Alyssa Hess Reit
Alyssa Hess Reit
Alyssa Reit is a composer, arranger, harpist, storyteller, and teacher.
For nearly two decades, she composed theatrical-musical versions of classic myths and fairy tales for the arts troupe Singing Harp, presenting shows throughout the New York metropolitan area and Europe to critical acclaim. Other theatrical works include the Japanese tale Inch Boy, the native American story The Star Maiden, several settings of Aesop’s fables, the Arthurian tale The Loathly Lady, the Grimms classic The Brementown Musicians (as part of a grant from Meet the Composer), and three settings of Hans Christian Andersen tales (commissioned by the New York Scandinavian Summer Music Festival ). In the fall of 2015 she wrote, arranged and performed music for The Triumph of Love, a production based on the life and work of Botticelli, which premiered in Italy. In 2019 she was the featured harpist-composer at the American Harp Society Summer Institute, where they presented her newly commissioned work, The Tinder Box.
Alyssa’s non-theatrical compositions and arrangements have been played at events sponsored by Carnegie Mellon University, the Eastman School of Music, the Greenwich Symphony, and the Philadelphia Orchestra, as well as at festivals all over the world. Her body of work ranges from solos for diverse instruments, brass quintets, mixed chamber music, and choral pieces, to music for string orchestra.
Recent projects include three commissions: a set of Suffragette songs, a multiple movement work for ten horns and percussion, and a setting of a Lenape Indian Creation myth, for storyteller, harp, and percussion. She recently completed and scored a full length musical, and is currently working on a ballet based on the classic H. C. Andersen tale “The Snow Queen.”
Emperor's New Clothes
Year: 2013
Duration (in minutes): 35 min.
Difficulty: High (professional)
Category: musical theater
Publisher: Grey Lake Music
Score PDF: the_emperors_new_clothes_p_score4up-5.pdf
Description: A musical setting of the well-known tale by Hans Christian Andersen
Where?
Year: 2010
Duration (in minutes): 3 min
Difficulty: High (professional)
Publisher: Grey Lake Music
Score PDF: where-5.pdf
Description: "Where?" is romp — a series of journeys and returns, musically expressed in short
melodic adventures separated by regular returns to an opening thematic idea
Upon This Hallowed Ground
Year: 2010
Duration (in minutes): 3 min
Difficulty: High (professional)
Category: larger chamber ensembles - more than 4 players, woodwind quintet
Instruments: any woodwind
Publisher: Grey Lake Music
Score PDF: upon_this_hallowed_ground_wq_p_score-5.pdf
Description: A memorial to the Battle of Gettysburg written for the West Point Woodwind Quintet
Legends of Isis
Year: 2004
Duration (in minutes): 9 min
Difficulty: High (professional)
Category: string ensemble
Publisher: Grey Lake Music
Score PDF: legends_of_isis_score_orchunp-5.pdf
Description: Written to capture the atmosphere created by a vocal improvisation that took place in an Egyptian temple- a landscape of shifting, ethereal harmonies.
Faith, Hope and Love
Year: 2001
Difficulty: High (professional)
Publisher: Grey Lake Music
Score PDF: faith_hope__love_mvt.i_-4_up-5.pdf
Description: 3 movements inspired by the meaning of faith, hope and love
Prigione V
Year: 2000
Duration (in minutes): 5:46
Difficulty: High (professional)
Score PDF: il_prigione_v_score_3-20-08-5.pdf
Description: The fifth in a series of pieces inspired by the sculptures of Michelangelo, exploring prison and freedom
Appalachian Brass
Year: 1999
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: brass trio
Publisher: Grey Lake Music
Score PDF: appalach._brass_br-hntbntubpscore-5.pdf
Description: Arrangement of three traditional Appalachian tunes:
Arise, Arise
One Morning
Sourwood Mountain
Il Prigione IV
Year: 1996
Duration (in minutes): 2:21
Difficulty: High (professional)
Category: small chamber ensembles - 2 to 4 players
Instruments: any string, cello, viola
Publisher: Grey Lake Music
Score PDF: prigione_iv_st-vavcp_4_up_score-5.pdf
Description: One of a series of pieces inspired by the sculptures of Michelangelo —
Each explores a different aspect of prison and freedom
American Songs
Year: 1992
Duration (in minutes): 0:07:51
Difficulty: High (professional)
Category: brass quintet
Publisher: Grey Lake Music
Score PDF: american_songs_score-5.pdf
