November 2021-October 2022
“Rencontres poétiques” Collaborative Concert Series
Organizations: Christina Goh: Composer, Poet, and Performer; The Museum of Science, Boston; Muse & Ruse Production; Sabine Soury Poussard; the City of Tours; the Bibliothèque centrale de Tours; The Saché Castle; le Département de Touraine; the National Union for Suicide Prevention France; Le Centre des Monuments Nationaux (National Monuments Center of France); and l’Office National des Forêts de France.
Details: “Rencontres poétiques” was a poetry-focused international concert series created by composers Mary Bichner [USA] and Christina Goh [France]. The series featured musical settings composed by Bichner and Goh for classic poems in both French and English; inspired by the works of Yves Bonnefoy, Phillis Wheatley, Honoré de Balzac, Edgar Allan Poe, Marceline Desbordes-Valmore, Emily Dickinson, and more. The first edition of the concert took place in Boston, MA, USA on April 13th 2022 at the Museum of Science Boston’s Mugar Omni Theatre. The event featured a world premiere from each composer, as well as gorgeous visuals custom-made by the Museum’s award-winning artistic teams accompanying each song via the theatre’s five-story screen. The second edition of the concert took place in Tours, France on October 20th 2022 at Le Centre Musical Jean de Ockeghem, a beautiful 12th century abbey turned performance venue, complete with a multi-sensory pre-show experience that included color-changing lights, images, and immersive sound.
June 2021-October 2021
Collaboration as part of Christina Goh’s “Ut Fortis”
Organizations: Christina Goh: Composer, Poet, and Performer (https://conceptmusic.christinagoh.com); in partnership with Réseau VIES 37, the Institut de Touraine (https://institutdetouraine.com), and the Université de Tours (https://www.univ-tours.fr)
Venue: Université de Tours (60 Rue du Plat d’Étain, 37000 Tours, France)
Details: Mary was honored to have been invited by composer, poet, and performer Christina Goh to participate in Goh’s “Ut Fortis”; a multi-media, multi-artist event centered on the important topic of suicide prevention. The concert took place on June 11th 2021 at the Université de Tours in Tours, France; and featured performances by Christina Goh, Catherine Capozzi, Gotham Aymar, G.K Noland, Les Passeurs de Legendes, Maxime Perrin, Noah Preminger, Jacques Moury Beauchamp, and Mary Bichner. One month later, the concert was broadcast by TV Tours Val de Loire on Sunday July 11th 2021, and again Sunday September 11th 2021. To close the project, Ms. Goh released the EP “Double Trinome” on October 4th 2021 (Mary appears as a guest singer on the track “Ut Fortis”).
June 2021
Masterclass Series Presentation at the Institut de Touraine
Organizations: The Institut de Touraine (https://institutdetouraine.com), and Christina Goh: Composer, Poet, and Performer (https://conceptmusic.christinagoh.com)
Venue: Institute of Touraine (1 Rue de la Grandière, 37020 Tours, France)
Details: Mary was honored to have been invited to speak as part of the Institut de Touraine’s Masterclass series on June 9th 2021 in Tours, France. The class consisted of a presentation on Mary’s compositional process as well as her use of synesthesia in her work, and a Q&A session for audience questions.
May 2020-June 2020
“Synesthesia Suite: Live” Concert Series: The Virtual Experience (4th edition)
Organizations: The Museum of Science, Boston (https://www.mos.org/), The Lowell Institute (http://www.lowellinstitute.org)
Details: Developed for the #MOSatHome Initiative, this virtual version of Mary’s “Synesthesia Suite: Live” concert series collaboration with the Museum of Science Boston premiered on June 18th 2020, in partnership with The Lowell Institute. It now exists as a permanent online concert which can be viewed from anywhere in the world via this link. The concert features five of Mary’s compositions (performed previously by Mary as well as her friends from Planetary Quartet and East Coast Scoring Orchestra) paired with stunning music videos created by the Museum’s award-winning planetarium team. Much like previous live collaborations with the Museum, the imagery in each video is directly inspired by Mary’s synesthesia, allowing the viewer to “hear” colors and “see” sound just as Mary does when she listens to music. (More information, including photos and videos from previous live versions of this event, can be found HERE.)
March 2020-December 2021
Commission: Composer for John J. King’s “The Mementi Mori of Edward Gorey”
Organization: John J. King, Playwright (http://www.j-rexplays.com)
Venue: TBA
Details: “The Mementi Mori of Edward Gorey” is a shuffle play by John J. King inspired by the life and work of Edward St. John Gorey (1925-2000), with original music composed by Mary Bichner. The play consists of thirteen vignettes, each of a different genre that Gorey loved: from opera and ballet to hand puppets and silent film. For each performance, several sketches are selected and ordered by an audience volunteer – Tarot card reading style – resulting in a new performance each night. Throughout the play, Edward Gorey appears as various incarnations, each an anagram of Gorey’s name. By casting nine actors as different versions of the artist, “Mementi Mori” explores the spectrum and fluidity of identity, artistry, and personhood, through a life. Premiere TBA.
