Carla Kihlstedt – composer/lyricist, voice, violin, e-string violin

PRESENT MUSIC:

Eric Segnitz – artistic director

David Bloom – conductor

Jennifer Clippert – flute, alto flute, piccolo

Zachary Good – clarinet, bass clarinet

Don Sipe – trumpet

Mark Hoelscher – trombone

John Orfe – piano

Carl Storniolo – percussion

Alexander Wier – percussion

Ben Russell – violin

Jeanyi Kim-Mandl – violin

Erin Pipal – viola

Adrien Zitoun – cello

Greg Heintz – double bass

Additional singers – David Bloom, Hannah Esch, Rick Kieffer, Donna Woodall

Additional musicians – Dave Bayles, Matthias Bossi, Jeff Hamman, Gabriel Kahane, Eric Segnitz

Music and lyrics by Carla Kihlstedt (except where noted)

AS I FINISHED WRITING THE LAST NOTES OF 26 Little Deaths, the country was reeling from yet another massacre at yet another elementary school, this time in Uvalde, Texas. And yesterday, as I wrote these notes for the album, there again, came the all-too-familiar headline about yet another school in another American town. The irony is not lost on me: In a country that normalizes violence, I–a mother of two children of my own–had written a piece inspired by a book in which twenty-six imagined children meet their doom. And we are to think it is cute. Funny, even. But despite outward signs to the contrary, this piece is not about death, nor is the iconic book on which it’s based – Edward Gorey’s The Gashlycrumb Tinies, or After the Outing. Neither is a mourning, but rather, a meditation. They dance between the banality of life and the inexhaustible oddness of the human imagination.

When Present Music commissioned 26 Little Deaths as a part of their 40th anniversary celebration, none of us could possibly know the scope of what we were getting into. It was like having twenty-six children of our own: They have caused us all excruciating headaches and indescribable joy; It has taken a village to manifest them; We love them all and are so proud of this gaggle of tinies.

26 Little Deaths owes its life to Eric Segnitz, John Tanner and the dedicated and tenacious team at Present Music. There are a few other people to whom I proffer my deep gratitude: Eric D. Sherman and The Edward Gorey Charitable Trust; my parents, Andrea and Tyko Kihlstedt, whose support is an anchor in my life; My dear friend and colleague Roger Zahab – always up for adventure, he stepped in as our emergency relief conductor for the premiere with just a day’s notice; Alexander Boyes for designing and building a cluster bar that allowed our piano to fall from the sky; Mer Yayanos for their editorial eye in both words and fashion; the arrangers and musicians whose imaginations and artistry brought the tinies to life both on this album and on stage; A most mischievous thank you to my own kids, Ash and Viggo, whose fingerprints are all over this work; and of course, to Edward Gorey for helping us make both sense and nonsense of the world around and within us. Happy 100th birthday, sir, and in your own words: “I trust that you are pleased to find / That I have got you on my mind.”

Long live the Gashlycrumb Tinies!

– Carla Kihlstedt