ANTHONY BRANDT composer
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CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF WORKS
Chamber Concerto for cello and orchestra (2025) - 20'
Commissioned by the Shepherd School of Music in honor of its 50th anniversary

Iphigenia: chamber opera in five scenes, with a libretto by Neena Beber (2024) - 46'
for three singers, small chorus and chamber ensemble

An update of the Iphigenia myth to tell a climate change story about the dangers of sacrificing the future for a short term fix: in this case, the wind stops blowing, knocking out a wind farm instead of Agamemnon’s fleet.

Meeting of Minds for live and recorded string quartet (2023) - 35'
A collaboration with NobleMotion Dance Company and the University of Houston Brain Center.  
​Winner, Chamber Music America's 2025 Interdisciplinary Collaboration of the Year Award

Diabelli 200 for piano and chamber ensemble (2022) - 26'
Commissioned by Performing Arts Houston

Concerto/Five for string orchestra (2021-22) - 29'
Premiered by KINETIC

Block Party  for block cello and three seated cellists  (2021) - 17'
Commissioned by the Louisiana Philharmonic

LiveWire for string quartet (2020-21) - 26'
A collaboration with NobleMotion Dance Company and the University of Houston Brain Center

Also an animated film by Traci Lavois Thibaud

Kassandra (2019): chamber opera in five scenes, with a libretto by Neena Beber - 47'
for five singers and chamber ensemble

An update of the myth of Apollo and Cassandra, in which Kassandra is a climate scientist and Apollo a venture capitalist who offers to sponsor her work.  

Songs from the Source (2018) - 23'
for soprano and chamber ensemble

Nine settings of African folk songs, based on recordings and transcriptions of music of the Ngbaka Ma'bo, Ewe, Aka, Mongo, Lala, Banda-Linda, Mawu, Bayaka and Shona peoples

Making Perfect (2017) - 8'
for orchestra

The first three-quarters of Making Perfect depicts the rehearsals for an orchestral "premiere" which takes place in the last quarter.  

Full Circle  (2015-16) - 15'
saxophone quartet
A ballet score choreographed by the Houston Ballet's Oliver Halkowich.  

Ulysses, Home: a chamber opera in five scenes, with a libretto by Neena Beber (2014) - 45'
Soprano, baritone, string quartet
A soldier suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder returns home to his wife in Neena Beber's modern retelling of the Ulysses myth.  Based on the award-winning playwright's experiences leading a writers' workshop for veterans and their spouses.

Four Score (2013)  - 10'
Clarinet, violin, cello, piano
Commissioned by the SOLI ensemble in honor of the 20th anniversary.

What Time Is It? a sound and art installation in Market Square, Houston, created in collaboration with artist Jo Ann Fleischhauer and composer Chapman Welch (2013)

Sphinx: a play with music, with a script by Jennifer Haley (2012) - 15'
Clarinet, saxophone, piano, violin, viola, cello
The drama with music tracks a couple from first courtship at age 19, through later life at ages 38, 50 and 63, with all of the action taking place in the front seat of a car.  A collaboration with the 2012 Blackburn winning playwright.

My Best Eleven (2012) - 10'
Percussion ensemble
Commissioned by the Moores School of Music Percussion Ensemble.

Maternity, with a libretto by David Eagleman (2011) - 17'
Soprano and chamber orchestra
Based on Eagleman's story "The Founding Mothers," the libretto traces a maternal line through pre-history all the way to the moment when "gender split into being."

Nano Symphony (2010) - 7'
Flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, French horn, percussion, piano and string quartet
A complete symphonic concert in a little over six minutes, including a tuning section, overture, modern work, piano concerto, intermission, four-movement symphony and an encore. 

