Susan Mayo is fascinated with sounds of all sizes, shapes, and locales. Inspired by raw soundscapes, she works with ensembles, facilitating the creation of new musical vocabularies of extended sounds on traditional instruments. Incorporating this new language in both improvisatory and composed sections she creates place-based musical celebrations. She is also committed to inspiring communities to discover, collect, and recreate the unique sounds of their own particular soundscapes, culminating in gala performances of their community.
Susan Mayo was trained as a classical cellist and composer, she gradually migrated to more alternative forms of creative expression. She lives and hobby farms on 14 acres in rural Kansas.
Upcoming Projects
● 9/2023- Reclamation Meridian - a specific audiovisual performance that interprets a plot of land experiencing its transformational process and its encounter with a small rural Kansas county—working together to not only reclaim the native ecosystem but to embark on community reclamation as well.
● 10/2023 - Flint Hills Counterpoint Audio Tour Book - A guide of Marion County, KS exploring the intersection of the tallgrass prairie and the Flint Hills while experiencing the memories, folklore, and natural history of the area. This tour book is a combination of narration, sounds, photography, original musical scores, short films, and animations.
● 5/2024 - Traverse Conservancy Soundscape - a work exploring the sounds of the Little Traverse Conservancy in Michigan.
Recent Compositions
● 2/2021 - Cheysun Musings - digital soundscape with solo cello, collaborative dance project - Wichita State University: Work completed and premiered 2/21
● 12/2020 - Memories Through Motion - composition commission for collaborative dance composition - Kansas Creative Arts Industries Grant: Wokr completed and premiered 10/21.
● 12/2019 - Sunflower Scenes work for string quartet, clarinet, banjo, and choir, based on musical memories of historic Sunflower Theatre - Kansas Creative Arts Industries Grant: Work completed and premiered 9/19
● 11/2019 - Valkyries, Tristan, Rhine Maidens, Alberich, 4 string quartets based on themes from Wagner’s Ring Cycle, collaborative project with Wichita State Dance Department - KNOB Festival: Work completed and premiered 11/19
● 6/2018 - Tallgrass Studies, work for improvising string quartet based on sounds of the tallgrass prairie - Tallgrass Artists Residency: Work completed and premiered 10/18
● 1/2018 - present - MapMusik - artists collective/sound collection project https://mapmusik.live/ - Knight Foundation Grant and Kansas Creative Arts Industries Grant: continuing collective project, performances 5/18, 6/19, ongoing sound collection activities.
● 7/2018 - La Joie De Vivre, The Cameraman's Revenge, Symphonie Diagonale, Ghosts Before Breakfast, Felix The Cat, scores for 5 short animated silent films - Roxy’s Silent Films with Live Music, Knight Foundation Grant and Kansas Creative Arts Industries Grant: Work completed and premiered 7/18
● 7/2018 - Wave written for 21st Century Projects, a collaborative dance project - Friends University - work completed 7/18 and premiered 5/19
● 5/2017 - Ghaer Mulki and Jaharang, composed for collaborative Pakistani Truck Art project on - Wichita Art Museum: Work completed and premiered 5/17
Recent Composition Performances
● 2/2023 - Live performances of a Ghaer Mulki and Fariousity with Multifarious - UNC, Greeley, CO, UST, Logan, Utah
● 1/2023 - Live music performance of Tallgrass Studies, Ghaer Mulki, Wave III, and Wave IV - Hillcrest, Wichita, KS
● 5/2022 - Live music performance of Tallgrass Studies, Ghaer Mulki, Wave III, and Wave IV - Barlett Arboretum, Belle Plaine, KS
● 5/2022 - Live music performance of Tallgrass Studies, Ghaer Mulki, Wave III, and Wave IV - Tabor College, KS
● 10/2021 - Live music and dance performance of Memories Through Motion - Sunflower Theatre, Peabody, KS
● 6/2021 - Live performance and digital installation of Tallgrass Studies - Charlotte Street Foundation, Kansas City, KS
● Date postponed due to COVID - Live performance of a Ghaer Mulki with Multifarious - JazzArt Festival, Katowice, Poland
● 3/2021 - Digital performance of Cheysun Musings - Wellness Wednesdays, Wichita Symphony Orchestra, Wichita, KS
● 2/2021 - Digital performance of Cheysun Musings - Duets for my Valentine, Regina Klenjoski Dance Company, Wichita, KS
● 11/2020 - Digital performance of Ghaer Mulki, Wave III, and Tallgrass Studies - The Kansas Rural Center Donor Appreciation Celebration, Abilene, KS
● 9/2020 - Outdoor performance of Ghaer Mulki, Wave III, and Tallgrass Studies - Flint Hills Counterpoint Annual Celebration, Peabody, KS
● 11/2019 - Live performance of Valkyries, Tristan, Rhine Maidens, and Alberich - KNOB Festival, Wichita, KS
