composer, singer, songwriter

List of Works

List of Recent Works

NOTE: All works listed below are published by Automatic Heartbreak (ASCAP), with the exception of “No One Nowhere Cares.”

The Three Christs (in progress), a work of music-theater created in collaboration with playwright Honor Molloy and stage director Emma Griffin.  Scored for amplified chamber ensemble and four vocalists (SATB, also amplified). Approximately 90 minutes.

“No One Nowhere Cares” (2015) written in collaboration with Berlin-based artist Barbara Morgenstern, scheduled for release on her 2015 album, DOPPELSTERN. A studio project, scored for electronics, piano, and two vocalists singing multiple vocal tracks.  4 minutes, 32 seconds (I know I know, if only it had been one second longer…).

Fables on Global Warming (2013, music and lyrics), an interdisciplinary performance piece about extinction, sustainability, and the connections between humans and nature, created in collaboration with choreographer Karole Armitage and visual director/designer Doug Fitch, scored for voice, flute, trombone (all amplified) and pre-recorded digital playback, exactly 60 minutes, premiered by Armitage Gone! Dance (seven dancers), Corey Dargel (vocals), Margaret Lancaster (flute), and Jen Baker (trombone) on September 24th, 2013, at the Krannert Center at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, IL, with lighting design by Clifton Taylor

More Last Words from Texas (2012) for amplified male voice and chamber orchestra (flute, oboe, clarinet/bass clarinet, alto sax/bari sax, trumpet in B flat, trombone, electric keyboard, violin I, violin II, viola, violoncello, double bass), 12 minutes, premiered by LE TRAIN BLEU and Corey Dargel, April 20th, 2012, at Galapagos, Brooklyn, NY, and April 22nd, 2012, at (Le) Poisson Rouge, New York, NY

False Comfort (2012) for voice and pipe organ, 12 minutes; premiered by Corey Dargel and Wil Smith at Florid International Uninversity, Miami, FL

Hold Yourself Together (2011) for voice, electric guitar/classical guitar, and electric keyboard (all amplified), 28 minutes, excerpts and full versions have been performed at Issue Project Room (Brooklyn, NY), Brooklyn Museum (Brooklyn, NY), Berkshire Fringe Festival (Great Barrington, MA), and the 92nd Street Y Tribeca (New York, NY); performed by Corey Dargel, James Moore, and Wil Smith.

Every Day Is the Same Day (2011) for voice and violin with digital looping, 27 minutes, performed at BAM Café (Brooklyn, NY), Joe’s Pub (New York, NY), and The Stone (New York, NY), performed by Corey Dargel and Cornelius Dufallo.  Also performed at Mobtown Modern (Baltimore, MD) by Corey Dargel and Courtney Orlando and at a co-production by St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Walker Art Center, and Kate Nordstrum Projects (St. Paul, MN) by Corey Dargel and Todd Reynolds.

Last Words from Texas two versions, one for prerecorded tracks and singer (2011, completed), and one for the amplified chamber ensemble Newspeak (2012) (soprano, clarinet/bass clarinet, electric guitar, piano, vibraphone, drum set, violin and cello), 18 minutes.  The 2011 version premiered on January 20, 2012, at Gab Studio (Miami, FL), performed by Corey Dargel.  The ensemble version premiered in 2013, performed by Newspeak with singer Mellissa Hughes, at ATLAS Theater in Washington, DC.

Say Yes (2011) for voice and electric guitar quartet (all amplified), 20 minutes, premiered May 11, 2011, as part of the MATA Festival at (le) Poisson Rouge (New York, NY), performed by Corey Dargel and Dither Quartet.

What Might Have Been (2011) for voice and string quartet (all amplified), 10 minutes, commissioned by the Brooklyn Philharmonic Orchestra, premiered January 23, 2011, at the Brooklyn Philharmonic’s Music Off The Walls chamber music series, Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY, performed by Corey Dargel and the BPO String Quartet.

Thirteen Near-Death Experiences (2009) for voice, flute/alto flute/piccolo, clarinet in A/bass clarinet, violin, cello, piano, and percussion (all amplified), 42 minutes, commissioned by the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), premiered May 21, 2009, at Performance Space 122, New York, NY, performed by Dargel, the International Contemporary Ensemble, and David T. Little (percussion).  Thirteen Near-Death Experiences received awards from Creative Capital’s MAP Fund program, Meet The Composer’s Creative Connections program, and the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs. Its creation was made possible by a residency at the MacDowell Colony.  Also performed by Corey Dargel, ICE, and David T. Little at the Velvet Lounge (Chicago, IL) and by Corey Dargel and Ensemble 61 at a co-production by St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Walker Art Center, and Kate Nordstrum Projects (St. Paul, MN).

