// forever forward in search of the beautiful
// Press for forever forward in search of the beautiful
“exceedingly beautiful” —Alex Ross, The Rest is Noise
// the sky in our hands, our hands in the sky
// Press for the sky in our hands, our hands in the sky
Brooklyn Rail’s THE NEW SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT#1041: Curators Glenn Adamson and Kate Wiener and composer Leilehua Lanzilotti join scholar Christina Yang for a conversation.
Features / interview in Art Currently and Van Magazine
the sky in our hands, our hands in the sky “features the exciting trio Longleash in for Toshiko, an elusive meditation for violin, cello, and piano, and the focused, versatile Sō Percussion in sending messages, a beautifully tactile quartet by turns hypnotic and shimmering.” — Steve Smith, Night after Night Album of the Week
“The composer played a variety of the artist’s bronze bells and closed forms—some of which contained small objects that were dropped inside of them before they were fired in a kiln, creating variable rattle-like qualities. The result is a patient exploration of those peculiar resonances; frictive, clattery accents punctuating longer swells of decaying tones and muffled, extended rumbling that sounds as if recorded underwater.” — Peter Margasak, “The Best Contemporary Classical Music of 2024,” Bandcamp
“Note the almost sculptural approach to the instruments: this is not conventional work in any sense of the word, but it is extraordinarily beautiful.” — Jeremy Shatan, AnEarful: Monthly Listening: June 2024
“Leilehua Lanzilotti’s work is steeped in the elemental nature of sound and its creation. . . . In these quiet reverberances, we find the world.” — Sofía Rocha, I CARE IF YOU LISTEN’s Favorite Albums of 2024
Limited edition translucent blue double vinyl of the sky in our hands, our hands in the sky (Innova 368, 2024) featuring cover artwork and design by Jasmine Parsia, and the sounds of Sō Percussion, Longleash, and Lanzilotti.
In conjunction with the nationally touring exhibition Lanzilotti co-curated, Toshiko Takaezu: Worlds Within, Lanzilotti produced this album of chamber and experimental sound art works that explore the resonance of Takaezu’s bronze bells and the playfulness of her ceramic rattles. Lanzilotti writes, “Growing up at The Contemporary Museum in Honolulu, I remember Toshiko Takaezu’s ceramic works being the same size as I was—the greeting presence of one of her mahina, or moons, as you entered the museum.”
Longleash, bring for Toshiko to life with delicate timbres and expressive shaping of resonance. Sō Percussion breathes life to sending messages in their depth of listening. Through their long history of playing chamber music together as a group, there is a magical, spinning quality to the sound. In the resonance of the sky in our hands, our hands in the sky, we get the feeling of being inside Takaezu’s multisensory landscapes.
Lacquers cut by Scott Hull, and pressed at Microforum
Produced by Leilehua Lanzilotti
Innova Recordings
// Enfolding
An album by the String Orchestra of Brooklyn featuring Lanzilotti’s work with eyes the color of time, finalist for the 2022 Pulitzer Prize in Music (released July 1, 2022 on New Focus Recordings), and long time collaborator Scott Wollschleger’s Outside Only Sound. Download the EPK.
// Press for enfolding
“a vibrant composition, inspired by works in The Contemporary Museum in Honolulu, that distinctly combines experimental string textures and episodes of melting lyricism.” — the Pulitzer committee (finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Music, 2022).
“. . . [a] gorgeous piece . . . Its eight movements deftly juggle harmony-rich long tones that glide and shimmer, blending passages built around frictive, rumbling, extended techniques and ghostly overtones with brooding melodic shapes, particularly the harrowing ‘les sortilèges (the wound / the torn page).’ Lanzilotti, whose compositional voice grows more authoritative and versatile with each passing year, draws no line between pure sound and narrative structures, creating a work of elusive beauty and renewable mystery.” — Peter Margasak, “The Best Contemporary Classical on Bandcamp: July 2022,” Bandcamp Daily
“. . . with SOB's lustrous textures used to evocative effect throughout . . . Lanzilotti's vibrant, ever-adventurous piece is unpredictable in the best sense of the word, much like the orchestra itself.” — Textura
“. . . dramatic shifts drive with eyes the color of time as a whole, creating its visceral sensations. In the last breaths of with eyes the color of time, sound is but a haunted wisp, fading away yet ready to transform into whatever comes next.” — Vanessa Ague, The Road to Sound
“. . . painfully eloquent, there is ecstasy in the raspings of ‘silhouette’” — Gramophone
Featured on The Violin Channel: “ʻenfolding’ features premiere recordings of Scott Wollschleger’s Outside Only Sound, which was recorded live during the pandemic, and Anne Leilehua Lanzilotti’s with eyes the color of time — a finalist for the 2022 Pulitzer Prize in Music.”
