Sheila Silver is an important and vital voice in American music today. She has written in a wide range of media, from solo instrumental works to large orchestral works, from opera to feature film scores. Her musical language, powerful and emotionally charged, is a unique synthesis of the tonal and atonal worlds, coupled with a rhythmic complexity which is both masterful and compelling. Conceived as a symphony with piano solo, the Piano Concerto deals with the theme of struggle and transcendence, while the Six Preludes, ranging from the delicate to the ferocious, evoke images from Baudelaire and Provence.