San Francisco-based composer Mark Winges writes music that is both familiar and strange; speaking to our oldest human qualities, beyond words... It embraces the versatility of the human voice: screams, whispers, whistling, muffled garbles, throat singing, speaking, and lyrical singing are all bound together into a tapestry of living, liquid a cappella sound. Think of the mind-blowing choral works of Penderecki, Messiaen, Takemitsu, or Ligeti's brooding score to 2001: A Space Odyssey. Winges' latest CD, Freed from Words expresses the abstract and the specific: Magic Strings places the listener in the swarthy world of a witch's sabbath; The Oh of Moon and Piano illustrates the moon and piano caught up in celestial dance; Haiku Settings unfold pithy sonic snapshots; Freed from Words uses phonemes and other pre-lingual vocal sounds. Composer in residence for the virtuosic San Francisco chamber singers, (three- time winners of ASCAP's "Award for Adventurous Programming of Contemporary Music") Winges seamlessly blends a wide variety of influences into an evocative choral world. Conductor Robert Geary (recently given the "Outstanding Conductorial Achievement" award at the International Children's and Youth Choir Festival) insures that all the singers involved, from children to adult, make the vocal gymnastics sound effortless. This recording will transport anyone with a love of choral music and an open ear.