● 9/2019 - Live performance of Sunflower Scenes - Historic Sunflower Theatre - Peabody, KS ● 5/2019 - Live performance of Ghaer Mulki, Wave III, and Tallgrass Studies - Volland Store Recital Series - Volland, KS
● 2018 - Live performances of a Ghaer Mulki with Multifarious - USA (Fisch Haus, Wichita, and University of Northern Colorado), Scotland (Broadcast, Glasgow), France ("Le Jam" and Le Corbusier, Marseille), and Croatia (Kontesa Jazz Club, Zagreb at the World Saxophone Congress)
● 7/2018 - La Joie De Vivre, The Cameraman's Revenge, Symphonie Diagonale,
Ghosts Before Breakfast, Felix The Cat - Roxy’s Silent Films with Live Music, Roxy’s Downtown, Wichita, KS
● 10/2018 - Live performance of Tallgrass Studies- Kansas Creative Arts and Industries Commission, The Bank, Matfield Green, KS
● 5/2017 - Live performance Ghaer Mulki and Jaharang - Night at the Museum Trucking the Land, Wichita Art Museum, Wichita, KS
Honors and Awards
● 2023 - Good Hart Artist Residency - Michigan Arts and Culture Council, National Endowment for the Arts
● 2022 - - Annonymous Was A Woman Environmental Art Grant - New York Foundation for the Arts
● 2022 - New and Expanded Works - Kansas Creative Arts Industries Commission
● 2021 - Interchange Grant - Mid-America Arts Alliance
● 2020 - Reimagined Spaces Grant - Kansas Creative Arts Industries Commission
● 2020 - Our Town Grant: film score - National Endowment for the Arts
●- 2019 - Our Town Grant: sound collection and composition - National Endowment for the Arts
● 2019 - New Works Grant - Kansas Creative Arts Industries Commission
● 2018 - Tallgrass Artist Residency - Kansas Creative Arts Industries Commission
● 2018 - Burton Pell Arts Council Arts Advocate - Individual Award - Wichita Arts Council
● 2015 -Wichita Symphony Orchestra Daniel J. Sevart Award for Community Service - Wichita Symphony Orchestra
● 2007 - The Lois Gordon Excellence in Cello Teaching Award - Wichita State University
PROGRAM NOTES
Tallgrass Studies
Tallgrass Studies by Susan Mayo 10/2018
The Switchgrass String Quartet
Ramiro Miranda - violin I
Rob Loren - violin II
Lillian Green - viola
Susan Mayo - cello
A four-movement work written for The Tallgrass Artist Residency, this work is a demonstration of a place-based composition based on the soundscape of the tallgrass prairie.
I. Ornithology and Anemology start time 0:00
Study of Birds and Winds
In live performance, this work begins with the quartet entering from different spaces in the venue making wind and bird sounds. A theme is gradually developed from the initial bird song improvisation, with a throbbing undulating pulse reminiscent of the wind developing in the accompaniment. Further development continues, ending with a repetition of the original bird melody lushly accompanied by waves of sound. The work ends as it begins with improvised wind and bird sounds.
II. Entomology start time 5:20
Study of Insects
This movement makes use of the extended string technique of ponticello, creating an abrasive sound combined with feverish runs to capture the cacophony of Kansas insects.
III. Agrostology start time 7:16
Study of Grasses
An introduction of pulsating patterns of five are layered to create the effect of waves of grasses, which are eventually joined by a reiteration of the bird melody from movement 1. The motive of waving grasses is continued in a pizzicato interlude reminiscent of rain on the prairies which eventually explodes into a thunderstorm. The movement ends with a return to the waves of grasses and bird song.
IV. Ethnochoreology start time 11:34
Study of Barn Dancing
The movement starts with an improvised section inspired by the percussive “chop” sound of fiddlers. The viola adds a rhythmic backup pattern and finally, the violin comes in with a unique barn dance tune. The middle section is an improvised fiddle solo; the work ends with a repeat of the barn dance tune.
Cheysun Musings
Cheysun Musings’ soundscape is a discussion of interfaces....humanity with nature/ acoustic with digital...how we work to create sense and coexist with the many varied layers of our existence. Featuring acoustic cello and digitally manipulated sounds of rural Kansas, it is divided into 3 main sections: morning - geese, goats, and goat bells, mid-day - crows and meadowlarks, and evening - frogs/crickets, owls, and coyotes. Each sound is presented first in its original form and then digitally manipulated.
Ghaer Mulki
Written for Night at the Museum “Trucking the Land”; a program at the Wichita Art Museum on Pakistani Truck Art, this work is based on a traditional Persian folk tune. Ghaer Mulki is a combination of old Persian culture and contemporary American - a sonic story reflecting Mayo’s 40-year marriage to her Pakistani husband.
Wave III and IV
Two movements of a 4 movement work written as part of a collaborative dance project.