Raindrop New Music

01/08/2025

🐾 This Saturday! presents O-Paw-ra Night at where they will perform a program including a set of animal-themed contemporary music, a preview of their upcoming double bill, Wag and Whiskers, and music by Raindrop New Music composers!

🐾 Resident soprano performs multiple works by including selections from the Dead Fires Anthology: Vulnerability, Stillness, and There is Frost (poetry by ), and their art song A Poem of Gratitude (poetry by .erdmann).

🐾Resident mezzo-soprano and composer performs her works How Doth the Little Crocodile (poetry by Lewis Carroll) and Haven (poetry by Paulann Peterson) with special guest .

🐾 Additional performers include soprano Henriët Fourie, pianist Susan McDaniel, and special guest composer-pianist will complete the evening with a performance of her original work, My Father’s Voice.

No registration required. $10 cover at the door in support of the artists. Visit the link in our bio for more info!

01/03/2025

This Saturday, Portland Phoenix Chamber Choir will give the North American premiere of Carolyn Quick's O Fire, which won a special prize for the best performance of a contemporary work at the 28th International Preveza Choral Competition!

More details in the link in our bio

01/02/2025

As we settle into the new year, let's shine a spotlight one more time on what's been inspiring us lately at Raindrop New Music 💡

☔ Last but not least? Co-founder Lisa Neher! ☔

12/14/2024

Did you enjoy hearing about what's inspiring Carolyn Quick? Let's continue to shine a spotlight on what's been inspiring us lately Raindrop New Music 💡

☔ Next up? Co-founder Drew Swatosh! ☔

12/05/2024

Take a look as we shine a spotlight on what's been inspiring us lately at Raindrop New Music! 💡

☔ First up? Co-founder Carolyn Quick! ☔

10/18/2024

Congratulations to our amazing co-founder Carolyn Quick for being selected for the 2024 - 2025 Seattle Opera Jane Lang Davis Creation Lab! As part of this opportunity, Carolyn will be paired with a librettist in her cohort and write a 20 minute chamber opera. The pair will also receive composition and libretto mentorship from professionals within the opera world. We (Lisa & Drew) are so excited to see you take your fabulous understanding of vocal writing in art song and choral music and translate your compositional voice into the world of opera. Brava! 💜

10/08/2024

OUT NOW! Lindsey Rae Johnson, soprano and Sequoia performing Drew Swatosh's There is Frost (text by Carolyn Quick) from the Dead Fires Anthology performed during our November recital series.

Over the next few weeks, we will be releasing our favorite performances from Lindsey Rae Johnson, soprano’s recital series Celebrating Local Composers: A Recital Series on our YouTube Channel! Subscribe at to see all of our upcoming videos.

There is Frostform the Dead Fires Anthologymusic by Drew Swatoshtext by Carolyn QuickLindsey Rae Johnson, sopranoSequoia, pianoPerformed on Celebrating Local...

09/30/2024

IRL: Co-founders Lisa Neher and Carolyn Quick will be performing THIS SATURDAY at New Wave Opera's (which Lisa Neher also co-runs) Scream Queens event at Mendelssohns! Check it out for some spooky music by living composers (feat. a world premiere by Carolyn, coming soon to Raindrop New Music's Website!) 🐦‍⬛🎃

09/24/2024

We did it! The Raindrop New Music collective - Drew Swatosh, Carolyn Quick, and Lisa Neher - joined forces for a first-ever group interview on the Moveable Do Podcast! 🎙️ We talked about our journey as Northwest composers and how we support each other's creative endeavors. 💧✨

Want to know who’s obsessed with text, who writes music for trans and non-binary voices, and who’s the genius behind wacky noises? 😜 Tune in to find out!

