Cellist, Singer, Composer
Hello everyone and welcome to my website!
Have a look around! I hope you like what you see.
Over time, I’ll add more and more here but I thought this would be a decent start.
For booking and performance inquiries, feel free to contact me on this website or directly at anthime.millerlemery@gmail.com
In 2019, Dr. Jacky Touba, the president of North Country Arts in Glens Falls, New York commissioned me and my close friend, colleague and collaborator Catherine Reid to score selections of poetry from the anthology “Holding It All” by the Glens Falls political activist and author, Bernice Mennis.
Catherine and I each chose five poems to score individually, and we both scored two movements together.
To say that this experience changed my life would be an understatement. Working with Catherine in this new way was such an incredible joy. Being able to hand pick artists from the community where I was raised, to write music specifically for them and to rehearse, record and perform a piece of original music, especially during the time of COVID-19, when so much of the creative universe is on hold, has been a defining joy of my life.
A full studio album will be available in the early summer, but until then, we are so happy to share with you a video recording, available April 10th here and on my YouTube and Vimeo account.
Here is a taste.
First, my setting of the poem ‘Leaves and Thoughts’ performed by Kerr Gooden (soprano), Barbara Zanoni (alto), Adam York (soprano sax), Tania Halko Susi (violin), Catherine Reid (piano) and myself on cello.
Second, my setting of “The Lake At Early Dawn” performed by Barbara Zanoni (alto), Adam York (soprano sax), Tania Halko Susi (violin) and myself on cello.
Hello everyone!
I hope that you all have enjoyed your summer as much as I have! I’ll be posting several updates as to what I’ve been up to, starting with my experience at Labo this June in Montréal.
A bit about Labo from their Facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/labomontreal/
“The Montréal Contemporary Music Lab (MCML) was formed in 2011 by seven emerging musicians in Montréal. Its aims are to foster relationships between young and emerging composers and performers of new music, and create new connections and opportunities within the Montréal artistic community.
Our central activity is an annual 10-day performance and composition workshop in the city of Montréal, open to emerging performers and composers internationally.
Now in its eighth year, MCML continues to be a tremendous success. This year, we hope to create another excellent experience and build on our accomplishments to create even more opportunities for collaboration, learning, community-building, and outreach.”
I was very fortunate to be able to participate in this years iteration of Labo along with about three dozen other musicians, composers and artists from around the world.
I was put into two ensembles – a string trio and a mixed ensemble of cello, clarinet, bass clarinet, piano and singer.
The string trio featured Natalie Dzbik on violin, Arie Verheul-van de Ven on viola and myself on cello – each of us composers in our own right, and with Isaac Zee, a violinist as our composer. The four of us immediately had excellent chemistry which made the entire process so much fun and intensely collaborative.
Our piece ‘Storm of Sands’ is informed by Isaac’s interest in spectralism and microtonal music but also the improvisational aspects of notated music as well. You can here our performance of it here!
My second ensemble was another excellent and memorable experience in another way – we were premiering a short opera!
The ensemble was made up of Emilia Segura on clarinet, Julia Lougheed on bass clarinet, myself on cello, and Kristin Sofroniou on piano and our composer / lyricist pairing was the sister duo of Rachel and Rebecca Gray.
This project was based around the idea of a morning newscaster named Brenda struggling to maintain composure and a sense of order after an apocalyptic event the nature and cause of which is left unclear to the observer. As the piece develops, we see Brenda become progressively more and more unable to hold herself together and soon she becomes haunted by the specter of phantom news stories and the spirit of her former co-host, George. These spirits appear to the audience as a cadre of macabre papier-mâché puppets.
Needless to say, we had loads of fun with this piece!
See for yourself! Watch our performance of ‘Today!’ here!
Last winter, I had the privilege of working on my fourth project with The Circle Theater of New York (CTNY) and my third project with the Théâtre National du Luxembourg (TNL) – ‘Strangers’.
To summarize it briefly, ‘Strangers’ was an exploration of several ideas, most notably surveillance culture, the idea of immortality, and the effects of climate change. As a vehicle, we loosely adapted an Argentinian novella called ‘The Invention of Morel’ by Adolfo Bioy Casares the deals with very similar subject matter. For more information, you can refer to the description in the video.
I also had the pleasure of being able to remain in Europe for a month after we had closed the show. I stayed for two weeks in Utrecht, and then another two weeks in Berlin, where I met with a dear old friend and collaborator, David J. Romero, the Executive Director of Todos Somos Mariposas and a celebrated filmmaker and visual artist.
This video was generously taken by David during our time together in Berlin, and I’m very happy to be able to share it with you today.
Thank you and enjoy!
I’m so excited to announce my newest project/collaboration – a live score of the classic German expressionist horror film ‘Nosferatu’ directed by F.W. Murnau, with a live score performed by yours truly and my dear friend and collaborator Curtis F. Jones.
It’s always been a dream of mine to perform a film score live, and I would be thrilled if you could join me in this experience.
June 15th. 8:00 PM. The Strand Theater in Hudson Falls, NY.
Here’s a great video from way back when I was making a living busking in New York City. One of my favorite places to play, and one place where you’re sure to find live music almost anytime of the year is Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village.
One afternoon in June of 2013, I was approached by a video journalist named Michael Shade who asked if he could film me doing a couple songs. Here’s one of me performing one of the first arrangements I ever made for cello and voice – “Bewitched and My Funny Valentine”.
Hope you enjoy it!
Join me Saturday March 24th at 8 PM at the Hudson River Music Hall in Hudson Falls as I take the stage again with local folk singer Michael Primeau along with special guest Phil Bacon, as well!
This will be my third program with Michael, who is always a joy to play with and the very picture of professionalism. Here is a great piece from our first concert together back in March of 2016, with our dear friend Gisella Montanez-Case and Robert Bates – ‘Ships’ by Tom Kimmel. Hope to see you on the 24th!
…but I hope you can forgive me 🙂 A lovely clip of my friend Carly Blane and I playing in Parc Edmund Klein during our time in Luxembourg in June of 2015 for the Theatre National du Luxembourg and Circle Theater of New York co-production of ‘Trail of Crumbs’. Enjoy!
Anthime Miller 