New Music Works’ final concert of the season, 50 Years of LGBTQ+ Pride in Santa Cruz, is special for several reasons. First, it’s part of a much bigger month-long celebration (visit santacruzpride.org for details). Second, it showcases a new work commissioned by Tom Ellison—Here to there, then to now—with music composed by Michael McGushin. The piece for choral ensemble came about through an alliance between Ellison’s poetic text and McGushin’s original music.
Good Times: When did your involvement with New Music Works begin?
Tom Ellison: Back in the mid ’90s my husband Larry and I ran into a small orchestra ensemble busking in Santa Cruz. They were quirky and interesting. Turns out it was Phil Collins (not the rock star with the same name) with some of the members of New Music Works ensemble. Knowing my love for contemporary music, Larry encouraged me to connect with Phil. I did, and joined the board in 1995.
Why is this gay pride anniversary personally significant?
TE: When I arrived in Santa Cruz in 1973, I still had one foot inside and one foot outside of the closet. That didn’t last for very long in Santa Cruz. Attending my first Pride in Santa Cruz was a significant milestone in my journey to self-acceptance.
The inspiration for my commission comes from my love for our arts community in Santa Cruz and my rich connection to our dynamic queer community. Two years ago, with the upcoming 50th Anniversary Pride in Santa Cruz, my thought was, how can I bring these two loves of my life closer together? Commissioning a work in celebration of this 50th anniversary was my first thought, and Mickey was the reason I thought this was possible.
How did you approach composing for Tom’s commission?
Michael McGushin: I started by looking at some of Lou Harrison’s poetry, and talking with Ellen Bass about her work, but somehow nothing seemed right. At some point, Tom sent me in an email something he had put together, sort of thinking about the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Santa Cruz Pride. Not because he wanted me to choose it, but I looked at it and it just fit.
Describe your process from words to music.
MM: I actually have a very long preliminary process where all I do is just read. I read the words out loud, over and over, think about the rhythms in the text, what the text is saying, what things I’ll want to sort of highlight. And so there is a long process before I ever put any music on paper, which is me just living with the poem and thinking the poem. Of course, musical ideas are also percolating.
As I read I start hearing some notes, maybe melodies, but it feels more like sonic architecture, and so in that process of reading, for example, Tom’s text, it has—this is going to be overly simplified—but it’s about emotion from outside in a place that doesn’t feel like home, toward Santa Cruz being a place that feels like home. And so that set a sort of architecture for the piece that is about a journey.
And once that insight occurred?
MM: It began slowly and starts picking up the pace the closer we get to the arrival at the home, so that was the big architecture. I felt like there was this whole thing about moving further and further west and then finding the place where you were going to land.
In this case it was text first before the music emerged?
MM: It’s an age-old question, is it music first or or text first? I tend to be in the text first camp. And I hope that in my musical setting, I’m enriching or creating an environment where that text can be experienced.
How did you choose McGushin for this commission?
TE: I’ve known Mickey since the early ’90s and fortunately got to sing one of the compositions he wrote for the Cabrillo Symphonic Chorus back then. Even today this piece sits in my heart. I’ve known for decades, first hand—through New Music Works, Ensemble Monterey, Cabrillo Stage, the UCSC Chamber Singers, and Ariose Singers—that Mickey is an extraordinarily talented conductor, pianist and composer. So when I decided to move forward with this project, this was an easy choice. My big question when I approached him last year was, would he say yes?
A commission is an honor, but it comes with lots of pressure, doesn’t it?
MM: I’m a recovering perfectionist. So I feel the pressure in the pit of my stomach. [Laughter.] The piece will have a certain visibility. I want to make Tom happy. I want to create something that fits the occasion. Phil [Collins] has placed this piece at the end of the program. I want it to be worth sitting there. So yes, there is also that element of wanting to please the people involved and worrying that somehow I’ll fail.
How do you know when it’s finished?
MM: The piece tells me where it needs to go. People tell me I write good endings, and I think that’s often difficult for people, but I know it’s done when I’ve gone on the whole journey with the text and where the music is taking me, and I come up with a final gesture that feels like it wraps all that up in an effective and meaningful way.
Is this what you were destined to do?
MM: Yes. This is exactly where I wanted to be. My true calling. And it’s been a struggle for me to clear other things that I had to do to make a living. But now it’s all here.
New Music Works, 50 Years of LGBTQ+ Pride in Santa Cruz also includes pieces by Pauline Oliveros, Anthony R. Green, Henry Cowell, Lou Harrison, Sufjan Stevens and D. Riley Nicholson. The concert begins at 7pm on May 18 at Peace United Church, 900 High St. Santa Cruz, 831-345-9475. $20–$40. newmusicworks.org
