Soldier Songs

David T. Little’s Soldier Songs is an evening-length opera-theatre work exploring the perceptions versus the realities of war through the eyes of an abstract character, the soldier.  Based on interviews with veterans of five wars conducted by the composer, Soldier Songs traces the path of the soldier through three phases of life—Youth (playing war games) Warrior (time served in the military) and Elder (aged, wise, reflective).  It is an unflinching statement, exploring the loss and exploitation of innocence, and the difficulty of ever truly expressing or representing the truth of war.  

Produced by Lawson White and featuring frequent collaborators David Adam Moore, Todd Reynolds and Little’s crack ensemble Newspeak, Soldier Songs asks tough questions and tells tough stories through its driving music and its poignant libretto.  Approached as album, rather than a document of live performance, Soldier Songs is a moving and personal experience that leaves no one untouched.

Soldier Songs was commissioned by the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, who premiered the original version of the work in 2006 conducted by Brett Mitchell and directed by Kevin Noe.  The version of the work presented on this recording was completed for the Beth Morrison Projects production, and premiered at the 2011 International Festival of Arts and Ideas in New Haven, conducted by Todd Reynolds and directed by Yuval Sharon. The fully-staged New York City premiere of the work took place at the PROTOTYPE Festival in January, 2013.

DAVID T. LITTLE’s potently dramatic music draws upon his experience as a rock drummer, and fuses classical and popular idioms to powerful effect. Often undertaking existential themes, his music has been described by The New York Times as “dramatically wild...rustling, raunchy and eclectic,” showing “real imagination.” New Yorker critic Alex Ross declared himself “completely gripped,” noting that "every bad-ass new-music ensemble in the city will want to play him.” Little’s first full-length opera, Dog Days, premiered this fall to rave reviews: "This gripping two-hour opera...wastes no time: A taut libretto and varied, original music deliver its grim story like a punch in the stomach" (Heidi Waleson, Wall Street Journal). Upcoming projects include new works for the London Sinfonietta, Kronos Quartet, Maya Beiser, Nadia Sirota, and others. His music has been performed internationally, heard at the Tanglewood, Aspen, and Cabrillo Festivals, and the Bang on a Can Marathon. Advocates include eighth blackbird, the London Sinfonietta, the Brooklyn Philharmonic, Alarm Will Sound, and Marin Alsop, with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. He recently received his doctorate from Princeton University, and is a member of the HERE Artist Residency Program (HARP). His music is published by Project Schott New York.