Chor & Gesang

The poetry of Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) is especially appealing due to the wide range of topics, diversity of mood and peculiar imagination of the poet. The writings are reflective, passionate, witt...

The five letters which provide the lyrics for the songs (adapted by the composer) were selected for their range of topics and sentiments. Some portray the wildlife in the mountains ('Glacier Birds...'...

American Death Ballads was composed especially for tenor Brian Thorsett. We have been frequent collaborators since 2011, when he premiered the complete set of my Three Settings of W. B. Yeats for stri...

Mother to Son is based on the powerful poem by Langston Hughes. The mother (voice) is a strong woman, one who has persevered and is still climbing, still surviving: 'Well, son, I'll tell you: / Life f...

Ogden Nash is often cited as our country's best-known author of humorous poetry. His style emphasizes unconventional rhyming schemes and invented words, both features of the three poems included in my...

A short song cycle using a solo (unaccompanied) voice to vocalize the fanciful and magical poems of E. E. Cummings with glissandi, whistling, ghostly whispered notes and long melismas drawing out the...

Poet Emily Dickinson loved writing about nature and wrote many poems about flowers, three of which are celebrated in this song cycle. Flowers of various descriptions and personalities are included in...

Poet Emily Dickinson loved writing about nature and wrote many poems about flowers, three of which are celebrated in this song cycle. Flowers of various descriptions and personalities are included in...

Mrs. Noah is about middle-aged love. It centers around the relationship between Noah and his wife, Mrs. Noah, a name she hates being called. In this light-hearted aria, she complains that, everywhere...

These songs were commissioned by the Mohawk Trail Concerts in Charlemont, Massachusetts in honor of Ruth Lloyd Black, their co-founder. The first performance was on August 30, 2015, soon after her dea...