Sexual Side Effects (2009) for Baroque soprano, flute, piano, violin, cello, 12 minutes, commissioned by Avian Music, premiered January 29, 2009, at the Delaware Center for Contemporary Arts, Wilmington, DE, performed by Avian Music

Other People’s Love Songs (2008) arrangements for voice, drum machine, flute/piccolo, clarinet/bass clarinet, electric guitar, piano, and double bass, 40 minutes, premiered October 29, 2008, at (le) Poisson Rouge, New York, NY, performed by Corey Dargel and NOW Ensemble. The creation of Other People’s Love Songs was made possible by a residency at the MacDowell Colony.

Con Dolcezza (with Sweetness) (2008) for soprano and piano, 12 minutes, commissioned by Two Sides Sounding, premiered January 24, 2008, at Gallerie Icosahedron, New York, NY, performed by Two Sides Sounding

Removable Parts: a theatrical series of love songs about voluntary amputation (2007) for voice, piano, and electronics, 40 minutes, commissioned by HERE Arts Center, premiered September 6, 2007, at HERE Arts Center, New York, NY, performed by Dargel and Kathleen Supové.  Removable Parts received awards from the New York State Music Fund, the American Composers Forum’s Jerome Composer Commissioning Program, and the American Music Center’s Composer Assistance Program.

Born and Raised (2006) for voice, flute/piccolo, and electronics, 30 minutes, commissioned by Margaret Lancaster, premiered August 8, 2006, at Cornelia Street Café, New York, NY, performed by Dargel and Lancaster

List of Albums

OK It’s Not OK (2015) Dargel’s fourth studio album released January 27, 2015 on New Amsterdam Records.  The instrumentation on OK It’s Not OK embraces classical, rock, and pop idioms equally – with violin, piano, and pure-tone vocals appearing alongside electric guitar, drum machines, and synthesizers.  Thematically, the album is primarily concerned with the intertwining subjects of depression and composure, yet Dargel’s winking delivery and clever arrangements bring a sense of levity to these heavier topics.  The album features contributions from violinist Cornelius Dufallo, guitarist James Moore, bassist Eleonore Oppenheim, and keyboardist Wil Smith.  Artist Doug Fitch created the cover art.

Unreleased Songs 2001-2011 (2011), a self-produced, limited edition compilation of ten synth-pop songs that, prior to 2011, had not been publicly released.

Last Words from Texas (2011, released as part of a New York Times profile of Corey), eight songs setting to music the last statements of executed offenders put to death by the state of Texas.  This album is a free download.

Someone Will Take Care of Me (2010, New Amsterdam Records, distributed by Naxos of America), a double-CD album that includes two song cycles, Thirteen Near-Death Experiences and Removable Parts, and features Dargel singing with the International Contemporary Ensemble, David T. Little (percussion), and Kathleen Supové (piano)

Every Day Is the Same Day (2010, New Amsterdam Records), a nine-minute EP of three songs for voice and violin with digital looping, part of a project in development with violinist Cornelius Dufallo (of the string quartet ETHEL) which will eventually become a 50-minute song cycle about clinical depression.  This album is a free download.

Other People’s Love Songs (2008, New Amsterdam Records, distributed by Naxos of America), a collection of custom-made love songs commissioned by individuals as gifts for their significant others, features Dargel singing with self-produced electronic accompaniments

Less Famous Than You (2006, Use Your Teeth, London), a collection of songs about falling in love with famous people, features Dargel singing with self-produced electronic accompaniments

List of Awards

Creative Capital Fellowship (2013), MAP Fund (Creative Capital, 2012 and 2008), Commissioning Music/USA (Meet The Composer, 2010), Aaron Copland Fund for Music’s Recording Program (two awards, 2010 and 2009), MetLife Creative Connections (Meet The Composer, two awards, 2010 and 2009), Frederick Loewe Award for Musical Theater (New Dramatists, 2008), New York Innovative Theater Awards (2007) Outstanding Performance-Art Production awarded to Removable Parts, Composer Assistance Program (American Music Center, 2007), New York State Music Fund (Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, 2006), American Composers Forum (Jerome Foundation, 2006)

Artist Residencies

Chinati Foundation, Marfa, TX (as a guest of resident artist Karole Armitage, fall 2012), Brooklyn Philharmonic Composer Fellow (2010-11), MacDowell Colony (two residencies, 2006 and 2008), HERE Arts Center (artist in residence, 2005-07), New Dramatists (Composer/Librettist Studio, 2005), Atlantic Center for the Arts (2004).

Educational Residencies

Dargel has participated in residencies/presentations/performances/etc. at Wesleyan University, Bucknell University, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, New York University, the New School, Florida International University, Mercer University, and elsewhere.  His music is featured in two music history textbooks: A History of Music in Western Culture (for music majors) and Listen to This (for non-music majors), both by the author Mark Evan Bonds.