“Eli Spindel, al capdavant de la SOB, ressalta el caràcter subjugador i misteriós de la música de Lanzilotti, amb què l’autora aconsegueix arribar a l’excellència amb un acoloriment sonable ric i elaborat. [Eli Spindel, at the head of the SOB, highlights the mysterious character of Lanzilotti's music, with which the author manages to reach excellence with a rich and elaborate sonorous coloring.]” — Sonograma Magazine
// Press for Yesterday Is Two Days Ago
“unafraid of the dark” —An Earful, Celebrating 2021: New Year, New Music
Featured in Five Records Made With Invented Instruments, Vanessa Ague, Bandcamp Daily, July 15, 2021
Featured in The Road to Sound’s 2021 In Review: The Year in Experimental Music, The Road to Sound, January 12, 2022
// Liner Notes for Yesterday Is Two Days Ago
Sound artist, designer, welder, builder, and visionary Adam Morford joins forces with experimental musician Leilehua Lanzilotti in this new album, Yesterday Is Two Days Ago. Blending the analog slither of homemade tape loops, unique metallic sculpture instruments, and experimental instrumental string playing, the duo creates a world of shimmers and chaos. Recorded in Colorado, the album is the first to feature the mega marvin, a larger version of the signature Marvin sound sculpture made by Morford which has a large conical base onto which springs and wires are welded to create a variety of sounds that can be explored through bowing or striking the instrument.
Music by Adam Morford & Leilehua Lanzilotti.Adam Morford, tape loops, guitar, pedals, mega marvin. Leilehua Lanzilotti, viola, mega marvin. Recorded by Greg Heimbecker at University of Northern Colorado Recording Studio in Greeley, CO. Edited and mixed by Leilehua Lanzilotti. Album edited, mixed, and mastered by Ryan Streber at Oktaven Audio in Mount Vernon, NY. Cover artwork by Adam Morford.
Supported in part by the Western Arts Alliance Advancing Indigenous Performance Native Launchpad program with funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
// Program Notes for Sola
Sola is inspired by abstract structural elements of solitariness in midst of turmoil—by the desire of calm and focus in chaos. . . . The whole—the connecting materials—expand and contract throughout the process of the piece and are contrasted with fragmented nuanced sound materials that depict various sides of the existing being, showing the core materials through various perspectives. // Excerpt of program notes by Anna Thorvaldsdottir, 2019
// Press for Sola
“[An] inquisitive, resourceful artist.” —Steve Smith, Night After Night
“One of the most captivating, immersive albums she’s released to date. . .” —New York Music Daily
“New from New Focus Recordings: violist & composer Anne Leilehua Lanzilotti has a gorgeous new recording of a custom-made work by Anna Thorvaldsdottir. . . . If you can't attend the celebration, you still should hear this beautiful piece, which comes complete with a deep-dish interview between composer and interpreter.” —Steve Smith, Night After Night
“. . . impressive string writing and a wonderfully captivating performance. Lanzilotti brings a level of nuance and care to the material . . .” —Klang : Reverberations
“As far as we are concerned, Anne Leilehua Lanzilotti is the artist whose music, words, and presence you need to make sense of whatever life throws your way.” —HokTok, introduction to the album interview
“This spare, haunting piece for viola and electronics is the first salvo in a new commissioning project from Lanzilotti, whose In Manus Tuas was a highlight of 2019. . . . [The piece] is very beautiful and gorgeously played.” —AnEarful, Best of 2020: Classical
in manus tuas (New Focus Recordings) features works by Andrew Norman, Caroline Shaw, Anna Thorvaldsdottir, and Lanzilotti
// Press for in manus tuas
“She writes beautifully about music: what it means, why it matters, and how it relates to our lives. . . . These are passionate and eloquent renderings of some seriously striking music composed by leading contemporary composers.” —hocTok
“an entrancing new album” —Alex Ross
“this gorgeous album by Lanzilotti . . . engages head and heart in equal measure.” —AnEarful
“Lanzilotti heightens the prescribed duality . . . with viscerally stunning shifts that fade away as the piece unfolds.” —Peter Margasak, Best of Bandcamp Contemporary Classical: August 2019
“in manus tuas is a fantastic debut.” —Tracy Monaghan, I Care if You Listen
“striking” —New York Music Daily
“I experience this piece, and Anne’s beautiful performance of it, like a single breath. As we peel back the layers of this single moment, there is infinitely more to discover.” —Sophia Subbayya Vastek, I Care if You Listen
The album has been featured in Steve Smith’s Log Journal Playlist (Live life out Loud), Alex Ross’s August 12, 2019 Nightafternight Playlist: New and recent recordings of interest, Bandcamp’s Best Contemporary Classical Albums of 2019, and The Boston Globe’s Top 10 classical albums of 2019.
Some albums of other people's music I've played on
(for more recordings of my compositions, visit this page).
Björk - Vulnicura Live Vinyl. "The album is made up of björk’s favourite performances from her 2015 tour, including all songs on vulnicura plus some of favourites from previous works."