Lullabies for Icarus is in seven miniature movements that are imbued with the story and messages from the Greek myth:

Imprisoned in a tower on the island of Crete and desperate to regain physical freedom, Daedelus (a great inventor) devises an escape plan for himself and his son, Icarus. With wings fashioned out of wax from candles and the feathers of birds that circle the tower, the two plan to take flight across open waters toward liberation. "Remember," warns Daedalus to his son as they are about to embark on their journey, "you must keep to the middle point between ocean and sky. If you fly too close to the sun, your wings will melt, and you will fall. If you fly too close to the water, the feathers will become laden with moisture and you will also fall." However, as Icarus feels his mortal body soaring through the air, he is seized by a sense of divine power. Overcome by the ecstasy of flight, he speeds toward the bright allure of the sun and plummets to his quick demise as his father watches from a course of equilibrium. Icarus perishes needlessly because he is unable to find the balance between hubris and complacency, ambition and acceptance. He listens to ego over wisdom, believing himself immune to the elemental laws that govern the earth and that ultimately dictate the fate of all mortals.

Having completed this piece in December, 2019, the timing of it coming through felt like an eerie foreshadowing — some kind of unwitting hint at what has unfolded since.

The following miniature is from the Creations Gallery @ pandemicpolyphony.org. The site features collaborative work created from afar during 2020 lockdown :

“I Only Want to Breathe” Roseminna Watson vocals and violin with Jeff Elliot, keyboard

Siren Song

The following miniature is from the Creations Gallery @ pandemicpolyphony.org. The site features collaborative work created from afar during 2020 lockdown :"

The following miniature is from the Creations Gallery @ pandemicpolyphony.org. The site features collaborative work created from afar during 2020 lockdown :

“Life on Vega” Roseminna Watson vocals and violin with Carolyn Somes, production and audio manipulation

Roseminna Watson

Roseminna Watson is most known for her work as a classical violinist, but in recent years she has begun to emerge as a singer, composer, and multimedia artist as well. She holds a B.A in Visual Art from Yale University, an M.M. in Violin Performance from Stony Brook University, and an A.D. in Chamber Music from San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Fascinated by the human body as a vehicle that can carry us closer to the divine, Ms. Watson’s work is imbued with a haunting immediacy and poignant nostalgia. She currently makes art of all kinds, performs as a solo-act as well as a frequent collaborator with dancers, artists, and other musicians, and is a founding member of H u m m i n g O w l—a folk duo with her singer/songwriter/sitarist husband, Pablo Escalante. In March of 2020, Roseminna founded the Pandemic Polyphony project — an ever-expanding platform for collaborative connection between creators of all kinds across the boundaries of physical distance and isolation.

More on Roseminna Watson’s work can be found on our Links page.