Elysia Ann Arntzen, DMA
Composer, Soprano
BIO
I developed a love for composing music at a young age, although the quality of those early works is questionable, and some were written in crayon. I started learning the piano when I was about 7 years old, so most of my first attempts at composition were for the piano. There was a short "opera" I wrote for my mom at one point in elementary school as well. I gradually started trying to write for more instruments as I encountered them, and was confused the first time I tried to pair violin and trumpet. One of them seemed to be playing in the wrong key.
I have been composing seriously since starting college. In December 2014, I finished my Master's degree at Ball State University. Recently, I finished my DMA at University of Nebraska at Lincoln, where I studied with Dr. Tyler White. While at UNL, I composed, produced, and directed my first full length opera, The Cask of Amontillado. Much of my music is for voice, and I have composed three song cycles with texts by Edgar Allan Poe. Aside from composing, I enjoy performing in opera, musical theatre, and plays. I also enjoy cycling, video games, and studying other languages.
In 2017, I joined up with a group of local composers to form the LNK New Music Collective, which is focused on bringing contemporary classical music out of the concert hall, and into a wider variety of venues in Lincoln, NE. I am also a member of Society of Composers, Inc. and ASCAP.
MUSIC
RECORDINGS
SCORES
WORKS LIST
Opera
Car Ride (2018)
The Cask of Amontillado (2016-2017)
Dinner at the Maison de Sante (2015)
Choral Works
Carry On! (2022) 3-voice
Heartwreck (2014) SATB
The Ash Grove (2013) SSAA/string quartet
For the Beauty of the Earth (2012) SATB/piano
Loch Lomond (2011) TTBB/piccolo/snare
Fibonacci Mass (2009) SATB/piano
Tomorrow (2008) SSATTB
Solo Vocal Works
With Ensemble
A Quiet Haunting (2022) soprano voice/cello
Lady Macbeth (2022) soprano voice/percussion/cello
Hope is the thing with feathers (2022) soprano voice/percussion
Waterscape (2019) soprano voice/percussion/cello
The Colder Months (2018) soprano voice/flute/oboe/clarinet
Ode to a Nightingale (2017) baritone voice/clarinet/viola/percussion
A Where Without a Who (2017) soprano voice/flute/piano
Die Lorelei (2009) Flute/Glockenspiel/Electric guitar/Electric bass/voice/piano
With Piano
Eldorado (2017) song cycle for tenor
Israfel (2016) song cycle for soprano
To Whom (2012/2016) song cycle for baritone
Good Friday (2012)
Moon Music (2010)
Chanson de Nuit (2006)
Chamber and Solo Instrumental Works
Jitters (2022) snare drum
Morning (2019) saxophone quartet
Carpe Diem (2019) brass quintet
Rondo in F Minor (2018) string quartet
Scintillate (2018) steelpan double seconds
Fanfare for a New Year (2018) flute/flugelhorn/cello/percussion
Rich in Love, mvt. 3 (2017) viola/piano
*collaboration with LNK New Music Collective
Nocturne for Viola and Harp (2017) viola/harp
The Stargazers (2015) violin/piano
Grief (2014) electric guitar, piano, electric bass, drum set
Orbit (2014) vibraphone solo
Stranger (2014) viola solo
Prospero (2013) percussion quartet
Event Horizon (2012) WW quintet/Brass quintet/2 marimbas
Butterflies in the Stomach (2011) horn solo
Wedding Suite (2010-2011) string quartet
Rose Red (2010) string quartet
Piano Works
Nocturne (2013)
Crash (2011)
Sospiro (2010)
Electronic Works
Stargazing (2018) digital fixed media
Insomnia (2014) digital fixed media
Ice Sprites (2012) digital fixed media
Migraine (2012) digital fixed media