August 2019-February 2020
“Synesthesia Suite: Live” Concert Series at the Charles Hayden Planetarium (3rd edition)
Organization: The Museum of Science, Boston (https://www.mos.org/)
Venue: Charles Hayden Planetarium (1 Science Park, Boston, MA 02114)
Details: Presented in partnership with The Museum of Science Boston, Mary Bichner’s sold-out “Synesthesia Suite: Live” concert series returned to the Charles Hayden Planetarium on February 27th 2020. This immersive musical event featured live performances of Mary’s compositions paired with stunning visuals created by the Museum’s award-winning planetarium team that were directly inspired by Mary’s polymodal synesthesia, allowing audience members to “hear” color and “see” sound just as Mary does when she listens to music. (More information, including photos and videos from previous versions of this event, can be found HERE.)
January 2019-May 2019
Commission: “Senses of Summer” for Aeronaut and WGBH’s Pindrop Sessions Concert Series
Organizations: Pindrop Sessions @ Aeronaut Brewing Company (http://www.aeronautbrewing.com/pindrop/), in partnership with WGBH (http://www.wgbh.org), and 99.5 WCRB/Classical Radio Boston (http://classicalwcrb.org)
Details: Three-movement, synesthesia-inspired musical setting of excerpts from James Agee’s “Knoxville: Summer of 1915” for soprano and woodwind quintet. Commissioned by Aeronaut Brewing Company for the Pindrop Sessions, a classical music concert series presented in partnership with WGBH and 99.5 WCRB/Classical Radio Boston. Premiered live by Phoenix and soprano Margot Rood during the Pindrop Sessions’ season 2 finale concert at Aeronaut Brewing Company on May 5th 2019.
October 2018-April 2019
“Synesthesia Suite: Live” Concert Series at the Charles Hayden Planetarium (2nd edition)
Organizations: The Museum of Science, Boston (https://www.mos.org/); The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (http://www.mit.edu); and Arizona State University (http://www.asu.edu)
Venue: Charles Hayden Planetarium (1 Science Park, Boston, MA 02114)
Details: Presented in partnership with The Museum of Science Boston, The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Arizona State University; Mary Bichner’s “Synesthesia Suite: Live” concert series returned to the Charles Hayden Planetarium on April 4th 2019. This immersive musical event featured live performances of Mary’s compositions paired with stunning visuals directly inspired by her polymodal synesthesia, which allowed audience members to “hear” color and “see” sound just as Mary does when she listens to music. For the 2019 edition of the series, the visuals were presented in two exciting and innovative forms: a collection of dazzling 360-degree videos created by the Museum’s award-winning artistic team for the Planetarium’s fulldome, as well as an entirely new synesthesia-displaying LED-based technology (including interactive LED synesthesia costumes for the performers) created by the renowned scientists of MIT Media Lab and ASU’s SciHub especially for “Synesthesia Suite: Live”. (Photos and videos from this event can be found HERE.)
September 2018-December 2018
Composer-in-Residence at The Helene Wurlitzer Foundation of New Mexico
Organization: The Helene Wurlitzer Foundation of New Mexico (http://wurlitzerfoundation.org/)
Details: Mary is honored to have been granted a three-month artist residency The Helene Wurlitzer Foundation of New Mexico for September through December of 2018. While in residence, she continued work on “The Memoirs of Antonina”, a new three-act opera inspired by the final years of Marie Antoinette’s life.
September 2018
Preview Concert for “The Memoirs of Antonina”
Organization: The Nora Theatre Company [AEA] (http://www.centralsquaretheater.org)
Venue: Central Square Theater (450 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge MA 02139)
Details: Preview concert for Mary’s forthcoming opera “The Memoirs of Antonina”, which featured the world premiere of three recitatives and five arias. The sold-out concert took place on September 2nd 2018 at the Central Square Theater of Cambridge, MA, USA; and starred Helen Zhibing Huang as Marie Antoinette, Emily Thorner as Antonina, Neal Ferreira as Louis XVI, and Junhan Choi as Jacques Hébert, with music direction by conductor and operatic vocal coach Tim Ribchester.
