Star, for soprano (Susan Owen), cello, piano and percussion is slight, dependent on dainty sound effects, and attractive.

—Andrew Porter, The New Yorker

Peter Lieuwen’s 1986 prizewinner Star composed for Susan Owen, is quick to take advantage of the soprano’s versatility. It is a very showy piece with brilliant fortes juxtaposed to breathy whisperings.

—Santa Barbara News Press

Peter Lieuwen has created an atmospheric world of sound; a forward-looking work in harmony with our musical age.

—Der Bund (Bern, Switzerland)

Most stunning, in the literal sense at least, was Lieuwen's Star for soprano, cello, percussion, and piano. Luminous high blends of vibes, piano and voice cast about ringing constellations in a spacious atmosphere.

—Santa Cruz Sentinel

Anne Harris, a coloratura soprano who sang a small role in UNM’s Carmen last month, made a spectacular showpiece out of Star, a chamber work by Peter Lieuwen. Lieuwen, composer-in-residence at Texas A&M, set a text by Dallas poet Joanne Whitebird in a disjunct, angular and eruptive manner reminiscent of the avant garde style of 20 years ago. Lieuwen’s piece had euphonious logic under its spiky surface however – this is how some of those old scream-and-boom pieces should have sounded perhaps.

—Albuquerque Journal