Steve also featured some of our music, including: 🎵 Three Basho Haiku by Lisa Neher 🎵 O Fire by Carolyn Quick 🎵 Finding the Light by Drew Swatosh 🎵 I Want Everything (from If Only I Could Give You the Sun) by Drew Swatosh (librettist Brian Dang)

Check out the episode to hear more about us and the collective at raindropnewmusic.com, lisanehermusic.com, drewswatosh.com, or carolynquick.com. And don't forget to visit ⁠moveabledo.com⁠ for the full podcast archive. 💧🎶

https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/moveabledo/episodes/Raindrop-New-Music-e2odbov

09/23/2024

OUT NOW! Daniel Glen Gibbs III and Sequoia Sounds performing Carolyn Quick's O Captain! My Captain! from our November Recital Series!

Over the next few weeks, we will be releasing our favorite performances from Lindsey Rae Johnson’s recital series Celebrating Local Composers: A Recital Series on our YouTube Channel! Subscribe at to see all of our upcoming videos.

O Captain! My Captain! music by Carolyn Quicktexts by Walt WhitmanDaniel Glen Gibbs III, baritoneSequoia, pianoPerformed on Celebrating Local Composers Recit...

09/12/2024

"...on that concert with David Schiff’s work, I’m positioning work by the new Composer Collective, Raindrop New Music, and I think it’s nice to combine those two things on the same stage, and say, here’s something, a classic work by someone we all know and love and respect and here’s new work by this emerging, exciting new group, let’s check that out."

Lovely article by Matthew Neil Andrews featuring Kenji Bunch previewing fEARnoMUSIC's upcoming season. Which *drumroll please* happens to feature music from Raindrop New Music (aka Carolyn Quick, Lisa Neher & Drew Swatosh) on their January concert! 🤩 More info to come.

The composer and artistic director discusses the roots and reasons of the new music organization’s organically audacious upcoming season.

09/11/2024

OUT NOW! Catch Phoebe Gildea and Sequoia Sounds performing Lisa Neher’s Snapshots from our November Recital!

Over the next few weeks, we will be releasing our favorite performances from Lindsey Rae Johnson’s recital series Celebrating Local Composers: A Recital Series on our YouTube Channel! Subscribe at to see all of our upcoming videos.

Snapshots music by Lisa Nehertexts from the University Daily KansanPhoebe Gildae, mezzo-sopranoSequoia, pianoPerformed on Celebrating Local ComposersNovember...

08/20/2024

New Releases (part 2): get to know our newest additions to the Raindrop New Music Catalog

🪷 Bloom, Drew Swatosh - Bloom is an eclectic SATB work inspired by q***r singer/songwriters that explores the intersection of my autistic and q***r identities, including how I’ve flourished as an autistic femme trans-non-binary person. This piece is for the quiet ones who need some love and support coming into their true selves.

🪑The Rocking Chair, Drew Swatosh & Carolyn Quick - The Rocking Chair is a lyrical art song with a nostalgic mood. The singer could happen upon this rocking chair, with its “oaken beams and brittle bark,” at many points in their life, creating an opportunity for self-reflection and to grieve for themselves, allowing for the piece to have the potential to have an interpretation that can grow and change with the singer.

🎹 Gilgamesh Weeps, Lisa Neher & Kendra Preston Leonard - Gilgamesh Weeps is a TBB piece that upends hero stereotypes by exploring love, devotion, and loss between friends. Lyrical opening & closing sections evoke weeping with a contrasting middle section that features percussive ostinatos. Dramatic piano writing sets an epic mood.

08/12/2024

☔ New Releases (part 1): get to know our newest additions to the Raindrop New Music Catalog!

🌸 Three Basho Haiku, Lisa Neher - Three Basho Haiku features striking natural imagery of moonrises, falling rain, and spring flowers painted with surprising harmonic shifts and rich, chorale-like sections.

🌧 be for me the rain, Carolyn Quick & JC Cortens - be for me the rain for baritone and piano sets a brand new text by British Columbia poet JCCortens. It is a humble petition for aid and centers around themes of grief, destruction, and, finally, renewal - all centered around images of nature. With driving rhythms and lyric lines, this work is great for working on dramatic storytelling and dynamic contrast.

