Liza Sobel Crane
Composer and Soprano
Listen to the world premiere of Liza's opera, I DID, DID I?
The video of I DID, DID I? is now online! Liza composed the music, and the libretto is by Gina Elia and Liza Sobel Crane. Liza also sang the role of Woman 2. I DID, DID I? was commissioned by the Zafa Collective. The premiere was on May 5, 2022 at the Poetry Foundation in Chicago. Please note that the opera discusses sexual assault, which may be triggering for some.
Performers: Christina Pecce (Woman 1), Liza Sobel Crane (Woman 2), Suzanne Hannau (flutes), Nico Chona (clarinets), Josh Graham (percussion), Louise Chan (piano), Hannah Christiansen (violin), Kelly Quesada (cello), and Maurice Cohn (conductor)
News
Liza's composition featured on PBS special
Click here to watch the episode
Liza's composition Soaring is featured on a PBS special, Songs About Buildings and Moods. It pairs new music inspired by architecture. Soaring was inspired by the Stony Island Arts Bank in Chicago. It featured in Season 2, Episode 5. The show will be broadcast on local PBS stations around the country over the next few months.
News
Summer 2024
Liza was selected as a Composer Fellow for the 2024 Lakes Area Music Festival. This year was the first time the festival had composers participating. Liza was one of three composers selected.
Liza wrote a new work for the Thalea String Quartet. In addition, she participated in workshops for her orchestra and vocal works. She also sang one of the other composers' vocal pieces in the voice workshop.
The festival culminated with the Thalea Quartet performing the composers' pieces and the Lakes Area Music Festival reading the composers' orchestral works.
May 2022 - World premieres of Liza's opera and orchestral pieces
May was a busy month for Liza. First, she was in residency at Texas State University for the world premiere of her piece, Chasing.
Then Liza sang in the world premiere of her opera, I DID, DID I?, with the Zafa Collective at the Poetry Foundation in Chicago.
Last but not least, the New York Youth Symphony performed the world premiere of her piece, (E)Merging Dances at Carnegie Hall as part of their First Music Commission.
Liza has been selected for the Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music's Bahlet Eeble Reading program. Four composers per cycle are selected to work the performance faculty over twelve months to create a new work.
September and October - Liza featured in three performances as part of Ear Taxi Festival, a festival celebrating new music in Chicago
On Sunday, September 26th at Constellation, Liza performed in a concert with pianist Jonathan Hannau featuring both of their music, George Crumb's Apparition, and music by Chicago composers.
On Friday, October 1st at DePaul University's Holtschneider Performance Center, both Liza's Five Scenes for String Quartet and her Trio for Clarinet, Violin, and Percussion were be performed. The Zafa Collective performed Liza's string quartet, and F-Plus performed her trio.
To see all three performances' YouTube videos, check out Liza's website's Past Events section. For more information about the Ear Taxi Festival, please read the Chicago Tribune's article.
July 2021 - World Premiere of Liza's Waiting, performed by the Mammoth Trio in Yale School of Music's Norfolk Chamber Music Festival New Music Workshop. You can watch the concert online for free through Norfolk's YouTube channel.
May 2021 - Performance of Liza's song "I Love You"
Liza's song, "I Love You," was presented through Lynx Project and the Poetry Foundation as part of Lynx's Amplify Series, in which composers set text by neurodiverse authors. The performance is available online for free through the Poetry Foundation.
May 2021 - Liza's TeachX Presentation
Liza presented "Creating Virtual Connections and Collaborations" as part of TeachX.
April 2021 - Sneak Peak of Liza's Song
Lynx Project shared a video that features excerpts of Liza's song "I Love You" (text by Mitchell Robins, performed by Daniel Baer, piano and Kristina Bachrach, soprano) and her interview with Lynx, in which Liza discusses her song and working with Mitchell Robins. The full song will be performed on Thursday, April 22nd at 7pm as part of Lynx Project's Autism Advocacy Series. Liza has been commissioned by the Lynx Project's Autism Advocacy Series to compose a new piece for voice and piano that sets text by neurodiverse authors.
February 2021 - Liza commissioned by Next Generation Trumpet Competition
Liza has been commissioned by the Next Generation Trumpet Competition to compose a series of trumpet etudes. She will work trumpeter, Andrew Kozar, who will record the etudes. Watch the video to see Liza and Andrew discuss the pairing.
March 2020 - Liza's Reverse Forward performed as part of Civic Orchestra's 100th Anniversary Virtual Concert.
Liza was commissioned by the Civic Orchestra of Chicago for their 100th Anniversary Virtual Concert. The original concert was canceled as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, and seven composers were commissioned to create new pieces both inspired by the pandemic and the Civic Orchestra’s originally scheduled performance of Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5.
See Liza discuss her piece, Reverse Foward.
February 2020 - Liza selected to speak at New Music Gathering
Liza has been selected to speak at New Music Gathering. Due to Covid-19, the conference has been moved to online. Liza will speak on Saturday, June 20th at 3pm CST. She will discuss how mental health and social media impact her compositional process.
August 2019 - Thirsty Ears Festival
Liza sang at Thirsty Ears Festival, Chicago's only classical music street fair, with pianist, Nathan Canfield. They performed Debussy's Ariettes oubliées, John Adams' "This is Prophetic," and music composed specifically for her including: Walter Hilse's Psalm 27, Liza's song cycle, Skin, and the world premiere of Nathan Canfield's Wabash Valley Songs.
July 2019 - Orchestra of St. Luke's performs world premiere of Sandia Reflections
Liza participated in the Orchestra of St. Luke's inaugural DeGaetano Composition Institute. The Orchestra of St. Luke's performed the world premiere of her new piece, Sandia Reflections, at the DiMenna Center in New York City.