Lawrence Dillon's "Schumann Trilogy" to be premiered at REDCAT in Los Angeles by the Idyllwild Symphony Orchestra

AMADEUS EX MACHINA for chamber orchestra (2001)

Amadeus ex machina is a whimsical re-imagining of Mozart's 40th symphony from the perspective of a sophisticated - but somewhat disoriented - machine. Themes are mixed and matched in odd combinations, key centers are skewed in unexpected directions, and the entire composition is condensed into a ten-minute soundbite.

The resulting work can be experienced in a number of ways - as a study of contemporary society's relationship with its cultural heritage, as a commentary on the interaction of art and technology, or simply as an affectionate spoof of one of the greatest compositions in the Classical canon. The title comes from the deus ex machina - literally, "god from a machine" - a theatrical device in ancient Greece whereby a god was lowered to the stage in a crane to resolve seemingly hopeless plot complications.

ANOTHER MAD SCENE (1993) for soprano and piano

APPENDAGE (1993)

A song cycle in six consecutive sections. For more information, visit http://www.lawrencedillon.com/appendage.php

ASCENDING SPIRAL (1993)

BACCHUS CHACONNE (1990) for two violins

BACCHUS CHACONNE (1990) for violin and viola

BIG BROTHERS (2004)

BLOWN AWAY

CHICANE

CHILD'S PLAY

CONCERTO FOR FLUTE AND CHAMBER ORCHESTRA

DEVOTION (1996) for flute, violin, viola, cello

In a world devoted to overstatement, Devotion is a single-movement work that hews closely to a very simple theme in an unassuming manner. Composed in Medieval clausula form (a type of variation in which the melody is intertwined with fragments of itself), the piece uses the flute to state its theme with three increasingly fervent variations.

The three string instruments, playing the intertwining fragments, are muted and bowing over the fingerboards throughout, hovering around the flute melody in a subdued testament to fidelity. The blend of compositional techniques in this piece, drawn from six centuries of musical evolution, conveys a sense of stylistic timelessness, resulting in a work that seemingly originates outside the course of music history.

DIRGES AND DANCES for piano trio (1998)

DREAMING SEASON, THE

The Dreaming Season is an arrangement and revision of an aria from the opera Buffa. For more information, visit http://www.lawrencedillon.com/dreaming.php

DUNIGAN VARIATIONS (1991) for four flutes

EMBARKATION

for flute, horn and piano

ENTRANCE

EXIT

FACADE

FACADE for violin and piano (1983)

FURIES AND MUSES

For more information, visit http://www.lawrencedillon.com/furies.php

MAJOR TRIPLES SURPRISE

ORPHEUS IN THE AFTERWORLD

Concerto for Flute and Chamber Orchestra

PIANO SONATA (NOVEMBER)

REVENANT - Concerto for Horn and Orchestra (2004)

REVERIE SCHERZO

SINGING SILVER

SIX SCENES AND A FANTASY

SNEGGLISH DANCES

SONATA - MOTION

SONATA: MOTION (2008) for violin and piano

SONNET: STOREBOUGHT ROSES

SPRING PASSING (1998)

SPRING PASSING for violin and marimba (1998)

STILL POINT

The days rush by in fleets like drifts of clouds.
We mean to note them, find their shapes or plot
their known locations, call their names out loud,
but they are here before we know they’re not.
A flock of starlings wheels and turns and dives
as one, the individual birds suppressed
by boundless number; seamlessly they fly
till darkness forces them, like us, to rest.
I’ve heard that when you die your brain reviews
your life, and pauses on the scenes that mean
the most. But what if days, like clouds, refuse
to stop? Like starlings, won’t alight, be seen?
I seek the one still point in all the roiling air.
I close my eyes, and you are there.

SHONA SIMPSON

STRING QUARTET NO. 1 - JESTS AND TENDERNESS (1998)

First piece in the Invisible Cities String Quartet Cycle

STRING QUARTET NO. 2: FLIGHT (2002)

Second in the Invisible Cities String Quartet Cycle.

STRING QUARTET NO. 3: AIR (2005)

Third in the Invisible Cities String Quartet Cycle. For more information, visit http://www.lawrencedillon.com/air.php

STRING QUARTET NO. 4 - THE INFINITE SPHERE (2009)

SYMPHONY NO. 1 (1998)

TWO TAPESTRIES for string quintet

TWO TAPESTRIES for string sextet

Two Views of Spring (see Spring Rising, Spring Passing)

WHAT HAPPENED