to disentangle our Culture from our Selves. If we can fix our habits - for instance, of predicting gender as a binary - we can begin to help the people who are left out by these assumptions. Orchestrated for double duet: 2 players on pitched metal pipes and kitchen utensils, and 2 players on planes of glass, rope, and two buckets. Recorded live by Cisum Percussion members Alex Appel, Sarah Bennett, Nicholas Hall, and Alex Appel on November 29th, 2019.

Corrective Thinking, for double percussion duet: 2 players on pitched metal pipes and kitchen utensils, and 2 players on planes of glass, rope, and two buckets (Oct. 2019)

"Corrective Thinking" is about the broken patterns of thought that we, as a society and as individuals, are beholden to with regards to race, gender, class, religion, status, education, employment, etc. The arc of this piece illustrates a conscious effort to amend these ingrained patterns, to realize our biases, and, ultimately, to disentangle our Culture from our Selves. If we can fix our habits - for instance, of predicting gender as a binary - we can begin to help the people who are left out by these assumptions.

Recorded live by Cisum Percussion members Alex Appel, Sarah Bennett, Nicholas Hall, and Alex Appel on November 29th, 2019.

 

Multiplicity, for 8-part SATB choir, lyrics by Sam Kaseta (Provincetown Playhouse, May 2019)

While writing Multiplicity, Sam was inspired by the fundamental nature of choral music: different individuals coming together to sing one unified message. They asked, what if that formal constriction could be broken down and we could hear each individual’s version of the story? By essentially turning the traditional choir - a unit - into a chamber ensemble of eight soloists, Multiplicity asks the audience to consider the members of a choir as individual characters rather than a monolithic mouthpiece. Each movement examines a personal moment that most every human being shares, from a near-death experience, to trying to find love, to questioning one’s identity. This piece turns the choir into a prism through which the various facets of universal experiences are highlighted and examined.

 
 
 

Isolde’s aria at the end of Wagner’s opera Tristan und Isolde is often lauded as an ultimate illustration of physical and spiritual ecstasy, a feminine proclamation of love-death or Liebestod, and a representation of the female orgasm. Isolde is one of many late Romantic operatic heroines, including the eponymous characters of Strauss’s Salome and Elektra, whose desires lead her along an arc that includes professing eternal love, achieving a single climax, and then dying. These depictions of female sexuality, however, stem from a more-typically masculine attitude towards sex as linear and goal-oriented. Dionysia, however, explores a feminine (feminist?) approach to sex as improvisatory, constantly changing, and endlessly unfolding. Recorded live May 6th, 2019 by the NYU Contemporary Music Ensemble, dir. Jonathan Haas. Conducted by Sean Statser

Dionysia for mixed contemporary ensemble - two violins, viola, cello, bass, flute, oboe, clarinet/bass clarinet, bassoon, piano, and bowed marimba (NYU, Apr. 2019)

Isolde’s aria at the end of Wagner’s opera Tristan und Isolde is often lauded as an ultimate illustration of physical and spiritual ecstasy, a feminine proclamation of love-death or Liebestod, and a representation of the female orgasm. Isolde is one of many late Romantic operatic heroines, including the eponymous characters of Strauss’s Salome and Elektra, whose desires lead her along an arc that includes professing eternal love, achieving a single climax, and then dying. These depictions of female sexuality, however, stem from a more-typically masculine attitude towards sex as linear and goal-oriented. Dionysia, however, explores a feminine (feminist?) approach to sex as improvisatory, constantly changing, and endlessly unfolding.

 
 
 

Jolie Laide for members of Quince - two sopranos, one alto (Apr. 2019)

Jolie Laide (or “Ugly-Pretty”) is a trio for mezzo and two sopranos that embraces the weirdness of the vocal instrument. What is worth looking at or listening to? Why does our culture deem certain things unworthy of our collective attention? What if we examined, and loved, those things?

Jolie Laide (or “Ugly-Pretty”) is a trio for mezzo and two sopranos that embraces the weirdness of the vocal instrument. What is worth looking at or listening to? Why does our culture deem certain things unworthy of our collective attention? What if we examined, and loved, those things? Featuring members of Quince Ensemble: Amanda DeBoer Bartlett, Liz Pearse, and Kayleigh Butcher

 
 
 

Game Piece #3 is a semi-improvised piece that asks the performers to musically respond to changing stimuli - namely, the Max program that the pianist and percussionist are playing through. Once the Max patch is turned on, every middle C played by the pianist raises the pitch of the piano by 1 Hz, every D4 lowers it, and every G4 resets the piano's pitch back to normal. The percussionist - playing a noisy computer keyboard - controls whether or not those notes are audible. Recorded in Dolan Studios at NYU with Bearthoven featuring Karl Larson (MIDI piano keyboard), Pat Swoboda (electric bass), and Matt Evans (percussion/computer keyboard).

Game Piece #3 for Bearthoven - for Max patch, MIDI keyboard, computer keyboard, and electric bass (Apr. 2019)

Game Piece #3 is a semi-improvised piece that asks the performers to musically respond to changing stimuli - namely, the Max program that the pianist and percussionist are playing through. Once the Max patch is turned on, every middle C played by the pianist raises the pitch of the piano by 1 Hz, every D4 lowers it, and every G4 resets the piano's pitch back to normal. The percussionist - playing a noisy computer keyboard - controls whether or not those notes are audible.

