The Projects
“Peter’s tenacity and drive to create beauty and touch people with his music was unstoppable, and he’s left us with an exceptional body of work that will take time to fully digest.” — Aaron Davidman
Current Projects
RECORDING: Songs of Peter Foley Concert
Expanding access to Peter’s work by audio and video recording Out of Myself— Songs of Peter Foley on June 5, 2023, which we are gradually sharing on our website and social media. We commissioned a full remix of the audio recording and an edit of the 3-camera shoot. We’re exploring opportunities to share the full concert video and the audio more widely.
PUBLICATION: Sheet Music & Songbook
Publishing sheet music and curating a songbook of Peter’s songs. Only one of Peter’s songs, “To Sing” from Songs From an Unmade Bed, has been commercially published. Our goal is to encourage performance of individual songs by making sheet music and a songbook easily accessible via digital download on our website.
PUBLICATION: Podcast
Collaborating with a Grammy Award-winning producer to create a podcast about Peter’s life and music through the lens of the nearly 50-year relationship Peter had with his oldest friend, actor/filmmaker Aaron Davidman. Through interviews with friends, family, and colleagues, Aaron takes a deep dive into Peter’s body of work, exploring the many dimensions of Peter as an artist and person and asking: Where did the music come from? How does art reflect life?
MATERIALS ASSESSMENT + COMPLETION
Assessing performance materials (piano-vocal scores, piano-conductor scores, orchestra parts, and scripts) and preparing scores as needed so they are ready for perusal and performance, particularly for the completed stage works, The Hidden Sky and The Names We Gave Him.
CATALOGING + ARCHIVING
Preserving Peter’s legacy by assessing and cataloging existing demo, live, and professional audio and video recordings; digitizing obsolete file formats; remixing/enhancing existing demo recordings to create better materials for promoting Peter’s works. Cataloging and organizing Peter’s archives, including holograph and digital scores, orchestra parts, sheet music, and scripts; audio recordings; press clippings; performance and award programs; and photographs.
Future Projects: 2025 & Beyond
RECORDING: The Hidden Sky
Producing a complete, professional recording of The Hidden Sky with the current, full orchestrations is a priority project. Although The Hidden Sky has won multiple awards and been produced several times on stage and in concert, no complete recording of the score exists beyond demos, many of which are outdated. This has made it challenging to share Peter’s beloved score and promote this show.
RECORDING: Individual songs
Commissioning music preparation and recordings of Peter’s art songs and choral works to preserve his legacy and encourage performances.
PERFORMANCE: Promotion, Support & Development
Promoting and supporting professional nonprofit and college/university productions of Peter’s musicals to make more full productions of his stage works possible and introduce his work to the next generation of performing artists. Enhanced materials (recordings, orchestrations) generated by the Project will help us promote the works.
Seeking out and creating opportunities to develop Peter’s two unproduced stage works, I Capture the Castle (rights permitting) and Bloom.
Completed Projects
PERFORMANCE: Songs of Peter Foley Concert
Spring 2023
PFMP co-produced, with Prospect Theater Company, Out of Myself— Songs of Peter Foley, a concert of Peter’s songs at Peter Norton Symphony Space in New York City on June 5, 2023. The concert was our first large-scale project and a huge success. We fulfilled our mission in several key ways: performing Peter’s music at the highest level with top Broadway talents; bringing in new audiences; introducing Peter’s work to professional singers, musicians, and the next generation of musical theater artists; providing a professional opportunity to NYC area musical theater students through participation in the concert chorus; commissioning orchestrations; professionally video and audio recording the concert; receiving invaluable press coverage through Adam Gopnik’s beautiful essay about Peter in The New Yorker.
PUBLICATION: Website
Winter 2023
Building a comprehensive new website to make information about and samples of Peter’s work readily accessible to: engage a broader audience, performers and producers; share news and expand our community; and raise funds for the projects. The site will continue to grow as more media becomes available.
Acknowledgements
We are grateful to our donors, collaborators, and the generous volunteer and pro bono work of: Kate Chisholm, Aaron Davidman, Kevin Mayes, Grace Foley, Jonathan Alger/C&G Partners, Mark Badger, Rob Berman, Todd Cerveris/Todd Cerveris Photography, Chris Deschene, Robert Elhai, Cynthia Flaxman Frank, Curtis Moore, Joseph Thalken, Alex Reid/BakerHostettler, Ed Spitzberg/Spitzberg Advisors, and Ben Feldman.
Logo design by Jonathan Alger. Web design by Mark Badger.
RECORDING: The Names We Gave Him
Fall 2022
Peter Foley Music Project commissioned a professional remix of the live recording of The Names We Gave Him from the December 2021 production at Montclair State University to improve quality and sound balance between singers and orchestra. We now have a complete, balanced demo recording of the entire score with large ensemble and complete orchestrations. Listen to highlights here!