"A composer with something significant - and different - to say"
MusicWeb International
Uniquely among classical composers Rain Worthington discovered her voice as a composer and learned her art autodidactically. She began intuitively composing works for solo piano and performing them from memory. Later she taught herself musical notation and compositional forms. Her writing has been described in the IAWM Journal as “a fusion of styles—ancient, medieval modality and sonorities, modernist minimalist ostinato, and classical approaches to basic ideas—to capture components of the human experience.”
Performances of Worthington’s compositions have spanned the globe from Brazil to Iceland, Cyprus to Korea, Italy to India. Her work takes “…ideas of American musical style to a new place – like a walk in a familiar, yet very different park” – Chamber Music
2021 orchestral performances included U.S. premieres of Shredding Glass and Within Deep Currents and European premieres of Within Deep Currents and In Passages. 2020 performances of her orchestral works featured Still Motion performed at Carnegie Hall and Yet Still Night at the TUTTI Festival. The former Artistic Administrator & Composer Advocate for the New York Women Composers, Worthington received 2020 commissions from violinist Audrey Wright and the Portland Youth Philharmonic. Since 2010, Navona Records has released Worthington’s chamber and orchestral music, and her first solo orchestral album DREAM VAPORS (Navona, 2016) received wide critical acclaim.
Albums
Passages Through Time
Release Date: March 11, 2022
Catalog Number: NV6398
Catalog Number: NV6398
21st Century
Chamber
Orchestral
Cello
Orchestra
Violin
In PASSAGES THROUGH TIME, composer Rain Worthington explores the mystery of instrumental music’s ability to communicate the universality of human experiences. She invites the listener into the realm of the nonverbal to reveal our primal commonality, directly touching the heart and soul with music that is delicate and subtle, yet powerful and transporting. Worthington’s music has been hailed as “a fusion of styles—ancient, medieval modality and sonorities, modernist minimalist ostinato, and classical” (IAWM Journal). Embark on a journey through the currents of Worthington’s musical streams and the emotional forces that drive her unique voice.
Dream Vapors
Release Date: February 12, 2016
Catalog Number: NV6025
Catalog Number: NV6025
21st Century
Orchestral
Orchestra
Music can possess the power to take hold of our emotions, guiding us along an imagined journey that stirs our inner being, a concurrently unique and familiar experience. New York composer Rain Worthington writes music to captivate the listener, creating textural and lyrical worlds that are inhabited by various colors and tones. On DREAM VAPORS, her full-length solo debut on Navona Records, the composer offers a selection of her orchestral works, presenting intense dreams, intangible perceptions, and musically evocative elaborations.
Things In Pairs
Release Date: February 11, 2022
Catalog Number: NV6392
Catalog Number: NV6392
21st Century
Classical
Chamber
Piano
Violin
Concept albums are few and far between, and rarer yet in classical music. THINGS IN PAIRS, a conceptual as well as a musical beacon by violin/piano duo Audrey Wright and Yundu Wang, fills this gap. The tracks on THINGS IN PAIRS were not just carefully curated – rather, they were selected and sorted with the precision of a steady-handed artist stacking a formidable house of cards. Spanning five centuries, these pieces contrast the classical Joseph Bologne with modern minimalist Arvo Pärt, Baroque virtuoso Biber with the contemporary Rain Worthington, all under the watchful eye of Viennese Classical Beethoven.
Sparks Vol II
Release Date: March 12, 2021
Catalog Number: NV6337
Catalog Number: NV6337
21st Century
Orchestral
Orchestra
The album SPARKS VOL. 2 couldn't be more aptly named, as bows bend and sparks fly in this vibrant collection of pieces for string orchestra. Bound to please modernists and traditionalists alike, this eclectic collection contains pieces by Dave Dexter, William C. White, Simon Andrews, Rain Worthington, Allen Brings, John Carollo, John Franek, and Jeff Mangels.
Prisma Vol. 2
Release Date: May 24, 2019
Catalog Number: NV6232
Catalog Number: NV6232
21st Century
Orchestral
Flute
Guitar
Orchestra
Navona Records proudly presents PRISMA VOL. 2, an epic journey into the world of the large ensemble with five of today’s top contemporary composers. This collection demonstrates the diversity of the orchestral and concerto composition, both in instrumentation and emotion.