Focus (2009) - 10'
Flute, clarinet, harp, piano, percussion, violin and cello

America, poetry by Tony Hoagland (2007) - 5'
Narrator and chorus
Commissioned by the Houston Chamber Choir

The Birth of Something: a chamber opera in five acts with a libretto by Will Eno (2005-6) - 40'
Soprano, baritone, string quartet, and percussion
The tragicomic libretto centers on a Man and Woman who believe themselves unworthy of being the subject of an opera.  A collaboration with the Pulitzer-Prize nominated playwright of "Thom Pain" and "The Realistic Joneses."  Commissioned by Da Camera of Houston.

The Dragon and the Undying, poetry by Siegfried Sassoon (2004) - 10'
Soprano, string quartet

Round Top Trio (2003) - 8'
Flute, clarinet, piano
Commissioned by the Webster Trio

The House Surrounded, poetry by Jules Supervielle (2003) - 10'
Soprano, piano, harp and percussion

Handful  (2002) - 7'
Solo piano

Express (2002) - 7'
Orchestra
Commissioned by OrchestraX

Four Shadowings (2002) - 25'
String quartet
Commissioned by the Koussevitzky Foundation of the Library of Congress

Roman à Clef (2000) - 12'
Cello, piano
Commissioned by the Fischer Duo

Fanfare in X (2000) - 6'
Orchestra
Commissioned by OrchestraX

X-Caliber (2000) - 10'
Flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, two percussion, and piano
Commissioned by OrchestraX

Creeley Songs, poetry by Robert Creeley (1999) - 15'
Soprano, piano

Turbulent Tones (1998) - 8'
Orchestra
Commissioned by the Seattle Youth Symphony

Breathing Room, to poetry by Emily Dickinson (1998) - 15'
Soprano, string orchestra
Commissioned by the Metamorphosen Chamber Orchestra

Pièce de Resistance [in memoriam MLK] (1998) - 7'
Bass trombone, two tenor trombones, piano and percussion

Songs for Soprano and String Quartet, to poetry by Wallace Stevens and William Carlos Williams) (1997) -10'

Hidden Motives (1996) - 15'
Two pianos

Octopiece (1996) - 10'
Flute, bass clarinet, percussion, piano and string quartet
Commissioned by the Ensemble las Rosas

Disturbing the Piece (1996)  20-30'
Piano and improvisatory ensemble
Commissioned by the Tufts New Music Ensemble

New, poetry by Amanda Powell (1995) - 7'
Soprano, piano

Bar None (1995) - 7'
String quartet/String orchestra
Commissioned by the Wellesley Composers Conference

String Quartet (1994) - 25'

Septet-à-tête (1993) - 10'
Flute, clarinet, piano, two percussion, violin and cello

Educational and Occasion Pieces

Ofrenda, poetry by Virginia Wolff (2015) - 2'
Soprano, clarinet, viola and cello
or Baritone, oboe, viola and cello 

Infinity, poetry by Rich Levy (2014)  - 3'
Baritone, oboe, viola and cello

The Last Words of Gesshu Soko (2013) - 3'
Baritone, oboe, viola and cello

History, poetry by Charles Angoff (2012) -2'
Soprano, piano

Ofrenda, poetry by Chief Dan George (2011) - 2'
Soprano, viola, cello

Musiqa ReMix, an educational program with music by Musiqa’s composers (2010-11)
Soprano, clarinet, trumpet, piano, percussion, double bass

“Home on the Range,” sing-a-long
“Harmony Make-Over,” a study in harmony
 “Tune Collider,” a study in counterpoint

Around the World with Musiqa, an educational program created by Musiqa’s composers (2004/2014)

Soprano, flute, clarinet, piano, percussion, violin, cello

“Mbebe,” sing-a-long 
“Down by the Riverside,” sing-a-long
 “Cielito Lindo” and “Pigtown Fling,” a study in combining folk tunes

Special Projects
Earl Kim: Illuminations (reconstructed and orchestrated from the composer’s manuscript) (2003) -15'
Soprano, harp, string orchestra

Crucible of the Millennium, two part series on PBS (2000)

Nano Symphony
From a full evening of orchestral music compressed into seven minutes, the excerpt is the first movement of the symphony after intermission

The Birth of Something

Four Score
for clarinet, violin, cello and piano

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