Beyond Her Only Dreaming

Program Notes Mercedes M. Yardley is a dark fantasist who wears poisonous flowers in her hair. She is a two-time Bram Stoker Award winner for Little Dead Red and "Fracture." She is the author of Darling, the Stabby Award-winning Apocalyptic Montessa and Nuclear Lulu: A Tale of Atomic Love, Pretty Little Dead Girls, and Love is a Crematorium. Mercedes lives in Las Vegas and can be found at mercedesmyardley.com. J. Francis Ball Is a composer, violinist, and guitarist who has performed in multiple bands, in collaborations, in orchestras, and solo projects. He has recorded and released ten studio albums with The Unwieldies and The Psyatics. His classical, jazz, romantic, and punk musical influences can be heard in all his contemporary compositions. J. Francis Ball was born and raised in Pittsburgh, PA, and currently lives and performs in Las Vegas. His Words This collaboration began with a powerful name. I asked Mercedes to listen to and name an early piano composition I wrote. Her reply was "Beyond Her Only Dreaming." The original composition was ultimately scrapped, but the name stuck with me. It inspired the muses whispering in my haunted ear. I wrote five musical tone poems that were loosely based on a woman's dream. During the creative process, I asked Mercedes to listen to the tones and use her imagination to create sketches for each section. Her spoken poetry powerfully frames a woman's dreams, fears, desires, and hope for love. They blend seamlessly with the music and are so masterfully written that they create a picture frame to use as structure but leave the canvas blank. This allows the listener to also take part in this collaboration and paint their own visions of how they experience the music. J.F.B. Her Words I'm a dreamer and writer of words, but I love music. When John asked me to name his original musical piece, I was delighted. I had recently written a story based on Robert Chamber's famed The King in Yellow collection and, due to the sound and feel of John's piece, loosely named the composition after my short story. John took this title and created a brilliant new musical composition. After listening to it, I was influenced to create spoken- word pieces that match the emotion of the music while also hearkening back to the original short story. The piece you'll hear contains poetry influenced by original music inspired by a short story based on a collection written in 1895. Time is a flat circle. This is how art moves and breathes, and I'm truly honored to take part. MMY