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Artist: Lisa Reagan
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Lisa Reagan:

Stopping By Woods On a Snowy Evening

In selecting material for her artful album What We Need Is Here, Lisa Reagan understood that “Robert Frost’s words have their own music, and I thought it would be fun to take it a step further. His poem, ‘Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening’ had a particular mood which determined his first commitment to the meter. I tried to tap into it when I was writing music for his poem.”

“Stopping By Woods” evokes the mystery and peace of a hushed and muffled journey in the snow. Lisa’s controlled expression of the lyrics perfectly mirrors the ambience of the piece.

Reagan, who graced the stage of the Washington National Opera for over two decades, displays her technical agility and delivers emotionally relevant performances of her poetic choices on What We Need Is Here.

While at the Washington National Opera, she had the honor of sharing the stage with icons Placido Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti, and Renee Fleming among others. She has performed at venues around the world, including the Salzburg Music Festival, Wolf Trap Opera, and White House special events.

Lisa continues to explore new territory on her recent albums. On What We Need Is Here, she composed music to 10 of her favorite poems, including works from Shakespeare, Yeats, Frost, Wordsworth, Keats, and Wendell Berry. Tony-Award winning, Grammy-nominated producer/orchestrator Jamshied Sharifi collaborated with Lisa on the project.

Lisa Reagan:

Coventry Carol

A very special release for the holidays from Lisa Reagan, is the newly produced video for “Coventry Carol,” from Lisa’s album Noel. This ephemeral video directed by Jordan Mizrahi, captures the tone of the Tudor period of the English Renaissance, which saw a flourishing of art, architecture, trade, exploration and commerce. Lisa explains, “’Coventry Carol’ dates back to the mid-1500s and was a part of the Coventry Pageant, an annual performance in Coventry, England. In this pageant, Joseph receives a visit from an angel who instructs him to take his child to Egypt to protect him from Herod's massacre of the innocents. In our video, we chose to use a ballerina to represent these innocent souls.

“Each Christmas season brings renewed hope once more: for peace on earth and goodwill toward all. This is my heartfelt prayer.” “Coventry Carol” is the second of three songs included in the nativity portion of the Pageant. It enjoyed its greatest popularity in the 1940s shortly after having been performed in the bombed-out World War II ruins of Coventry Cathedral.

Lisa’s operatic history with the Washington National Opera, provides her with the prowess to impart pathos to the words of the women of Bethlehem. While at the WNO, she had the honor of sharing the stage with icons Placido Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti and Renee Fleming among others, as well as performing at White House special events.

Lisa Reagan:

HE WISHES for the CLOTHES of HEAVEN

Lisa Reagan’s singular album WHAT WE NEED IS HERE, which marries her original music and vocals to the words of her favorite poets, opened a new area of expression in her musical arsenal. “He Wishes For The Cloths Of Heaven,” the second single and video to be released from the album, identifies and mirrors the honest and
vulnerable imagery of William Butler Yeats’ poem to his muse Maud Gonne.

“When I was choosing poems for this project, I knew I had to include Yeats. ‘He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven’ is a beautifully descriptive love poem and I thought it would make a great song. The first thing I do when composing is to speak the words in rhythm, to get a feel for the time signature and where the lyric naturally falls. My co-writer, Paul Buono, began with a cool, laid-back loop that had sort of a jazz feel to it. As I started speaking the words of the poem over the beat, the melody started to come together. Then producer Jamshied Sharifi took it to

another realm; his version of the song was at once celestial and dreamy, which I loved. With Jamshied’s gorgeous orchestration, the song grew into a sensual landscape for Yeat’s words,” revealed Lisa Reagan.

The classically trained soprano graced the stage of The Kennedy Center as part of the Washington National Opera Company for over two decades, and had the honor of performing with Placido Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti and Rene Fleming among others. Her inspiration to take on some of the most iconic words in the English language lay in her desire to venture into “worlds that seem to lie below the surface in my normal waking life, and accept the responsibility to honor them.”

Lisa Reagan:

What We Need Is Here

“The Wild Geese” is the first single off Lisa Reagan’s upcoming album, What We Need is Here. She chose the album title from a line in Wendell Berry’s poem, “The Wild Geese”.

And we pray, not
for new earth or heaven, but to be
quiet in heart, and in eye,
clear. What we need is here

When deciding what to do for her next album, Lisa had the idea to compose original music for her favorite classic poems. She reached out to Grammy-nominated producer, Jamshied Sharifi, to collaborate on the music and produce the album. They had worked together previously on Shunia. While writing the music for “The Wild Geese”, Lisa and Jamshied both wanted a Celtic feel. Jamshied knew the perfect musician to bring into the studio, Seamus Egan. Seamus is an award winning Irish Flute and Whistle player. He founded the band Solas and co-wrote "I Will Remember You" with Sarah McLachlan and Dave Merenda.

Lisa loves that “The Wild Geese” conveys the beauty and wisdom of nature. She feels it shows that the answer to our peace as humans is all around us. We just have to open our eyes and look at what is right in front of us.