Episode 1: The Creator Presents Rhapsody in Blue with Mark Buller
/Listen in as ECHO’s Kelli Soika chats with Mark Buller, a composer based in Houston who writes music that blends rich lyricism with bold gestures and striking rhythms.
In this episode, they talk about how a composer finds inspiration for a new piece and how it fits win with the other music on the program. Mark shares his view on the “characters” in the music and how he writes their stories.
Mark has written a wide variety of pieces, from tiny miniatures for solo instruments to operas and works for large orchestra. His music has been heard in venues around the world, from Carnegie Hall and the Moscow Conservatory to offbeat locations such as the Australian Maritime Museum in Sydney. He has been privileged to write for a number of world-class ensembles and organizations, including the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Houston Grand Opera, Houston Chamber Choir and he is currently ECHO’s Composer-in-Residence.
His flexibility as a composer has led to some unique projects and commissions: four operas for Houston Grand Opera -- including a pastiche opera -- with libretti by Charles Anthony Silvestri and Euan Tait (together totaling over 180 performances since 2015); a series of poignant art songs and a major choral work also for HGO, setting words by veterans and by Leah Lax; and eighty very short pieces for various forces, entitled Quarantine Miniatures, written during the COVID-19 lockdown.
