The first in a planned series of shows that explore new music by playing the same piece of music on different instruments. Composition by Melinda Rice, created in collaboration with Philadelphia Small Works Gallery and with violinist Carlos Santiago. This performance took place on March 23, 2024.
The limerick generating plant’s two nuclear reactors provide energy for nearly two million homes in the area. This is a project in which Melinda plays music live in Foy Park, Spring Mount, PA with the test sirens that sound every six months from the plant. This iteration is the second performance, and took place on December 4, 2023. The next iteration will be on June 3, 2024.
In the latest iteration of Melinda and Heather’s conversation between words and music, they worked with Laurel Hill Cemetery to create a piece for Philly Fringe Fest based loosely around the lives of some of the people buried in the cemetery. Other instances of this collaboration include sound accompaniments to Heather’s poetry in conversation with Heather’s sound erasures/collaborative pieces, Highlights and Blackouts.
Murmurations takes its tentative name from the flocking of starlings, the sharing of choices, and the constant movement between outside/inside. This is documentation of Melinda’s songs, words, and compositional thoughts. They use an expanding array of voice, strings, bells, keyboard, synthesizer, sequencers, pedals, and whatever else is around, and ask trusted friends for advice. First iteration is Right Beneath the Moon.
This project came into being because of a collaboration with artist David Eng and the Cabrillo State Aquarium. To complement Eng’s artist lecture, we created an outdoor string quartet concert on the rocks above the water at the aquarium. The music was performed and recorded subsequently in other spaces.
album available here: https://melindarice.bandcamp.com/album/before-the-color-blue
From Melinda’s folk-inspired album released in March 2016, Let Someone In. Original tunes and arrangements. Album available for purchase, $13.
August 2016
Performed by Accordant Commons (Marja Liisa Kay, Tany Ling, Argenta Walther, Stephanie Aston)
Hosted by Craft in America's summer concert series, Melinda Rice and Amy K. Bormet met up at park halfway between their homes in PA and D.C. to improvise as pandemic quarantining was lifting. They returned to the music afterwards to shape and compose on top of their improvisations.
February 2017
Part of The Industry's Second Take for new opera, this telling of Bonnie and Clyde's stories is performed as a concert.
American folk song
arranged by Melinda Rice
Isaura String Quartet
January 2017
Water Cycle comes from conversations between Teri Car Heller and Melinda about humans’ mythical and scientific relationships with water. Premier performance was in North Bend, WA, November 5, 2023.