Bright Shiny Things Releases Rubispheres, A World Premiere Recording Of Valerie Coleman's Chamber Music Performed By Coleman And Mariam Adam

BRIGHT SHINY THINGS RELEASES RUBISPHERES, A WORLD PREMIERE RECORDING OF CHAMBER MUSIC BY VALERIE COLEMAN PERFORMED BY THE COMPOSER AND LONGTIME COLLABORATOR MARIAM ADAM

“An artist at the forefront of innovation in 21st century classical music.”
– WQXR on Valerie Coleman

“Adam plays with amazing versatility, yet beauty of sound.”
– Clarinet Magazine on Mariam Adam

NEW YORK, NY–On September 18, 2026, Bright Shiny Things releases Rubispheres [BSTD-0238], a celebration of the 30-year partnership between clarinetist Mariam Adam and flutist and composer Valerie Coleman, co-founders of the Grammy®-winning chamber group Imani Winds. Comprising chamber works by Coleman that have become staples of the repertoire and featuring both Adam and Coleman as performers, the album includes Rubispheres, a set of wind trios; Maombi Asante, an African dance-inspired prayer of thanks for flute, violin, and cello; Portraits of Langston for flute, clarinet, piano, and narrator, in tribute to and based on works by Langston Hughes; and Shotgun Houses, a portrait of Coleman’s fellow Louisville native Muhammad Ali for clarinet and string quartet. In addition to Adam and Coleman, performers on the album also include bassoonist Monica Ellis, violinist Tai Murray, cellist Brook Speltz, pianist Alex Brown, bass-baritone Dashon Burton reading the works of Langston Hughes, and the Blair String Quartet. Rubispheres is available for pre-order here.

The title track on Rubispheres is a set of three trios for flute, clarinet, and bassoon, the first suite from a longer series of pieces for various instruments that depict urban life and landscapes. The first movement, “DROM,” was written first and named after a bar on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, where Coleman performed in a “Composers Play Composers” marathon. The movement starts with a “call and response” between bassoon solo and the entire ensemble and was composed for bassoonist Monica Ellis, another co-founder of Imani Winds and the performer on the album along with Adam and Coleman. The second movement, “Serenade,” was composed when Coleman was a new mother and feeling the pressure of deadlines and writer’s block. Her daughter Lisa began to cry at an inopportune moment, yet the act of comforting her released Coleman into a serenity that allowed her to finish the movement in one sitting with her free hand. The final movement, “Revival,” draws a parallel between the discovery of creative energy and the fervor of river baptisms in the old South.

Maombi Asante: A Prayer of Thanks begins by layering a soaring flute melody over a driving groove passed between the violin and cello. Infectious African dance-inspired rhythms and syncopation infuse all three parts.

Portraits of Langston is a suite of six short movements, mostly musical sketches of selected, lesser-known poems by Langston Hughes focusing on his memories of Harlem and Europe. “Le Grand Duc Mambo” is the only exception, being rather a musical sketch of the jazz club in the red-light district of Paris’s Montmartre, where Hughes worked as a busboy for 25 cents a night. Stylistically, the work incorporates many different elements that are translated into woodwind technique: the stride piano technique, big band swing, cabaret music, Mambo, African drumming, and traditional spirituals. For each of the five poems used – “Helen Keller,” “Danse Africaine,” “In Time of Silver Rain,” “Jazz Band in a Parisian Cabaret,” and “Summer Night” – guest vocalist Dashon Burton precedes the movement with a reading of the poem.

The album closes with Shotgun Houses, the first of three installments that celebrate the life of Muhammad Ali, a native of Louisville, Kentucky whose childhood home was just blocks away from Coleman’s own. The title refers to the architectural landscape of this community in West Louisville, once considered an indicator of poverty, but now a cause for historical nostalgia. The first movement evokes the neighborhood, not only its structures but also the children playing in the streets, ending on a somber note that recognizes the area’s present-day neglect. “Grand Avenue,” another of Ali’s addresses, is a ballad for Ali’s mother and his love for her, evident in every photo of them Coleman was able to locate. Finally, this installment of Coleman’s Ali portrait ends with “Rome 1960,” the location of the Olympics that launched the boxer’s professional career. The music depicts Ali’s training in Louisville, his flight overseas, and his climactic fight against Zbigniew Pietrzykowski.