July 2018
Performance of “King’s Chapel” for Vento Chiaro’s “The Boston Project” at Boston University Tanglewood Institute
Organization: Vento Chiaro (http://ventochiaro.org/)
Venue: Trinity Episcopal Church (88 Walker St., Lenox, MA 01240)
Details: Boston wind quintet Vento Chiaro performed “King’s Chapel”, a work they commissioned Mary to compose for the ensemble’s “Boston Project” 20th anniversary series, during their Boston University Tanglewood Institute Faculty recital at Trinity Episcopal Church of Lenox, MA, USA on July 11th 2018.
May-June 2018
Commission: Theme Music for “Agents of the Realm” Graphic Novel and Webcomic
Organization: Mildred Louis / Astrea’s Nexus (https://www.astreasbazaar.com/)
Details: Illustrator, author, and Astrea’s Nexus founder Mildred Louis commissioned the short instrumental work “Not Doing This Alone” for her graphic novel and webcomic series, Agents of the Realm. The work first premiered as part of the “Agents of the Realm Volume II” Kickstarter Campaign, launched in July 2018.
December 2017-May 2018
Commission: “Boston Common” and “King’s Chapel” for Vento Chiaro’s “The Boston Project”
Organization: Vento Chiaro (http://ventochiaro.org/)
Details: To celebrate their 20th anniversary season, renowned Boston wind quintet Vento Chiaro commissioned Mary to compose a pair of works for the ensemble’s newest series, “The Boston Project”. Mary created two new compositions — one inspired by Boston Common, and one by King’s Chapel — using her sound-to-color synesthesia, which were premiered by Vento Chiaro during the inaugural “Boston Project” concert at Forest Hills Cemetery of Boston, MA, USA on May 6th 2018.
December 2017
Recipient of a 2017 Iguana Music Fund Grant
Organization: The Iguana Music Fund ( http://passim.org/iguana ) & Club Passim ( http://www.passim.org )
November 2017
“Synesthesia Suite: Live” Concert Series at the Charles Hayden Planetarium (1st edition)
Performance and Premiere of “Synesthesia Suite: Constellations”
Organization: The Museum of Science, Boston (http://mos.org/)
Venue: Charles Hayden Planetarium (1 Science Park, Boston, MA 02114)
Details: The inaugural edition of “Synesthesia Suite: Live”, presented in partnership with the Museum of Science Boston, took place during two sold-out concerts at the Charles Hayden Planetarium in Boston, MA, USA on November 30th 2017. This immersive musical event featured live performances of Mary’s compositions paired with stunning visuals created by the Museum’s award-winning planetarium team that were directly inspired by Mary’s polymodal synesthesia, allowing audience members to “hear” color and “see” sound just as Mary does when she listens to music. This first edition of the series also featured the premiere of Mary’s “Synesthesia Suite: Constellations”, a new collection of chamber works inspired by the New England night sky in spring. (More information on this project, including photos and videos from this event, can be found HERE).
April 2017-May 2019 ( first draft; second draft currently in progress in 2022 ) [ ONGOING ]
Opera: The Memoirs of Antonina
Organization: TBA
Details: “The Memoirs of Antonina” is a new/in-progress three-act opera inspired by Marie Antoinette of France. Taking its name from a slanderous 18th-century tract about the queen’s rumored exploits and indiscretions, “The Memoirs of Antonina” focuses on the final years of Marie Antoinette’s life, and pits two versions of the queen (performed by two different singers) against one another: the imagined breezy libertine derided by revolutionary pamphleteers, and the distraught historical figure determined to reclaim her kingdom and her reputation. Three recitatives and five arias from the opera received their piano/vocal premiere at the Central Square Theater of Cambridge, MA, USA on September 2nd 2018 as part of The Nora Theatre Company’s emerging artists workshop series. A first musical draft of the opera was completed in June 2019, with a second musical draft currently in progress in 2022. (More information on the opera can be found on the “Memoirs of Antonina” mini-site: https://www.marybichner.com/memoirsofantonina )
May 2016-November 2017
Composer-in-Residence at Mount Auburn Cemetery
Commission: Synesthetic Suite inspired by Mount Auburn Cemetery
Organization: Mount Auburn Cemetery (http://www.mountauburn.org)
Details: Mary was honored to take part in a two-year composer residency at Mount Auburn Cemetery. In the first year of her residency, Mary composed twelve new works inspired by the cemetery’s breathtaking landscape and landmarks, using her sound-to-color synesthesia to select the musical components that best “match” the natural color palette of each location at different times of year. In January of 2017, the works were recorded by a 19-piece chamber orchestra at WGBH Studios of Boston MA, and were released online as a digital album on June 3rd 2017. The works were premiered at Mount Auburn Cemetery in concert on June 3rd 2017 (Spring Suite) and November 4th 2017 (Autumn Suite). The audio recordings are now permanently featured in Mount Auburn Cemetery’s free mobile app, allowing visitors to the cemetery to experience the music in the setting that inspired it. (View a brief documentary of this project HERE.)
