Tom Teasley

Love of the Nightingale (2014)

Love of the Nightingale is an evocative and theatrical recording that underscores Tom Teasley’s rare ability to blend music with narrative. Originally conceived as a live score for the stage production of Timberlake Wertenbaker’s The Love of the Nightingale, the album blurs the lines between concert and sound design, rhythm and ritual. Teasley composed and performed the entire score live for each performance, using an expansive array of global percussion, electronics, and winds — making the music an integral voice in the storytelling.

The album captures the spirit of the ancient Greek myth it was inspired by — a tale of trauma, resistance, and transformation — through rich soundscapes that shift between tension and release. Teasley weaves together Middle Eastern frame drums, Indian tabla, bamboo flutes, and ambient textures to create moods that echo the emotional arc of the play. These compositions are not simply atmospheric; they act as emotional cues and cultural threads, guiding the audience through a timeless and haunting story.

What makes Love of the Nightingale especially powerful is its immediacy — the sense that each sound is born in the moment, yet rooted in centuries of global musical tradition. Teasley’s one-man orchestra approach allows for a fluid and highly responsive sound environment, where improvisation and structure coexist in dynamic balance. The result is both theatrical and transportive, offering listeners a cinematic journey even outside the context of the play.

As a standalone album, Love of the Nightingale demonstrates Teasley’s unique place at the intersection of music, theater, and cross-cultural dialogue. It’s a bold artistic statement — one that reveals how rhythm and resonance can deepen the human experience, whether in a darkened theater or through a pair of headphones. This is storytelling without words, rendered in vibrations, breath, and pulse.