About Liam
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Fed by his insatiable creativity and inventive spirit, Liam Cummins writes music that nods to the past and dives into the future. His many wide-ranging works include a string quartet honoring child Holocaust victims, a forty-minute tone poem for orchestra grappling with the global pandemic, a piano quartet highlighting the accelerating effects of climate change, and even a fanfare using only household objects as instruments.
Liam's music has been recognized widely for its nuanced craft, inventive orchestration and broad emotional range. He is the 2022 YoungArts Gold Winner in Classical Music, awarded by the National Foundation for the Advancement of Artists. He is also a three-time finalist for the ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Award, a winner of the 2022 American Prize in composition, and the only young composer in the country to have been nominated for consideration as a 2022 U.S. Presidential Scholar in the Arts. An enthusiastic advocate of concert music, Liam strives to make the art form accessible and impactful for as many people as possible – especially those not frequently exposed to it. Liam is pursuing his Bachelor of Music degree at The Juilliard School, studying with John Corigliano. |
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Featured Music
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“With any luck, we’ll be fine,” were the words uttered by an orthopedic surgeon after he’d operated on my wrist, which I’d broken in a biking accident. I found this concerning — I was ready to celebrate what I’d assumed would be a full recovery. Apparently, the doctor wasn’t so sure. Since then, the words have become an oft-repeated phrase to describe a multitude of situations that will likely work out, but might just go terribly wrong.
This piece explores a multitude of possible meanings behind the fateful words. Though largely self-assured and fast-moving, the music is marked by moments of nearly going off the rails, nearly disintegrating, nearly loosing momentum. But you know how it goes: With any luck, we’ll be fine. |
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Written in response to the climate crisis, Overlooking considers our fraught relationship with the natural world and asks how we might continue to find joy even among our rapidly degrading ecosystems. Four movements in contrasting sound-worlds highlight the duality of the world we live in, exploring the juxtaposition between our intentions and our actions.
Highlighted here is Movement 3, Sky. A dizzying Moto Perpetuo, Sky begins with soaring joy and descends into anguish. Sky explores the crucial function of earth's atmosphere and the terrifying consequences of a runaway greenhouse effect, a scientific phenomenon which prompts out-of-control temperature changes. Eventually, experts warn, there will come a point of no return. |
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© Copyright Liam Cummins 2020-2022. All rights reserved.
Photos by Liam Cummins and Isaac Coffy. |