 

This original art song portrays a woman’s stream-of-consciousness reaction as she encounters another beautiful woman on the subway. The speaker wrestles with a uniquely queer confusion: do I want to be her, or do I want her? Recorded March 2019 with Sam Kaseta (vocals), Shane Turner (piano), and Rebecca Frank (piano interior)

A Stranger on the Subway for mezzo-soprano, piano, and interior of the piano, lyrics by Sam Kaseta (NYU, Feb. 2019)

This original art song portrays a woman’s stream-of-consciousness reaction as she encounters another beautiful woman on the subway. The speaker wrestles with a uniquely queer confusion: do I want to be her, or do I want her?

 
 
 

Echoes: An Harmonic Improvisation (Game Piece #2) is an improvisatory piece for 4 or more singers without perfect pitch or any pitch guidance. Featuring Leo Chang, Rebecca Frank, Sam Kaseta, Leah Ofman, Eyglo Hoskuldsdottir Viborg, and Mark Weissglass, recorded March 8th, 2019 The rules are: 1) sing any single pitch 2) breathe in 3) sing a different pitch from the one you just sang 4) breathe in 5) repeat

Echoes: An Harmonic Improvisation for undetermined number of singers (NYU, Nov. 2018)

Echoes: An Harmonic Improvisation (Game Piece #2) is an improvisatory piece for 4 or more singers without perfect pitch or any pitch guidance.

The rules are:

1) sing any single pitch 

2) breathe in 

3) sing a different pitch from the one you just sang

4) breathe in 

5) repeat

The goal: is to create interesting harmonic formations ad lib.

 
 

"Our Fathers" is written for a quartet of female and/or nonbinary percussion players and household objects. Inspired by the plethora of all-male percussion quartets, this piece illustrates the experience of trying to fit into institutional systems that do not have room for you, struggling to confront that reality, encountering pushback, and ultimately finding release in deciding to be yourself. Performed by Danielle Chan, Liu Xiaoxu, Yang Chen, and Hayley Greco at NYU's Loewe Theater on December 10th, 2018

Our Fathers for female and/or nonbinary percussion quartet (Loewe Theater, Dec. 2018)

"Our Fathers" is a deeply personal piece written for a quartet of female and/or nonbinary percussion players and household objects. Conceived in opposition to the plethora of all-male percussion quartets, this Cage-inspired piece illustrates the experience of trying to fit into institutional systems that do not have room for you (in this case the Catholic church and the realms of higher education), struggling to confront that reality, encountering pushback, and ultimately finding release in deciding to be yourself.

 

"Listen To Me" is a game piece that explores what it means for an ensemble to improvise form together. The rules of the game are summarized as follows: players must respond to or complement what they hear from at least one other player. Using the score's pitch cells, players try to create group chords, rhythmic patterns, and timbres by listening to each other. Recorded 11/26/18 with Erich Barganier (mandolin), Rebecca Frank (flute), Michael O'Callaghan (trumpet), and Sam Kaseta (piano)

Listen to Me: Game Piece #1 for undetermined quartet (NYU, Dec. 2018)

"Listen To Me" is a game piece that explores what it means for an ensemble - rather than individually improvising content within a set form - to improvise a form together. The rules of the game are summarized as follows: players must respond to or complement what they hear from at least one other player. Using the score's pitch cells, players try to negotiate the creation of group chords, rhythmic patterns, and timbres by listening to each other.

 
 
 

Performed live by Righteous Girls at Provincetown Playhouse on 5/6/18 as part of a collaborative concert by the NYU Graduate composers' NeverMind the Noise Collective http://www.righteousgirls.com/

Ebullience for Righteous Girls, flute and piano (Provincetown Playhouse, May 2018)

Ebullience is a semi-improvised duo for piano and flute that was inspired by my personal tendency to get too excited while talking about media I love. An emphatic barrage of information is hurled at the listener/audience, bombarding them until the speaker takes the time to slowly and clearly repeat the same statement, allowing the space for other people to understand and be drawn into the beauty the speaker appreciates.

 

Corpus is a piece inspired in form, texture, and color by the varied experiences of living in an imperfect body. Recorded live April 18th, 2018 by Mivos Quartet at NYU Steinhardt School of Music

Corpus: String Quartet #1 for singing string quartet (NYU, Apr. 2018)

Corpus is inspired in form, texture, and color by the varied experiences of living in an imperfect body.  The piece explores the practical limitations, sensational extremes, and emotional exhaustion of struggling with poor physical and mental health within a structure that mirrors the unpredictability of illness.

 

Das Lied des Blinden/The Song of the Blind for voice and piano, poem by Rilke, translation by Sam Kaseta (Provincetown Playhouse, Nov. 2017)

This dual-language art song explores the difficulty of navigating a chaotic world without the use of sight. Rilke’s original German poem, in piano-vocal setting, is paired with an original translation in English, set for voice and electronics/found sound samples.

 

For music for theater, see next page! (under “Theater Maker”)