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About the Composer:
Duncan Tuomi (b. 1994) is a choral conductor and award-winning composer based in Los Angeles, California. He currently studies choral music in the Doctor of Musical Arts program at the University of Southern California (USC), where he also completed his Master of Music degree. In addition to his choral music degree, he studied composition with Dr. Frank Ticheli and Dr. Chris Rozé. He also holds a Bachelor of Music Degree in Vocal Music Education from St. Olaf College, where he studied under Dr. Anton Armstrong and Dr. Christopher Aspaas, among many others.
As a composer, Tuomi was the winner of the 2023 American Prize in Short Choral Works, College and University Division, as well as the 2021 American Choral Director’s Association’s Raymond W. Brock Memorial Student Composition Competition. He was also a composition fellow in Choral Arts Initiative’s summer 2022 PREMIERE|Project. Tuomi has had works premiered by Choral Arts Initiative under the direction of Brandon Elliott, the USC Thornton Chamber Singers and University Chorus under his own direction and under the direction of Stevie J. Hirner, the Long Beach Youth Chorus under the direction of Stevie J. Hirner, the University of Portland Chamber Singers under the direction of Dr. Michael Connolly, the Pacific University Chamber Singers under the direction of Dr. Scott Tuomi. He has received commissions from the Long Beach Youth Chorus and was commissioned to compose for the 10th annual Brothers, Sing On! Tenor/Bass Choir Festival in 2018.
About the Piece:
Puzzles from Wonderland features two whimsical puzzles that Lewis Carroll wrote as part of the world of Wonderland. Both feature humorous wordplay and similarly humorous musical settings that highlight the way that Carroll plays with syllabic stress and words with double-meanings.
The first puzzle, The Box, presents itself as an exchange of gifts between brothers at first, but the solution to the puzzle reveals the double-meaning of the word box – in this case meaning a punch or slap. This is then musically highlighted by sudden clusters on the piano and hand-clapping to simulate the sound of a slap.
The Cat features a piano line that mimics the lazy motions of a cat waking from slumber, and meowing impatiently to be fed. The SSA chorus simulates the voices of the three sisters who each appear to be feeding the cat a different fish. In the solution, it is revealed that the third sister does not feed the cat “herring” as the syllabic stress of the previous poem implies, but rather “her ring”, which the new verse structure makes clear.