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| Melissa’s trip to Colorado to work with Kantorei last month was the literal GOAT BIGHORN SHEEP |
| | Dan: We know you have all been patiently waiting for your biannual serotonin dump, so here it is! As usual, life in the Mormolyke Press universe has been cuckoo bananas. This roundup includes nineteen (19!) new scores, seven (7!) new commercial recordings, four (4!) podcast appearances, two (2!) new book contributions, an archaeology museum announcement (!) and more. Before we get into the recap, we have some exciting office news… New Hire: Lori!
Lori: Hi, I’m Lori, a recent high school graduate attending Hofstra University in the fall. I just started at Mormolyke Press, and I am super excited to work with Melissa and the rest of the team! Dan: Hooray, congrats to Lori! We know she is gonna crush it at Hofstra in the fall—she’s already crushing the neverending to-do list of administrative tasks at Mormolyke Press. Dan has commenced!
Melissa: Grease those Broad Street poles and celebrate our newest college graduate in the office! Dan: Super excited to have completed this chapter of my life, and extremely grateful to be able to bring home a college degree as a first-generation student. My time at Temple University has been wonderful, and I couldn’t be more thrilled to stay in my favorite city in the world, Philadelphia. (Go birds, Dallas sux) |
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| Sarah leading and conducting our session on Melissa’s music at ACDA National in Dallas this March.
Not pictured: Sarah's career highlight of sneakily changing into a Gritty shirt in the middle of a reading session. 🧡 |
| Dan: The official Mormolyke Press High Priestess Sarah put together this totally awesome glossy catalog featuring all of Melissa’s choral works. Colors: immaculate ✔. Choral works: categorized ✔. I couldn’t have made a better catalog myself (I’m not cool like that). Sarah: (Catalog cover credit goes to Dan!) I'll always take an excuse to play around in InDesign, but it was especially satisfying to see the first ever MP print catalog come off the press! Our session in Dallas—"Dream, Empower, Inspire"—featured just a few of Melissa's 70+ (!!!) choral works. Updates coming soon for Fall 2025, including many selections for your consideration for Semiquincentennial programming. Melissa: Last week I made a PDF viewer so you can flip through Sarah’s brilliant brochure—check it out at mormolyke.com/catalog (works on both a computer screen AND your cellphone OMG RESPONSIVE DESIGN SO PROUD*) ↓↓↓ |
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| *NB might not work perfectly on iPhones, but I have a blood grudge against Apple so this is not my problem lol Thanks to Matt’s much fancier coding abilities, there’s also the Discover page on my website, which will help you pick the right piece for your needs via the magic of mySQL (best career advice: marry someone who enjoys creating database-driven applications). Dan: Run, DON’T WALK, and I mean like absolutely book it to the summer ACDA conferences for New Jersey and Pennsylvania in August, and you’ll be able to pick up your very own Fall 2025 Choral Catalog. Melissa: Indeed, this spring edition is already out of date because of all the… |
| | | Melissa: A few weeks ago, Sarah calculated how much music I composed/arranged last year, and the final tally came to two hundred and twenty-seven (227) minutes. On one hand: wowowow no wonder my brain is a shriveled raisin. On the other hand: did you know that Rossini averaged an opera every six months for 20 years? (Musicologists like to argue about why he withdrew from writing music after this period, hahaha ayfkm???? My #bookedandblessed bro was SICK OF WRITING MUSIC. Composing is eXhAuSTiNg and he did it literally under duress to the point where his body and mind were wrecked. I’ve been working at half his frenetic pace for a fraction of the time, and I GET IT, GIO-GIO, I GET IT.) In any case, this is why my commissions are currently closed until 2027—but if you’d like to commission me for delivery in 2027 or beyond, reach out asap to the team by e-mailing office@mormolyke.com. Massive shout-out to Dan and Sarah for their assistance while I climbed commission mountain—On the Horizon alone involved over 500 pages of proofreading between score and parts! I have been terrible at telling everyone about all this new music because I’ve been so busy writing it, so here at long last is an overwhelming pile of new score releases that I have as yet failed to mention in a newsletter: |
| SATB choir, youth choir, brass quintet, piano, percussion, 45 min (also available with piano only) |
| | The big one!! A couple of years ago, the artistic director of Philadelphia’s Mendelssohn Chorus, Dominick DiOrio, asked me to pitch a dream project, and this is the result: a nine-movement work for the Mendelssohn Chorus and Commonwealth Youth Choir, with texts inspired by a series of interview sessions with the young CY singers on the topic of climate change. The movements are excerptible and span a wide stylistic range, from Dies-Irae-esque to a catchy-but-menacing number about anger. I love the Mendelssohn Chorus, and working with the CY kids especially was THE BEST; during the process, I was brought to astonished and hopeful tears many times. Video from the premiere is coming soon, but you can catch some snippets I posted online here and here. |
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| SATB choir and piano, 5 min |
| | Commissioned by Quincy Choral Society and artistic director Sarah Labrie, this song was another opportunity to honor one of my favorite American historical figures, Abigail Adams, with text taken from letters to her sister Mary Smith Cranch and her son, John Quincy Adams. “We were made for action. I am quite out of conceit with calms...” |
