Beyond the Shoe (2019) by S. A. Workman

Nursery-rhyme-inspired art song for tenor and piano. Second place in the San Francisco Conservatory of Music 8th Biennial Art Song Composition Competition.

Performed at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.
Tenor: Alexander John Perkins
Piano: Chesley Mok

Text by Roberto Rodriguez
Music by S. A. Workman

This piece originated from a collaboration workshop at SFCM that brought together writers and composers and set a challenge: create a new art song based on a character from a nursery rhyme. My partner Roberto Rodriguez chose to take the perspective of one of the children from The Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe -- this version:

There was an old woman who lived in a shoe.
She had so many children, she didn't know what to do.
So she gave them some broth without any bread,
Then beat them all soundly and send them to bed.
That was her mistake.