Employing a musical language, which draws from musical cultures and soundscapes that have shaped the composer, Dina has written music for piano solo, piano duo, chamber music, vocal, choral, film and theater.
Collaboration with Mimesis Ensemble
The Mimesis Ensemble is a New York City based group that performs music from the 20th and 21st centuries, founded in 2008 by pianist Katie Reimer. The collaboration with Shilleh as a composer began with their USA premiere of her work “As I tell it..” (2015) at the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall. This work has been recorded by the Ensemble and is to be released on their upcoming album in 2020. The ensemble has also commissioned Shilleh’s work Another Day Will Come (2020), which sets the poetry of Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish for soprano, alto saxophone and piano, and was also performed at Carnegie Hall.
Hunger
Hunger (2018) is a musical theatre piece co-composed with Maya Khaldi, setting the text of Dalia Taha. Dina has arranged the music for soprano, tenor, women’s choir, violin, buzoq, contrabass, piano, and percussion, in varying vocal and instrumental combinations. The piece deals with women and men, and the shape of possibility in a city that is not their own. A city we are all familiar with, which is nevertheless strange and monstrous. A city in which we do not know! Is it occupied? Why is it building itself? What encounters are possible in such a place? What roads remain open to love and the making of new worlds?
Sudfa
Sudfa is an album of compositions by Dina Shilleh. A result of both chance and research, this album provides a small portion of the infinite combinations that could arise from the pool of natural finite sound, employing a musical language, which draws from musical cultures and soundscapes that have shaped the composer. The album includes music for piano solo, piano duo, and a chamber piece for voice, clarinet, viola and piano. Joining Shilleh as performers in this production are: Hannah Gallagher (piano), Maya Khaldi (voice), Kevin Schafter (clarinet) and Omar Saad (viola). The album has been released in Ireland and Palestine, and is available on iTunes.
Sounds in the Neighborhood
Sounds in the Neighborhood (2017) is a staged piece for children’s choir, string quartet and percussion, composed by Dina Shilleh and is set to the lyrics of Maya Abuilhayyat. The written word and the music were comissioned by the Amwaj Choir School to tell the story of a singing child in Palestine. This work borrows melodic, rhythmic, motivic, and improvisational material from the Palestinian folkloric music tradition. This music is sung by women and men at different social occasions and comes from the diverse Palestinian communities including the Bedouin and African communities. The borrowed material does not appear as it would in its original setting since it is realized for a polyphonic choir, a string quartet and within a harmonic context. The work was premiered at the Convention Palace in Bethlehem and at the prestigious Arab World Institute in Paris (2018).
Three Miniatures on Patriarchy
Three Miniatures on Patriarchy (2017) for string quintet is a work that was commissioned by and written for the Palestine tour of Folkwang International Ensemble in 2017. It has since been performed by the New World Symphony in one of their chamber music concerts and for the 25th Anniversary Celebration of the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music. Arrangements of this music are also present in Shilleh’s Hunger (2019). The first movement, Trapped in Memory, has a single driving ostinato that runs through the opening lament and into the fast section creating the feeling of entrapment. The second movement, Why do you do this to us? , is a cyclical progression through Lydian modes repeating this same question over and over until the final canonic reiteration. The final movement, We are angry! , fluctuates between sections of nervous changing tempos, pesante angry theme, and a sorrowful choral.
Shilleh-Gallagher Duo
The duo is comprised of Dina Shilleh and Irish pianist Hannah Gallagher. Their collaboration began at the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music in Palestine, where they were both teaching. They have performed together in festivals and concerts across Palestine and Ireland, in prestigious venues such as the Dublin City Hall. The duo is featured on Shilleh’s album of original compositions, Sudfa. Both pianists enjoy sharing the instrument, premiering Shilleh’s music and exploring contemporary repertoire.
Overtones and Prepared Space
Overtones was a project curated by Lara Khaldi in October 2019 as part of the Goethe institute Radionists larger project. The project consisted of an exhibition, symposium, listening tours and workshop program. I was commissioned to create a site specific work titled “A Prepared Space”. As one prepares a piano by adding objects to its insides, I added installations to the walls, ceiling, floor and window of the space to make possible a variety of sounds needed in performing the space against a composed soundscape of recorded sounds collected at the sight. Three performers executed the score, which consists of musical fragments whose order of occurrences during the performance are left to chance. Due to the indeterminacy of the order of things, the undefined roles of each part and the naturally occurring accidental sounds from the inside and out, the musicians listen to, react in the moment, and fight to be heard. The work explores the question of how different sonic fields and voices relate to power and hegemony.
Letters to Palestine
Letters to Palestine is an album of piano solo music by Palestinian composers produced by Samer Jaradat Productions. Dina Shilleh was the artistic director of this production, and is also featured on the album as a composer and pianist. This project brought together 12 composers and pianists residing in multiple countries, with different backgrounds and experience levels. Discovering each other through email correspondences and the music shared, resulted in a production that documents both the variety in the style of composition for piano by Palestinians, and the crossovers, connections and similarities between them.