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| | | This song, with a text adapted from Proverbs, was commissioned by the National Lutheran Choir in a concert on the topic of gun violence; the choir was joined by Cantus (<3), and conducted by the always spectacular Dr. Jennaya Robison. |
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| Mezzo-soprano and piano, 16 min |
| | Three songs featuring texts from female politicians (AOC, Julia Gillard, and Kim Leadbeater) on the theme of sexism and misogyny, commissioned by the fabulous Dr. Michelle Murphy DeBruyn. I wept several times while composing this work; the words of these three remarkable women cut close to the bone. |
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| SATB choir, horn, string quartet and opt. piano, 14.5 min (also available with piano only) |
| | It was a thrill to compose this three-movement cycle for the Master Chorale of Flagstaff and attend the “universe premiere” back in October. The wonder of astronomy is a theme I have returned to several times, but this project was made even more extraordinary by discoveries I made during the writing process. For example, did you know that Flagstaff’s Lowell Observatory was founded by the brother of Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Amy Lowell?? The texts for this work come from both siblings, as well as a poem in the preface to Robert Burnham, Jr.'s Celestial Handbook, written while he was an employee of the observatory. |
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| | | Two songs written for the choir of Drexel University on the topic of urban gentrification, in the wake of student protests in 2023. I also want to mention that the cover image was drawn by the multi-talented Dan! |
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| SSA choir and piano, 4 min |
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| | The lovely choral folks at Yale approached me to write this song for their NextWorks initiative, which commissions works specifically for the public domain so that choirs of all levels and budgets can get their hands on new music, free of charge. Text is by one of my favorite people, Mark Boyle, a poet and choral conductor who makes every ACDA event the most fun. |
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| Solo voice and piano, 13.5 min | 10.5 min |
| | Several singers have reached out to me over the years requesting standalone arias from my larger works that can be used for recitals and auditions, and I’m happy to them out! Here are collections of songs from my recent opera and the cantata that put me on the map, arranged for voice and piano. |
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| | | | I finished my residency with the Saint Louis Chamber Chorus some years ago, but to my delight, they keep inviting me back! Artistic director (and classics scholar) Philip Barnes reached out last year to request I set his new translation of an ode from Antigone; although the title implies an uplifting work, there’s a typically Sophoclean sting in the tail: “We reckon little all those seers who told us once and ever more, how choices bad yet good appear whene’er we set our wits aside, not knowing a calamity.” Oof, words from two millennia ago never felt so timely. |
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| SATB double choir, 6 min | 5 min |
| | Many moons ago, before I was a proper composer, I cut my engraving teeth transcribing Nine Inch Nails songs for The NIN Hotline. After 20 years, I’m bringing my Legit Composer™ skills home to arrange some of my favorite NIN tracks for choir, and here are the first two, written for and premiered by (again!) the Saint Louis Chamber Chorus. |
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| | Mezzo-soprano and piano, 2 min |
| | The fourth song of this cycle is traditionally an unaccompanied trio for three singers, but when SUPERSTAR MEZZO JAMIE BARTON (!!!) asked for a solo arrangement for a concert at Wigmore Hall (!!!!!), I was inclined to say yes and also SQUEEEEEEEEEE! |
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| Canticum Novum arrangements: with piano quintet or pianoSATB choir, and piano quintet, 6.5 min |
| | A couple of newsletters ago, I plugged the choir + orchestra iteration of this work, but since then I’ve released two new arrangements for smaller forces. The piano-quintet arrangement was premiered by Chorus Austin in April, and I was lucky enough to be able to see that live in performance (if you recall, I had to miss the premiere of the orchestral version for ACDA, nice problem to have). |
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| | New Commercial Recordings |
| | Melissa: Have I mentioned lately how much I love and appreciate the Saint Louis Chamber Chorus? I ought to put them and Philip Barnes on payroll; they have been a dream to work with since the first time they sang my music ten (!) years ago. In addition to last year’s commission, Ode to Hope, they released a new album, Saint Louis Reflections, which includes a song I wrote for them a couple of years ago: We Are the Music Makers. And recently they recorded the two NIN arrangements mentioned above—stay tuned for that release! |
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| | | I’m honored that Harmonium Choral Society in New Jersey, led by the inimitable Anne Matlack, frequently programs my music, and you can hear my spooky love song to Yeats’ girlfriend’s cat, The Cat and the Moon, on their new live album Moondance. |
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| | Coming up next month, my adored and adorable friends Cantus will have a fifth album on Signum Classics, Fields of Wonder, and among the tracks is the three-movement work they commissioned from me, N-400 Erasure Songs. Pre-save it on Spotify so you can listen the moment it drops. |
