Demon by Matthew Brown June 2, 2019 by Inversion Ensemble published on 2019-12-10T16:39:40Z Demon by Matthew Brown performed June 2, 2019 Inversion Ensemble Trevor F. Shaw, artistic director DEMON by Matthew Brown performed June 2, 2019 Inversion Ensemble Trevor F. Shaw, artistic director Text: Marcus 5:9 Legio nomen mihi [Our name is Legion] Est multi sumus [For we are many] DEMON was written and premiered on Saturday, October 15, 2015, presented to an audience of film and video game composers as a demonstration of novel vocal techniques. My challenge to myself was to write a piece with zero specific pitches or texts; previously, I had experimented with such techniques only within the context of more “traditional” choral pieces, such as Pacem. As the piece began to take shape, I realized that the addition of an appropriately spine-tingling text would complement the sound world which was emerging. The Latin included in the piece is taken from a biblical story of demon possession. Asked for a name, the response is: “Our name is Legion, for we are many.” Although this piece may be performed with smaller choirs—perhaps even as few as eight or twelve—I imagine it becoming increasingly effective (and impactful) with greater numbers, given the techniques employed. (A Roman legion consisted of about five thousand men at the time of the story, for what it’s worth!) Genre Classical Comment by Bonnie Bogovich one of my favorite pieces of vocal 'music' I've been part of this decade:) 2021-11-16T08:39:42Z