CLASSICAL MUSIC : Going to the Mountain for Musical Inspiration

Some artists derive inspiration from a quiet walk on the beach, but composer Gina Leishman goes in for more exotic stimulation. Earlier this year, just a few months after finishing the musical score for the San Diego Repertory Theatre’s 1988 “Christmas Carol” production, Leishman spent three weeks mountain climbing in Bhutan with her 70-year-old father, a retired British diplomat.

“I was quite inspired by the Himalayan music we heard,” Leishman said. “I brought back assorted bells and other musical artifacts. We went specifically in the spring to attend a monastery festival, and for five days we sat there drenched in nonstop dancing, music and ceremonies.”

Leishman acknowledged that her current assignment at the Rep, composing the musical score and directing the music for “Animal Nation” (the season-ender by Steve Friedman that opens Wednesday) taxed both her inspiration and imagination. Billed as a comedy, “Animal Nation” is a kind of political fable in which the allegory of George Orwell’s “Animal Farm” merges with the contemporary rhetoric of animal rights advocates.

“For this play, it is a brand new world, totally unknown. It starts in a genetic laboratory, then breaks out into the world of the animals. What is that? What is wildness? What is human versus animal in musical terms?”

The easy part of the task, according to the composer, was writing the sci-fi electronic sounds for the laboratory sequences. However, writing a “national anthem” for the animals to sing and a romantic duet between a shy stallion and an oversexed pig was the tough nut to crack.

“So I basically delved into my own head, into the world of possibility. You know, if pigs had wings--the the whole gamut of limitless possibilities.”

Compared to the concrete Victorian England setting of last season’s “Christmas Carol” and the obviously medieval background of “Red Noses” (Leishman’s score for Peter Barnes’ controversial comedy won a local drama critics’ award), the unspecified milieu of “Animal Nation” left the composer with no obvious musical styles to refer to. Without giving away too many of Leishman’s musical solutions, suffice it to say that the tinkle of Himalayan bells gives a hint of unity to the score’s musical fabric.

And true to her predilections for her favorite instrument--the accordion--she provides the “Song of the Pregnant Ewe” with poignant accordion accompaniment.

“Actually, the big musical numbers are more danced than sung. One has a strong African flavor, and the other one mixes African with the Bhutanese. My favorite section, though, is a strange tango.” No doubt the sort of tango that brings out the animal in everyone.

Not only does Leishman tend to mix and match separate musical styles in her play scores; she also likes to create strange hybrids. For the Berkeley Shakespeare festival this summer, her assignment was to provide music for a production of “Measure for Measure,” set in Berlin after World War II.

“Shakespeare set the play in Vienna, of course, but this production moved it to Berlin. For me, this transposition was great, because my musical imagination immediately said, ‘this has to be Kurt Weill meets be-bop.’ ”

Leishman’s theater activity is not limited to music. Last season she acted in a San Francisco Bay Area production of Julie Hebert’s recent play for five women, “Almost Asleep.” (Another production of Hebert’s play won kudos at this season’s Padua Hills Playwright’s Festival.) Nor is her music composition limited to the theater. She is working on a commission for the Bay Area Jazz Composers’ Orchestra, an ensemble that was formed to play new works. And her own jazz ensemble, the “Kamikaze Ground Crew,” recorded an album for New World Records that will be released this spring.

“At this point, I’m really torn,” she said. “I love to perform, but I end up writing all the time instead of playing. It also produces an identity problem in other people’s eyes. They want to have one and only one label for you. It’s a constant battle, but the longer I keep it up, the less I care what they think.”

Jack of All Trades. When it comes to listing Anthony Newman’s musical pursuits, the term versatile seems understated. On his return engagement with Zoltan Rozsnyai’s International Orchestra, at San Diego’s College Avenue Baptist Church on Jan. 26, Newman will do just about everything but walk on water. He will perform a Handel organ concerto, play the harpsichord solo in Bach’s Fifth Brandenburg Concerto, and then move to the piano for the world premiere of his own Piano Concerto. Rozsnyai announced the programming for the Newman extravaganza last week.

More Holiday Fare. Although many of the local Christmas concerts were clustered around the first two weekends of the month, there are still a few opportunities to catch a bit of the seasonal spirit. Wednesday at 8 p.m. at the La Jolla Congregational Church, the Early Music Ensemble will present its “Renaissance Christmas by Candlelight.” (This candlelight tradition goes back to the 1987 La Jolla power failure, according to Vicki Heins-Shaw, alto member of the ensemble.)

In North County, the MiraCosta College Orchestra and Chorus under Jeffrey Sell will take its “Messiah” concert to Carlsbad’s Cultural Arts Center on Friday at 7:30 p.m. On Dec. 19, the group will perform the oratorio at the Mission San Luis Rey outside Oceanside, and, on Dec. 20, the MiraCosta students will return to their own campus for a final reprise.

For the 22nd consecutive Christmas season, the Salk Institute will play host to a seasonal early music concert. On Dec. 16 at 8 p.m., the La Jolla Renaissance Singers and La Stravaganza, a Baroque trio, will perform a free concert.