Sheli began composing a series of compositions illustrating the intersection of architecture and music some years ago. This collection, Signatures in Time and Place, now includes four orchestral compositions. La Tierra - Cancion de Amor is a paean to our interaction with the earth and the beauty we create. All one has to do is cross the magnificent new span of our Bay Bridge in order to feel the grandeur of our creativity in sync with our earthly home. La Tierra recognizes our process from the visionaries who create the masterworks, to the artisans and workers who complete the vision.

Fantasy For Harp and Orchestra is written in a casual style utilizing unrelated triads and seventh, ninth and eleventh chords, more or less episodically. The word "fantasy" connotes freedom of thought and pleasure, but is not without surprises.

Ishi, Scene 2 - In 1911 Ishi, the last survivor of the Yahi tribe was found barely alive near a slaughterhouse in Orville, Ca. Voices announcing Ishi's pending arrival dramatically interweave between a full range of characters that include: Professor Kroeber, the first professor of Anthropology at the University of California in Berkeley, and his colleague, T. Waterman. News of Ishi's appearance quickly spreads. Reporters eagerly announce the discovery of the "aboriginal Indian." A local rancher in Orville discovers him "crouched in a corner," near starvation. Soon after, a dialogue ensues between the rancher and sheriff as they attempt to make sense of all this. The fateful timing of Ishi's discovery coincides with the opening of the first Museum of Anthropology in San Francisco. Kroeber and Waterman arrange Native American artifacts for public viewing marveling at the survival skills of the Indians from Ishi's tribe. At the end of the scene, Kroeber asks Waterman to go "get the Indian man." Waterman agrees "to escort the last one safely here." Ishi lived the remainder of his life at the museum, educating the public while developing close friendships. His gentle and insightful manner changed the lives of those who knew him.

Quasi Concertante is a work for orchestra that uses the individual instruments both as soloists and as component parts of the ensemble. As soloists the individual players acquire a prominent role, in the tradition of the Sinfonia Concertante of the baroque period, while as part of the ensemble they loose their individuality and are used as part of the orchestral canvas. The work is in two movements, each divided in two sub-sections, resulting in a sequence of Moderato, Più Lento, Allegro, followed, after a short interruption, by Scherzo, and Presto). It revolves around the intertwining and elaboration of three musical themes: the first is a somewhat sweet melody that is heard right at the beginning piece; the second a rather ominous motive that is heard prominently in the Più Lento, and the third an assertive statement that is first heard in the Moderato and also closes the piece. Emotionally Quasi Concertante is not a programmatic work, it describes instead an emotional mixture landscape composed of some beauty, some dismay, some playfulness and an element of inevitability that pervades the overall musical structure.

In the 1980's pattern music or minimalism and post-minimalism were popular styles while Michael was in school. John Adams’s Short Ride in a Fast Machine was a big hit among his peers. For Loop was originally intended to be a 'tip of the cap' to that time in my life. While writing this composition it started to sound a like a machine or a computer working. Probably a subconscious nod to my college composition professor Dr. Cindy McTee who wrote a composition called Circuits. After Michael completed the first draft he noticed a pattern that keep appearing, play 3 — reset 3, play 2 — reset 2, play 1 — reset 1. This pattern made him think of a simple for loop in computer programming. This is how he came up with the title for n in reversed(range(1,4)): play(n) pause(n) which is a for loop that would generate this pattern and really emphasize how the piece sounds like a computer working.

Portraits Of ____ (Some Multiple Of 3) Women, Op. 231 (2015, after paintings of Roland March, and found texts) is colored by Johannes Ockeghem's Missa "Ma Maistresse" (The "My Mistress" Mass), Dixieland Jazz, the Arizona Navajo Ribbon Dance, W.A. Mozart's Magic Flute, Igor Stravinsky's Flood and Prelude for Jazz Ensemble, Ferde Grofe's Grand Canyon Suite, James Sanderson's Hail to the Chief, Giuseppe Verdi's Falstaff, and Sub-Saharan African drumming, and Paul Hindemith's Murderer, Hope of Women -- all subject to cubist / expressionist / minimalist / post-modernist distortions.

I. Teacher in Red Glasses (after Wikipedia articles on Teacher and Glasses) Let me give you an education - / At the end of the visible spectrum... / Informal and ongoing, professional qualifications. / Frames with lenses worn before the eyes to correct the vision. / I have a lesson plan, a course of study.
II. Arizona Diva Arizona Arizona Diva . . . / (vocalise)
III. Eve (Robert Craft, after Genesis) Eve? / Who is there? / Aye, a friend.
IV. Marlena (after Wikipedia article on Marlena Dietrich) Magdalena, a German and American, an actress singer, and she remained quite popular throughout her long career with constant re-inventioning her image. She acted on the stage and in silent films in the twenties in Berlin to great acclaim. Her glamour and ex- otic looks made her among the highest paid of actresses of her time. She was naturalized American citizen in nine- teen thirty-nine. Throughout the war, she was a highest-profile frontline entertainer. She was a show woman -- ninth greatest female star of all time.
V. Jackie in the Southwest (after Wikipedia articles on Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and Southwestern United States) Southwest a region defined in different ways, included in all / She is remembered for her contributions to / are New Mexico and Arizona. / arts and preserving of historic structures, her style and her / Fashion icon, for her ensembles, symbolic of her husband's / gracious ways / assassination.
VI. Tess (after John Springer's interview with Joan Crawford) To hell with it all! / Uh-uh! I just love people! / Well! / I thank you all! / How do you find the time? / You don't. You make time. / You were nervous! / What the hell... DO YOU THINK I AM?
VII. "She" Who Must Be Obeyed (after Roland March) Seated on her throne from which she rules is Henry Rider Haggard's "She" who must be obeyed / A mystery white queen. The mother Goddess although she's fair and just, she is ruthless, follows the letter of the law. I attired her as a scanty hippie. / I am as Mother Earth. I notice everything. I'll read you like an / Her breast is slightly exposed and her glance is side ways. / open book. / No fooling this babe. Scares the living jammies off me!!!!

Carla Brooke has collaborated with her husband John Beeman, as an author, librettist, and lyricist. Besides writing the libretto for his opera, The Answering Machine, Brooke also wrote the text for the choral Angel of Peace, performed at the Oregon Bach Festival. She co-authored Foam, a musical-dramatic work, and wrote the book and lyrics for the children's musical El Condor. As an author and poet, Carla has written Artfelt, a guide for helping children deal with grief, and recently, Hanai and I, a children's story. Her poetry and essays have been published by Insight Meditation Center in a collection called Passing It On.