TRACK LIST:

Valerie Coleman
RUBISPHERES
1 I. DROM 5:35
2 II. Serenade (for Lisa Naomi) 4:17
3 III. Revival 3:57
Mariam Adam, clarient; Valerie Coleman, flute; Monica Ellis, bassoon

4 MAOMBI ASANTA: A PRAYER OF THANKS 5:35
Valerie Coleman, flute; Tai Murray, violin; Brook Speltz, cello

PORTRAITS OF LANGSTON
5 Introduction: Helen Keller 0:24
6 I. Prelude: Helen Keller 1:21
7 Introduction: Danse Africaine 0:37
8 II. Danse Africaine 5:45
9 III. Le Grand Duc Mambo 1:53
10 Introduction: In Time of Silver Rain 0:41
11 IV. Silver Rain 4:20
12 Introduction: Jazz Band in a Parisian Café 0:42
13 V. Parisian Cabaret 4:39
14 Introduction: Summer Night 0:52
15 VI. Harlem's Summer Night 3:59
Dashon Burton, voice; Mariam Adam, clarinet; Valerie Coleman, flute; Alex Brown, piano

SHOTGUN HOUSES
16 I. Shotgun Houses 5:19
17 II. Grand Ave: To Mr. and Mrs. Clay 5:34
18 III. Rome 1960: The Young Champion 7:14
Mariam Adam, clarinet; Blair String Quartet

ABOUT THE ARTISTS:

Mariam Adam, Clarinetist, is an internationally known chamber musician, soloist, music advocate and educator originally from Monterey, California. A founding and former member of the Grammy-winning woodwind quintet, Imani Winds, she maintained an active international touring schedule for almost two decades with performances at Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center, Beijing Arts Center, Hollywood Bowl among hundreds others with numerous awards/noted recordings including “Best of iTunes 2016.” Since moving to France in 2016 she has performed throughout Europe with Eric le Sage, Francois Salque and at such festivals such as Folle Journee, Colmar Festival, Radio France Festival as featured artist and more. She has soloed with Singapore Symphony, Appassionata Ensemble, Orchestra de Pau, and toured with Quatuor Zaide, Jerusalem Trio as well as with legendary satirist, Gaspard Proust. Her last solo album, “Havana Moon” with TransAtlantic Ensemble was Sirius XM’s Best of Symphony Hall list, and Gramophone said "Coolly virtuoso performances lit by flashes of passion."  

Since 2016 she has been visiting principal clarinetist with London-based Chineke! Orchestra and chamber ensemble with several reputed recordings. With them she was featured in their “Samuel Coleridge-Taylor” documentary, “In tune” and the BBC Proms. She has over a dozen recordings that can be heard on E1 Classics, Steinway label, Warner Classics, Signum, Orchid with her profile featured on NPR’s “Performance Today.” She has had works written for her by Valerie Coleman, Scott McAllister, Fred O and John Wineglass with regular invitations to ClarFest, BUTI Tanglewood, YOLA, Alarm Will Sound and solo appearances. Ms. Adam is a Vandoren and Paris Selmer Artist, visiting professor at the Cleveland Institute of Music and is Professor of Clarinet at the Blair School of Music of Vanderbilt and balances her time between Nashville and Paris.

Valerie Coleman is an internationally acclaimed, twice GRAMMY®-nominated composer and flutist, and one of the most performed living composers in the world. She is the creator and founder of the renowned Imani Winds ensemble.

In summer 2026, Coleman’s Piano Concerto receives its world premiere at the Colorado Music Festival under Peter Oundjian, with pianist Michelle Cann as soloist, followed by regional premieres with Philadelphia Orchestra, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra and Grant Park Music Festival.

As a flutist, Coleman has built an extensive chamber music career, having performed in every major classical venue in the USA, such as Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center, and at acclaimed festivals including Bravo! Vail and Spoleto USA. She is a former Bowers fellow of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and her current chamber ensembles include the trio Umama Womama and Valerie Coleman and Friends.

Coleman’s works appear on Deutsche Grammophon, Sony Classical, Naxos, Cedille Records, eOne, and Bright Shiny Things labels. New York Youth Symphony’s 2023 GRAMMY® award-winning album features her work Umoja. She has performed and recorded with jazz legends Wayne Shorter, Chick Corea and Steve Coleman and her performances and works are regularly broadcast on radio stations across the United States.

Coleman joined the Composition Department faculty at The Juilliard School in 2024, holds faculty positions at the Manhattan School of Music and Boston University Tanglewood Institute, and has given masterclasses in 49 states and across five continents.