Beneath the Tide
Release Date: March 8, 2019
Catalog Number: NV6216
Catalog Number: NV6216
21st Century
Concertos
Orchestral
Clarinet
Guitar
String Orchestra
PARMA Recordings, together with the esteemed Croatian Chamber Orchestra, is proud to release BENEATH THE TIDE, a reflection on human emotion and experience through a collection of five concertos. As the title suggests, BENEATH THE TIDE looks under the surface, examining underlying human realities that rise to the surface with the arrival of life’s changes.
Parts to Play
Release Date: June 8, 2018
Catalog Number: NV6165
Catalog Number: NV6165
20th Century
21st Century
Chamber
Solo Instrumental
Piano
Violin
On PARTS TO PLAY, critically acclaimed violinist Moonkyung Lee turns from the symphonic environment of the critically lauded label debut, TCHAIKOVSKY, on which she performed with the London Symphony Orchestra, to a more intimate setting, with only pianist Martha Locker as her partner on a selection of works that include both stunning solo performances and intricate yet simple duets.
Sparks
Release Date: July 8, 2016
Catalog Number: NV6050
Catalog Number: NV6050
21st Century
Orchestral
Orchestra
SPARKS, a compilation of orchestral miniature works by several composers, offers a sampling of much of what post-modern, contemporary orchestral music has to offer, and is most interesting to consider in contrast to nineteenth century orchestral transitions. Miniatures, in their brevity, defy the conventional bias that orchestral music must conform to the characteristics of large symphonies. More generally, the works on this album suggest a wide range of influences unique to contemporary postmodernism. These include the aesthetics of midcentury composers, as well as film scores and non-classical genres.
PARMA Music Festival Live 2014
Release Date: June 9, 2015
Catalog Number: NV6002
Catalog Number: NV6002
21st Century
Chamber
Orchestral
Cello
Orchestra
14 concerts, 12 venues, 4 days. The 2014 PARMA Music Festival featured a diverse range of events, from concert performances of orchestra, chamber ensembles, solo instruments, and jazz groups, to an outdoor presentation of Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf and panel discussions about music licensing and multimedia composition, as well as improvised collaborations between indie rockers and classical instrumentalists.
Elements Rising
Release Date: March 10, 2015
Catalog Number: NV5990
Catalog Number: NV5990
21st Century
Chamber
Large Ensemble
Piano
String Orchestra
Navona Records' latest offering of chamber music ELEMENTS RISING highlights contemporary composers who re-imagine the building blocks of music, such as melody, harmony, rhythm, dynamics, and timbre, in innovative ways, applying them to a number of duo and ensemble settings.
Luminescence
Release Date: September 1, 2014
Catalog Number: NV5969
Catalog Number: NV5969
21st Century
Orchestral
Orchestra
String Orchestra
LUMINESCENCE brings to light six works for small and large orchestra, showcasing the inspired directions and composers of contemporary orchestral music. Marvin Schluger's Manhattan Suite for full orchestra is being released 14 years after its recording. New York, 2013 by Raymond Bokhour is another piece alluding to the Big Apple, as experienced by the composer that year.
Paradigms
Release Date: August 1, 2012
Catalog Number: NV5880
Catalog Number: NV5880
21st Century
Concertos
Orchestral
Oboe
Orchestra
PARADIGMS explores the notion that music of varied influences, backgrounds, and techniques can be strung together to represent modern classical as a whole. With orchestral works that dive into the dramatic and expressive, ponder the impressionistic through textured and rhythmic motifs, and compare the bright with the chaotic, this album posits that music of all studies and methods of creation are pieces of a larger puzzle that shape the American contemporary soundscape.
Light and Shadow
Release Date: April 1, 2011
Catalog Number: NV5847
Catalog Number: NV5847
21st Century
Orchestral
Orchestra
Light and Shadow is an all-new collection of modern orchestral works from composers Adrienne Albert, Daniel Perttu, Rain Worthington, Rebecca Oswald, Russ Lombardi and Tadd Russo. The works on this disc range from a musical depiction of the imagery of war to the representation of the impressionistic logic of dreams to a bold, tonal piece inspired by a property dispute. With all tracks shorter than nine minutes, this collection offers a succinct and powerful view into the world of modern orchestral composition.
