Mark Winges

photo: Tina Harrington

Mark Winges was born in Louisville, Kentucky, and currently resides in San Francisco, where he has been resident composer/advisor for the chamber choir Volti since 1990. He was also composer-in-residence for the San Francisco Choral Artists in the 2012–13 season. He is a graduate of both the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and San Francisco State University, and has studied at the Musikhögskolan in Stockholm, Sweden, with composer Arne Mellnäs.

Gramophone magazine has characterized Winges’ music as “Stylistically adventurous in setting, but strongly beholden to conventional means.” SF Classical Voice describes him as “a composer with the skill and self-confidence to write music that is clear, direct, and at times even simple, but not at all simple-minded.” Winges has had residencies at the MacDowell Colony, Fundación Valparaiso (Mojácar, Spain), and the Ragdale Foundation. He has been accepted for a residency in January 2022 at the Visby (Sweden) International Centre for Composers.

Spun Light, a “distanced” concerto for violin and chamber ensemble received its virtual premiere in February 2021 by the Left Coast Chamber Ensemble and Icelandic violinist Hrabba Atladottir. Tomorrow’s Dream Not The Same for 16 solo voices was premiered by Volti in February 2020, the performance slipping in a mere week and a half before the ‘great pause.’ Other recent pieces include Light Becoming Song, a cycle of 18 pieces for organ written for Hans-Ola Ericsson, and Adventure in the Air, a concerto for soprano saxophone and wind orchestra written for James Spinazzola, which is scheduled for premiere in May 2022. Two upcoming projects are a song cycle for mezzo-soprano and instruments for Megan Ihnen and a series of short works for pianist Blaise Bryski.

Albums

And Nothing Remains the Same

Release Date: November 19, 2021
Catalog Number: RR8061
21st Century
Chamber
Cello
Flute
Viola
On ...AND NOTHING REMAINS THE SAME... from Eight Strings & a Whistle and Ravello Records, the flute-viola-cello trio explores the constant cycle of transformation that defines human existence. Since 1998, Eight Strings & a Whistle has earned a reputation for championing Baroque, Classical, and Romantic repertoire while also premiering new works from living composers. ...AND NOTHING REMAINS THE SAME... focuses on the music of contemporary composers, the majority of whom composed their pieces specifically for the Trio. The performances heard on the album offer a rewarding and intimate listening experience, with a deeply evocative sound rife with stark dissonance and rich harmony.

Night Voiced

Release Date: October 29, 2013
Catalog Number: RR7880
21st Century
Chamber
Guitar
Piano
Viola
NIGHT VOICED, the new release by San Francisco composer Mark Winges, is a collection of warm sounding and texturally rich works featuring the viola in a lush variety of solo, duo, and trio contexts. The title of the album is based on the individual composition of the same name, which is from a poem by Carolyn Forché, "a viola, night-voiced, calls into its past but nothing comes," and reflects the often nocturnal feeling of the program. Other titles such as wary-gliding, ghostly, "Melted Red, Frozen Black", and "Here (marginally buoyant)," offer a hint of the delightful vignettes and turns the music takes along the way.