NOW AVAILABLE: Christopher Cerrone + Wild Up: The Pieces That Fall to Earth

Christopher Cerrone photo by Jacob Blickenstaff

Christopher Cerrone
photo by Jacob Blickenstaff

"...absolutely ravishing vocal harmonies, shot through with streaks of sonic light and shadow, often from instrumental sources that are hard to identify."
- John Schaefer, New Sounds

New Amsterdam Records is excited to release The Pieces That Fall to Earth, the long-awaited CD from Brooklyn-based composerChristopher Cerrone and Wild Up, LA’s leading new music ensemble. In addition to Bandcamp, the record is now available on all digital platforms including Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon. You can also watch I Care If You Listen's premiere of the mind-bending music video for the piece Swept Up Whole here.

Conducted by Wild Up’s Artistic Director, Christopher Rountree, The Pieces That Fall to Earth comprises three vocal cycles: the title work, with soprano Lindsay Kesselman; The Naomi Songs, sung by vocalist Theo Bleckmann; and The Branch Will Not Break, with a chorus of eight singers. The album was recorded and produced by Nick Tipp. 


More than three years in the making, The Pieces That Fall to Earthgrew out of Cerrone’s musical friendships with these exceptional Los Angeles- and New York-based artists. Fittingly, the album’s release will be celebrated with concerts in both cities.

This Sunday, July 28 (8:00pm) at LA Dance Project in Los Angeles, Wild Up’s own Jodie Landau will sing The Naomi Songs with the ensemble. The program also features flutist Erin McKibben in Cerrone’s Liminal Highway, plus additional works. The event is free.

This Friday, August 2 (8:00pm) at Areté in Brooklyn, Theo Bleckmann will sing The Naomi Songs in an arrangement for piano and voice, accompanied by Timo Andres, who also wrote liner notes to the album. Rachel Lee Priday will perform Cerrone’s propulsiveViolin Sonata with Andres, and percussionist Andy Meyerson of The Living Earth Show will play a solo version of Cerrone’s meditative A Natural History of Vacant Lots. Alexandra Smither will perform Cerrone’s song “I will learn to love a person and then I will teach you and then we will know” with the composer at the piano. Tickets for the hourlong show are $20, including a copy of the album.

The Pieces That Fall to Earth is the first all-Cerrone recording since his 2017 CD/DVD Invisible Cities, which documented the composer’s visionary site-specific opera, staged by The Industry in LA’s Union Station. Invisible Cities brought Cerrone widespread recognition as a Finalist for the 2014 Pulitzer Prize in Music. 

Guest Userchristopher cerrone, the pieces that fall to earth, wild up, theo bleckmann, lindsay kesselman