Sheree Clement, composer
Using intricate shimmering colors over re-imagined fragments of tunes, composer Sheree Clement builds surprising comedic narratives.
She upends the listener’s expectations using politically charged texts and over-the-top staged and semi-staged dramas. All with the goal of waking us up to the upheaval, conflicting truths, and possibilities of now.
Fast Fish
An ode in four movements to the fish in the Androscoggin River in Western Maine, where nineteen dams block the passage of migratory fish, and a prayer to the people who live there, to reclaim their personal connection to their river. Drawn from the first version of my one act opera, Swimming Upstream. For fl, cl/ bass cl, pno, vln, vc. 17’
Here is an excerpt of the beginning of the score
Premiere coming in 2023.
Table Manners
A duet/duel for two sopranos and forty pounds of silverware. The struggle between finding human connection vs. settling for having material stuff conveyed with comedy and drama. Text by Phillis Levin. Starring Ariadne Grief in BOTH roles.
Listen below:
Teeth
Teeth is a short macabre micro-opera for solo piano and fixed media. Set in the pandemic year of 2020, a pianist grapples cynically with losses in her community, and debates who or what has the most responsibility for her mother’s death. Her vivid, vaporous imagination invites us in. Commissioned by Eliza Garth. Premiere March 30, 2023, Merkin Hall.
Listen to an excerpt below the picture of teeth…

Wherewith I Strive
for mezzo-soprano, flute and harp or piano:
- …wherewith I strive … an Epigram by Sir Thomas Wyatt
- For the Days of My Trouble. Excerpt from the Book of Job
- Flute Interlude
- A Song, by Phillis Levin.
Premiere of the new version for mezzo, flute, and piano or harp, Fall, 2022, @ Bruno Walter Auditorium. Performers are Anna Tonna, mezzo, flutist Laura Falzon, and pianist Adam Kent. Listen to excerpts below.