May 2016
Composer-in-Residence at Marble House Project
Organization: Marble House Project (http://www.marblehouseproject.org)
Details: While at Marble House from May 2nd through May 25th 2016; Mary began composing for two projects: a new one-act ballet arranged for full orchestra, and a new series of vocal and instrumental works inspired by the night sky’s constellations. The second project, entitled “Synesthesia Suite: Constellations”, premiered at the Museum of Science’s Charles Hayden Planetarium of Boston, MA, USA on November 30th 2017.
November 2014-February 2015
Composer & Music Director for the Wheelock Family Theatre Production of “Pinocchio”
Organization: Wheelock Family Theatre [AEA] (http://www.wheelockfamilytheatre.org)
Venue: Wheelock Family Theatre (180 Riverway, Boston MA 02215)
Performance Dates: January 30th-February 22nd 2015
May 2014-July 2014
Arranger & Music Director for the Nora Theatre Production of “Her Aching Heart”
Organization: The Nora Theatre Company [AEA] (http://www.centralsquaretheater.org)
Venue: Central Square Theater (450 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge MA 02139)
Performance Dates: July 10th-August 10th 2014
March 2014
Recipient of the 2014 San Diego Film Award for Best Musical Score – Short Film
Film: Just Desserts [David G. Stone, Director] (http://www.justdessertsthemovie.com)
Organization: Film Consortium San Diego (http://www.filmconsortiumsd.com)
March 2014
Named Somerville Arts Council Artist of the Month for March 2014
Organization: Somerville Arts Council (http://www.somervilleartscouncil.org)
Interview: March 2014 Artist of the Month – Mary Bichner
January 2014
Recipient of a 2014 Somerville Arts Council Artist Fellowship Grant for Music
Organization: Somerville Arts Council (http://www.somervilleartscouncil.org)
November 2013
Composer Concert at Mount Auburn Cemetery on 11/09/13
Organization: Friends of Mount Auburn (http://www.mountauburn.org)
Venue: Mount Auburn Cemetery (580 Mount Auburn Street, Cambridge MA)
Ensemble: Mary Bichner (piano/vocals), Triple Strung Trio (Yu-Wen Chen – violin, Christopher McClain – viola, Nick Dinnerstein – cello) and Anna Stromer (viola).
July 2013
Composer Concert at the Boston Outside the Box Festival on 07/20/13
Organization: 2013 Outside the Box Festival
Venue: The Spiegeltent @ the Outside the Box Festival (Boston Common, Boston MA)
Ensemble: Mary Bichner (piano/vocals), Triple Strung Trio (Yu-Wen Chen – violin, Christopher McClain – viola, Nick Dinnerstein – cello) and Christopher Baum (violin).
May 2013
Commission: “Untitled” [Fm] (Collaboration with poet Sam Cha)
Details: Piano solo with narration. Collaboration with poet Sam Cha. Commissioned by poet Jade Sylvan for “Poetry and Performance Art: a Cross-Genre Collaboration”. Premiered at the Massachusetts Poetry Festival in Salem, MA, USA on May 4th 2013. (http://www.masspoetry.org)
February 2013
Commission: “Lux aeterna” [Em]
Details: Aria for soprano soloist, alto soloist, SATB chorus, and harpsichord. Traditional text. Commissioned by theatre troupe Liars and Believers for “Lunar Labyrinth”, an interactive theatre experience based on an unpublished short story by Neil Gaiman. Premiered at Club Oberon in Cambridge, MA, USA on February 13th 2013. (http://www.liarsandbelievers.com/)
January 2013
Composer Concert at Gallery 263 on 01/13/13
Venue: Gallery 263 (263 Pearl Street, Cambridge MA 02139)
Ensemble: Mary Bichner (piano/vocals), Triple Strung Trio (Yu-Wen Chen – violin, Christopher McClain – viola, Nick Dinnerstein – cello) and Amanda Wang (viola).
October 2012
Commissions: “The City in the Sea” [Am], “Valentines I and II” [F]
Details: Edgar Allan Poe-themed suite commissioned by literary historian Rob Velella. Premiered at Mount Auburn Cemetery’s Story Chapel during “A Visit With Edgar Allan Poe” on October 27th 2012.
May 2011
Commissions: String Accompaniment Arrangements for 30 Seconds to Mars on MTV Unplugged [various keys]
Organization: Vitamin String Quartet (http://www.vitaminstringquartet.com)
Details: String quartet accompaniment arrangements for four songs composed by 30 Seconds to Mars for their appearance on MTV Unplugged.