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| | | | The William & Mary Botetourt Chamber Singers released an album to commemorate their 50th anniversary, and I’m honored that Halcyon Days was included. You can listen on Apple Music, Spotify or YouTube. I had a blast visiting W&M and their awesome conductor Dr. Jamie C. Bartlett in Williamsburg last year, and I hope there are many more opportunities for collaborations! |
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| | | Melissa: Whaaaaat, yes, I have been featured in two new publications!! |
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| | Above: Choral Repertoire by Women Composers, edited by Hilary Apfelstadt and Alan Troy Davis is out now—my entry on page 210 was written by Mariana Farah and Liz Olson, and I am still pinching myself to find my name in print among so many beloved luminaries! And to the left: The Savvy Musician 2.0: Amplifying Impact, Income, and Inspiration by David Cutler will be released on July 7. David interviewed me about my career, business, and publishing choices as a freelance composer. If you’re curious how I managed to become successful enough to hire three incredible assistants, this is the book to buy. |
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| Dan: Some extremely exciting news: the Dunphys are gonna be building a museum on the first floor of their building! For those unfamiliar with “Boghouse lore,” what have you been doing with your life!? Listen to the podcast! Ceramics, bones, and glass. So much broken glass. Countless quantities of dirty sherds just waiting to be forgotten at the bottom of Rubbermaid tubs and kitty litter buckets… PSYCHE! We’ll be going through everything. Over the next few months, the trusty staff of Mormolyke Press will also be on archaeology duty, sorting, categorizing, and cleaning ALL of the ceramics slated to be displayed in the museum. Matt and Melissa are in the process of emptying their bank accounts to pay architects, engineers, and contractors, and are hoping to have the Necessary Museum open in time for the semiquincentennial … bisesquicentennial … sestercentennial … uh … the USA’s 250th birthday on July 4, 2026. Melissa: The museum is “Necessary” because (a) OMG the masses of artifacts in our home have become a fire hazard and we HAVE to get them out of our living space and into the public eye, and (b) “necessary” is an 18th-century term for a toilet—aha, see what we did there? Longtime followers of our archaeology adventures will know that our original plan was to turn the first floor back into a theater, but since we wanted everything to be above-board, code restrictions make that idea impossible to realize (it’s a long and boring saga, but the Cliff’s Notes version is that our capacity is limited by our lack of a rear egress). I mourned the death of the theater dream for a long time, until I realized that the rear of the building could serve as workspaces for Matt and me instead. Both of us now work from home, and during business hours, we are frequently in each other’s way (both physically and sonically), so I’m apoplectic with anticipation at the prospect of enclosed rooms (f*** open-plan design, srsly, doors are good) where the Mormolyke Press crew can get rowdy without disturbing poor Matt. And while I was contemplating the 20-foot-tall ceilings on the first floor, two words floated into my brain which instantly and completely cured me of my theater-grief: MEZZANINE.
LIBRARY. 
As you can see from the images above, Matt has been busy creating 3D mock-ups of the museum and offices in Sketchup, and fingers crossed, we’re planning to get started on construction in the fall. In the meantime, we’re still researching and presenting our finds; back in March we joined our dear friends at the Museum of the American Revolution for a special lecture, Trash Talk Archaeology Night, and we have more appearances coming up next year. |
| | Score Hardcopies available on Bandcamp |
| [Cue: poignant piano music] Dan: Friends, It is with a heavy heart that we announce the passing of our beloved filing cabinet. Crushed under the weight of Melissa’s ever-growing catalog of absolute bangers, it has finally succumbed — plummeting to the floor and destroying everything in its path. Truly a sight that would make OSHA weep. 
We tried to warn you. We asked for help. You didn’t listen.
And now… it's too late. (Just kidding. Filing cabinets don’t die. But this one is very much NOT okay.) You can still make things right.
Support Melissa’s composing frenzy and help us prevent a second tragic loss (the printer is looking nervous) by grabbing scores and other glorious goods on our Bandcamp page. The more hardcopies you buy, the more relief you can provide. Will you be an angel for helpless office furniture? They’re crying out for help. [Singing: You are pulled from the wreckage of your silent reverie. You’re in the arms of the angel. May you find some comfort here…] Do it for the music.
Do it for the merch.
Do it for the memory of the filing cabinet. Visit Bandcamp and purchase a hardcopy score in the next thirty minutes, and you’ll receive a photo of a damaged file folder suffering neglect and abuse right now—one who’s been given a second chance, thanks to you.🕯️ |
| | | That’s all from us for now. If you made it to the end—wow! Thank you for putting up with this epic missive. We’ll see you next time with more updates, premieres, and probably more sheet music than we know what to do with. —with love from Melissa and the Mormolyke Press team (and Nairobi, who loves her catfish plushie). |
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