Music by Paul Sayed
Listen and watch a few samples of music written and produced by Paul.
Metropolitan Snapshots
For Oboe, Clarinet, and Bassoon
Metropolitan Snapshots pays homage to New York City Skyline Melody by Heitor Villa-Lobos. Like Villa-Lobos’ composition, the inspirations for the musical materials come from Sayed’s experience with specific locations in New York City. Each location represents a point in the composer’s exhausting workday at the New York City Opera including the tiring commute back and forth and the lonely espresso filled lunch breaks.
Seven Morsels in the Form of a Persimmon
For piano and narrator
Long title, short movements. Seven Morsels in the Form of a Persimmon in part pays homage to Erik Satie’s Trois morceaux en forme de poire and represents Paul’s response to Orientalism in Western Art Music and French piano music in particular. Playing with in piano miniatures genre, the Paul presents seven short vignettes that capture short moment in time. Paul wrote each movement in the span of a week and in one sitting immediately after waking up in the morning.
Watch Kyle Johnson perform the Seven Morsels in the Form of a Persimmon with lighting and staging instructions present in the score.
Vanity Lane the Ballet
Commissioned by La’Toya Princess Jackson, Paul wrote electro-acoustic pieces for Vanity Lane, the first ballet produced by the Harvard Black C.A.S.T.
Vanity Lane also features music written by composers Jared Hettrick and Gordon Williams.
Grace in the Wind
For Soprano, Cello, and Piano
Written in collaboration with poet Mary Bonina, Grace in the Wind celebrates mothers. The song cycle features three poems written by Bonina and commissioned by the composer.