🔥 O Fire, Carolyn Quick & Hildegard von Bingen/Nathaniel M. Campbell - O Fire is a raucous, mixed meter choral setting of Hildegard von Bingen’s O ignis Spiritus paracliti and includes extended techniques, solo opportunities, vocal fireworks, and optional body percussion. If you want to give your singers a chance to shine, this is the piece for you.

08/07/2024

🔥 IRL: Last month Carolyn Quick’s latest choral work, O Fire, won a special prize for the best performance of a contemporary work at the 28th International Preveza Choral Competition! In her words:

“O Fire sets the first half of Nathaniel M. Campbell’s translation of Hildegard von Bingen’s evocative work O ignis Spiritus paracliti. The text speaks about the omnipotent and saving power of the Holy Spirit with awe and exuberant reverence. O Fire takes this beautiful, vivid text and gives it a completely new musical setting" that incorporates aleatoric Latin whispering, solos and body percussion to create a fulfilling and, as choir member Donovan Cassell put it, a dynamic puzzle of a piece.

Congratulations Carolyn! 💐💜 This is an amazing honor and we (Drew and Lisa) love supporting the fabulous work you do as a composer.

07/28/2024

Happy Birthday to our lovely co-founder Lisa Neher (sher/her)! 🥳

We - Drew (they/them) and Carolyn (she/her) - love seeing you continually show up unapologetically as yourself. You are a tireless advocate for new music and we are honored that you continue to seek opportunities to program music, including our own, by local, living composers and poets of diverse backgrounds. Congratulations on the launch of ! It is a joy to see your ideas come to fruition and we love how Raindrop has become this beautiful way to support one another. We hope you have a fabulous day and we look forward to seeing what ideas you bake up next!

07/26/2024

🌊 IRL: TOMORROW! Co-founder launches her new opera company, , with and with their inaugural event Summer Splash, on Saturday, July 27th at 3:30 PM in the Sellwood-Moreland neighborhood of Portland.

Join Susan McBerry's Periwinkle Studios for New Wave Opera's company launch and fundraiser: Summer Splash. This all-ages backyard concert features tuneful opera arias, duets, and art songs by living composers, some of whom live in your own backyard!

Snacks & drinks of the adult and child-friendly varieties both provided.

The performance will feature selections by Melissa Dunphy & Nikita Gill, Gabriela Lena Frank's setting of Andean folk poetry, Monica Chew & Sandra Flores-Strand, William Bolcom, Jake Heggie, Portland's own Dianne Davies & Lisa Neher, the world premiere of a new work by New Wave composer in residence Kim Osberg, and more.

How can a cook win a baking competition when she's lost her sense of smell? Will wedding preparations ever be perfect for the ultimate Bridezilla? And just what are all those squirrels in your backyard up to? Find out at Summer Splash!

RSVP at the link in our bio as a limited number of spots are still available to support the launch of New Wave Opera!

Performers:
- Soprano
- Mezzo
- Mezzo
- Piano

07/13/2024

🎷 We are so excited that is one of eleven composers writing a new work for solo baritone saxophone and electronics for the Baripalooza consortium project. Baripalooza, led by , launched last month in collaboration with consortium member and saxophonist and features new 6 to 9-minute pieces for solo baritone saxophone and solo baritone saxophone + electronics in a wide variety of styles suitable for all recital programs. Consortiums will be throughout the 24-25 seasons, and 25-26 seasons.

’s piece for the spring 2025 consortium is about our increased awareness of air as shared space and Charles Babbge's idea of air having atmospheric memory that could be uncovered. To quote Charles Babbage: “The air itself is one vast library on whose pages are for ever written all that man has ever said or woman whispered.”

Check out the link in our bio for details!