Description: A setting of some classic favorites as a medley — very good for general audiences
Lil' Maggie
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Instruments: flute, harp
Description: A setting of the traditional bluegrass tune for an ensemble of flutes and harps
Nightingale
Difficulty: High (professional)
Category: musical theater
Publisher: Grey Lake Music
Score PDF: nightingale_th-hfls_p_score_4up-5.pdf
Description: A setting of the Hans Christian Anderson tale
Frog Prince (Faithful Henry)
Difficulty: High (professional)
Category: musical theater
Publisher: Grey Lake Music
Score PDF: the_frog_princeth-hpsp_score_4up-5.pdf
Description: A re-telling of this well-known story in music and words
(also set as a chamber ballet for harp, cello, piano, viola and french horn)
Ugly Duckling
Difficulty: High (professional)
Category: musical theater
Publisher: Grey Lake Music
Score PDF: the_ugly_duckling__th-hhns_p_score_4up-5.pdf
Description: The famous tale by Hans Christian Andersen set to music
Golden Bird
Difficulty: High (professional)
Category: musical theater
Publisher: Grey Lake Music
Score PDF: the_golden_bird_th-hpspstor_4up-5.pdf
Description: A setting of the classic Grimm's tale with musical accompaniment
Mercy of Forgiveness
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: choral
Publisher: Grey Lake Music
Score PDF: mercy_misc_p_score-5.pdf
Description: Text based on excerpts from the Sermon on the Mount
Myth of Demeter and Persephone
Difficulty: High (professional)
Category: musical theater
Publisher: Grey Lake Music
Six Swans
Difficulty: High (professional)
Category: musical theater
Publisher: Grey Lake Music
Score PDF: the_six_swans_th-hps3shphp-5.pdf
Three Treasures
Difficulty: High (professional)
Category: musical theater
Description: Tales from the Arabian Nights
Valiant Little Tailor
Difficulty: High (professional)
Category: musical theater
Publisher: Grey Lake Music
Score PDF: the_valiant_little_tailor_th-hps-2apscore4up-5.pdf
Description: A setting of the classic Grimm's tale using marionettes
Oisin in Tir na n-Og
Difficulty: High (professional)
Category: musical theater
Publisher: Grey Lake Music
Score PDF: oisin_th-hpsp_lh_4up-5.pdf
Demeter and Persephone
Difficulty: High (professional)
Category: musical theater
Publisher: Grey Lake Music
Score PDF: demeter_and_persephone_th-lhsphp_4up-5.pdf
Alyssa Reit is a composer, arranger, harpist, storyteller, and teacher.
For nearly two decades, she composed theatrical-musical versions of classic myths and fairy tales for the arts troupe Singing Harp, presenting shows throughout the New York metropolitan area and Europe to critical acclaim. Other theatrical works include the Japanese tale Inch Boy, the native American story The Star Maiden, several settings of Aesop’s fables, the Arthurian tale The Loathly Lady, the Grimms classic The Brementown Musicians (as part of a grant from Meet the Composer), and three settings of Hans Christian Andersen tales (commissioned by the New York Scandinavian Summer Music Festival ). In the fall of 2015 she wrote, arranged and performed music for The Triumph of Love, a production based on the life and work of Botticelli, which premiered in Italy. In 2019 she was the featured harpist-composer at the American Harp Society Summer Institute, where they presented her newly commissioned work, The Tinder Box.
Alyssa's non-theatrical compositions and arrangements have been played at events sponsored by Carnegie Mellon University, the Eastman School of Music, the Greenwich Symphony, and the Philadelphia Orchestra, as well as at festivals all over the world. Her body of work ranges from solos for diverse instruments, brass quintets, mixed chamber music, and choral pieces, to music for string orchestra.
Recent projects include three commissions: a set of Suffragette songs, a multiple movement work for ten horns and percussion, and a setting of a Lenape Indian Creation myth, for storyteller, harp, and percussion. She recently completed and scored a full length musical, and is currently working on a ballet based on the classic H. C. Andersen tale “The Snow Queen.”
Emperor's New Clothes
Year: 2013
Duration (in minutes): 35 min.
Difficulty: High (professional)
Category: musical theater
Publisher: Grey Lake Music
Score PDF: the_emperors_new_clothes_p_score4up-5.pdf
Description: A musical setting of the well-known tale by Hans Christian Andersen
Where?
