Alyssa Morris

Oboist and Composer

Composition

Solo/ duo Instrumental Works

Ruminations (Solo Oboe)

Ruminationsis meant to express the feeling of obsessive thinking about an idea, especially when it interferes with normal mental functioning.  Movements include:

I.Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda

II. Emotions: Masked, and Unmasked

III. Enough’s Enough

Composed in March and April 2021. Premiered at the 2021 IDRS Virtual Symposium. 

Chameleon Lament (Oboe and PIano for Solo Instrumentalist)

Chameleon Lament is a work for oboe and piano: the oboist changes roles as pianist and oboist, performing both instruments, just as a chameleon changes colors. Composed in 2020, and premiered at the 2021 IDRS Virtual Symposium.

Collision Etudes (Solo Oboe)

Collision Etudes (2017) was inspired by and composed as a response to Gilles Silvestrini's wonderful etude collection: Six Etudes Pour Hautbois. Where Silvestrini's collection is based on six French Impressionistic paintings, Collision Etudes is based on six paintings by female American painters. American is a melting pot, a beautiful "collision" of cultures and beliefs. Collision Etudes highlights a collision of contemporary art styles, while bringing awareness to several significant female American artists. 

    1. Summertime- Mary Cassatt

    2. City Landscapes- Joan Mitchell

    3. Jimson Weed- Georgia O'Keeffe

    4. Rainbow- Alma Thomas

    5. Autumn Leaves- Georgia O'Keeffe

    6. My World is Not Flat- Margarete Bagshaw

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Four Personalities (Oboe and Piano)

Four Personalities (composed in 2007) is a four-movement work for oboe and piano based on the Hartman personality test. 

  • Yellow: Yellow is fun-loving. The joy that comes from doing something just for the sake of doing it is what motivates and drives yellow. 

  • White; White is  peacekeeper. White is kind, adaptable, and a good listener. Though motivated by peace, white struggles with indecisiveness. 

  • Blue: Blue brings great gifts of service, loyalty, sincerity, and thoughtfulness. Intimacy, creating relationships, and having purpose is what motivates and drives blue.

  • Red: Motivated by power, red is aggressive and assertive. Red is visionary confident, and proactive. 

Four Personalities was given the following review in The Double Reed:

“She composed this fun, entertaining work basing the four movements on the colors used by the Hartman Personality Test… Four Personalities is a lot of fun for oboist, pianist and audience alike. Highly recommended for college and professional recitals.”

Four Personalities has been recorded on the MSR Classics label by Michele Fiala, and on the Centaur Records label by Laura Medisky, Courtney Miller, and Mary Ashley Barret. 

Purchase this piece on Trevco Varner Music


Where Do Children Come From? (Oboe and PIano)

For oboe and piano. Commissioned in 2012 by Aryn Day Sweeney. This four-movement work (15 minutes in length), seeks to answer the title’s question. Movements include The Circus, Outer Space, A Higher Place, and Grace. Where Do Children Come From? was selected to be performed at the 2013 Society of Composers Inc. National Conference. Aryn Day Sweeney performed the work at the SCI Convention in March 2013. Dr. Sweeney performed the work at the 2014 International Double Reed Conference, at New York University. Published by TrevCo Music Publishing.

Purchase this piece on Trevco Varner Music


27-72 (Oboe and PIano)

27-72, written in 2019, is a sonata for oboe and piano. It was commissioned by a consortium of Baylor University oboe graduates for their teacher, Dr. Doris Deloach. Movements include:

  1. A Day in the Life

  2. Inside the Box, Outside the Box

  3. Blood, Sweat, and Tears (Reed Making)

  4. Guide Us As We Onward Go


Chrysalis (English horn and piano)

Chrysalis for English horn and piano was commissioned by Carolyn Hove, principal English horn of the L.A. Philharmonic, in 2014. The For English horn and piano. It is a musical analogy of a caterpillar, its metamorphosis, and becoming a butterfly. Within the story is another message: to become spiritually changed.


Mathematics (Bassoon and PIano)

For bassoon and piano. Selected by Trevor Cramer (TrevCo Music Publishing) to compose a piece, commissioned by a consortium of bassoonists from around the world. Premiered at the 2012 International Double Reed Convention by Eric Varner, principal bassoonist of the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra and the Windsor Symphony Orchestra. Mathematics is a three-movement work that focuses on different branches of math: Geometry, Trigonometry, and Integral Calculus.

Purchase this piece on Trevco Varner Music


Jerusalem Fantasy (Two Pianos)

Jerusalem Fantasy (2019) was commissioned by Glenn Harman. Expected premiere: 2021.


Prayer (berimbau and Piano)

Prayer for berimbau and piano (2020) was commissioned by percussionist Jed Blodgett. The work was premiered in November 2020 by Jed and Tara Blodgett.