Democracy
Barry Seroff composer
Susan Erenberg soprano
Matthew B. Hensrud tenor
Rebekah Griffin Greene double bass
Jorge Mesa electric bass
James Schoen, Edward RoseBerg III tenor sax
Ken Thompson alto sax
Barry Seroff guitars and flutes
Ed Klinger drumset
Dennis Sullivan percussion
Composed in the wake of 9/11, Barry Seroff's Democracy is a multifaceted, genre-spanning examination of the spiritual and philosophical roots of American thought. Calling on texts from Quaker preachers, American poets, Japanese haiku, and Nietzsche, Seroff forms a flowing narrative charting our cultural development from the innocence and purity of infancy through the growing awareness of adolescence and adulthood, to our ultimate peacemaking with the joy of childhood. Seroff draws influences including classicism, jazz, hardcore punk and more and stitches the seemingly disparate elements of inspiration and source materials into an organic, evolving piece that seeks to explain the intricacies and history of American culture. DEMOCRACY also includes Psalm 39/You've So Distracted Me, a companion piece to Democracy exploring mortality and faith with a direct, rock-based language and stripped-down instrumentation.
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Artist Information
Barry Seroff
Barry Seroff was born in Flushing, Queens on July 4th 1978. He earned his Bachelorís Degree at the Aaron Copland School of Music where he studied theory with Joe Strauss, composition with Paul Alan Levi, Jeff Nichols, and Bruce Saylor, and musicology with Henry Burnett. At the same time outside of school, he studied classical flute with Michael Laderman and Petina Cole, modern and traditional jazz guitar with Joe Giglio and Bern Nix, and shakuhachi with Ronnie Nyogetsu Seldin.