Diversions is proud to present ALL OUR WRONGFUL DEAD, a large-scale piece for violin, viola, cello, and piano by composer Robert McCauley, on digital EP. Written in 2017, the work was a response to the mass shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, in December 2012, Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, in June 2015, and the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, in June 2016, as well as other atrocities. The young performers are Katherine Butler (violin), Zev Malina (piano), Sebastian Berofsky (cello), and Molly Pope (viola).

Moved by the senseless massacres of innocent people by lone gunmen, McCauley needed to write music to express his sadness and horror at these events, a melodic, emotional, and powerful classical work to help us connect with the difficult feelings … outrage … anguish … again and again, the title of the first movement, refers to the seeming perpetual cycle of sudden violence, national shock, elected leader’s non-action, and gradual amnesia until the next attack comes. The rich melodies and harmonies of this movement are based on the first six notes of Robert Schumann’s Aufschwung from Fantasiestücke, Op. 12, heavily influenced by Arvo Pärt’s Symphony No. 3. However, McCauley introduces modulations in phrases, sudden changes of texture and dynamics, and other unexpected surprises to create a “musical section-silence” structure to keep the listener purposely off balance, just as life has been kept off balance with lulls of safety followed by atrocity.

eight fervent prayers for peace is a series of variations on an original Agnus Dei (O Lamb of God) McCauley wrote for a church. The music is beautifully tender and peaceful, with a reassuring stillness after the dramatic and unsettling first movement.

Robert McCauley received degrees from the New England Conservatory, Shepherd School of Music, and Rice University. His graduate thesis, The Sonorous Object, built from the skin of three dead love songs, does not exist… for large orchestra and two sopranos won the 1992 Creative Artist Award from the Cultural Arts Council of Houston. Since 2020, the composer has had song cycles premiered in Munich and Philadelphia and a comic scena in Manhattan by Fresh Squeezed Opera, LLC. His music ranges from the popular, including country songs, to much longer, lyrical symphonic forms.

Violinist Katherine Butler is currently pursuing a master’s degree in violin performance at the Juilliard School and has appeared as a soloist with several Houston orchestras and at US festivals. Composer and pianist Zev Malinaperforms regularly as a soloist and has received several prestigious composition awards. His music is performed at many US venues, including Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall.  Cellist Sebastian Berofsky is currently studying for his Master’s in Cello performance at Juilliard School. A member of the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra, a substitute player with the Houston Grand Opera, and the New World Symphony, he can be regularly heard at festivals and chamber music events across the US. Molly Pope (viola) is pursuing her master’s of Music at the New England Conservatory and has attended many summer festivals, including Aspen and Colorado College.