Year: 2010
Duration (in minutes): 3 min
Difficulty: High (professional)
Publisher: Grey Lake Music
Score PDF: where-5.pdf
Description: "Where?" is romp — a series of journeys and returns, musically expressed in short
melodic adventures separated by regular returns to an opening thematic idea
Upon This Hallowed Ground
Year: 2010
Duration (in minutes): 3 min
Difficulty: High (professional)
Category: larger chamber ensembles - more than 4 players, woodwind quintet
Instruments: any woodwind
Publisher: Grey Lake Music
Score PDF: upon_this_hallowed_ground_wq_p_score-5.pdf
Description: A memorial to the Battle of Gettysburg written for the West Point Woodwind Quintet
Legends of Isis
Year: 2004
Duration (in minutes): 9 min
Difficulty: High (professional)
Category: string ensemble
Publisher: Grey Lake Music
Score PDF: legends_of_isis_score_orchunp-5.pdf
Description: Written to capture the atmosphere created by a vocal improvisation that took place in an Egyptian temple- a landscape of shifting, ethereal harmonies.
Faith, Hope and Love
Year: 2001
Difficulty: High (professional)
Publisher: Grey Lake Music
Score PDF: faith_hope__love_mvt.i_-4_up-5.pdf
Description: 3 movements inspired by the meaning of faith, hope and love
Prigione V
Year: 2000
Duration (in minutes): 5:46
Difficulty: High (professional)
Score PDF: il_prigione_v_score_3-20-08-5.pdf
Description: The fifth in a series of pieces inspired by the sculptures of Michelangelo, exploring prison and freedom
Appalachian Brass
Year: 1999
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: brass trio
Publisher: Grey Lake Music
Score PDF: appalach._brass_br-hntbntubpscore-5.pdf
Description: Arrangement of three traditional Appalachian tunes:
Arise, Arise
One Morning
Sourwood Mountain
Il Prigione IV
Year: 1996
Duration (in minutes): 2:21
Difficulty: High (professional)
Category: small chamber ensembles - 2 to 4 players
Instruments: any string, cello, viola
Publisher: Grey Lake Music
Score PDF: prigione_iv_st-vavcp_4_up_score-5.pdf
Description: One of a series of pieces inspired by the sculptures of Michelangelo —
Each explores a different aspect of prison and freedom
American Songs
Year: 1992
Duration (in minutes): 0:07:51
Difficulty: High (professional)
Category: brass quintet
Publisher: Grey Lake Music
Score PDF: american_songs_score-5.pdf
Description: A setting of some classic favorites as a medley — very good for general audiences
Lil' Maggie
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Instruments: flute, harp
Description: A setting of the traditional bluegrass tune for an ensemble of flutes and harps
Nightingale
Difficulty: High (professional)
Category: musical theater
Publisher: Grey Lake Music
Score PDF: nightingale_th-hfls_p_score_4up-5.pdf
Description: A setting of the Hans Christian Anderson tale
Frog Prince (Faithful Henry)
Difficulty: High (professional)
Category: musical theater
Publisher: Grey Lake Music
Score PDF: the_frog_princeth-hpsp_score_4up-5.pdf
Description: A re-telling of this well-known story in music and words
(also set as a chamber ballet for harp, cello, piano, viola and french horn)
Ugly Duckling
Difficulty: High (professional)
Category: musical theater
Publisher: Grey Lake Music
Score PDF: the_ugly_duckling__th-hhns_p_score_4up-5.pdf
Description: The famous tale by Hans Christian Andersen set to music
Golden Bird
Difficulty: High (professional)
Category: musical theater
Publisher: Grey Lake Music
Score PDF: the_golden_bird_th-hpspstor_4up-5.pdf
Description: A setting of the classic Grimm's tale with musical accompaniment
Mercy of Forgiveness
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: choral
Publisher: Grey Lake Music
Score PDF: mercy_misc_p_score-5.pdf
Description: Text based on excerpts from the Sermon on the Mount
Myth of Demeter and Persephone
Difficulty: High (professional)
Category: musical theater
Publisher: Grey Lake Music
Six Swans
Difficulty: High (professional)
Category: musical theater
Publisher: Grey Lake Music
Score PDF: the_six_swans_th-hps3shphp-5.pdf
Three Treasures
Difficulty: High (professional)
Category: musical theater
Description: Tales from the Arabian Nights
Valiant Little Tailor
Difficulty: High (professional)
Category: musical theater
Publisher: Grey Lake Music
Score PDF: the_valiant_little_tailor_th-hps-2apscore4up-5.pdf
Description: A setting of the classic Grimm's tale using marionettes
Oisin in Tir na n-Og
Difficulty: High (professional)
Category: musical theater
Publisher: Grey Lake Music
Score PDF: oisin_th-hpsp_lh_4up-5.pdf
Demeter and Persephone
Difficulty: High (professional)
Category: musical theater
Publisher: Grey Lake Music
Score PDF: demeter_and_persephone_th-lhsphp_4up-5.pdf