Composed by Alex Van Sant. Premiered by Giving Voices Collective (dir. Monica Bertrand) on August 5th 2023 at Baker Memorial United Methodist Church in Saint Charles, IL.

Benedictus

Sourp, Sourp from the Patarag (Armenian Divine Liturgy) by Komitas, arranged for SSAA and conducted by Alex Van Sant. 

Recorded by Victoria Barrosso, Nick Range, and Rebecca Lee at McGill University's Redpath Hall on March 16th 2024.

Singers: Laura Albrecht, Dina Nikolaidis, Mo Levandier, Bella Cuminato, Chloe Martin, Riliegh Wilansky-Trainor, Emilie Versailles-dit-Martin, Krisianna Fox, Chenxin Han, Rachel Hottle, Kat Hicks.

Komitas - Sourp, Sourp (arr. for SSAA by Alex Van Sant)

Jesus Prayer composed and conducted by Alex Van Sant.

Recorded by Victoria Barrosso, Nick Range, and Rebecca Lee at McGill University's Redpath Hall on March 16th 2024.

Singers: Laura Albrecht, Dina Nikolaidis, Mo Levandier, Bella Cuminato, Chloe Martin, Riliegh Wilansky-Trainor, Emilie Versailles-dit-Martin, Krisianna Fox, Chenxin Han, Rachel Hottle, Kat Hicks.

Jesus Prayer

Tomorrow by Alex Van Sant with poetry by David Budbill (1940-2016). Written for and premiered by the Chamber Chorus at The Walden School's 2024 Creative Musicians' Retreat in Dublin, NH. Conducted by Sarah Riskind and recorded by Ted Moore on June 19th 2024.

David Budbill, “Tomorrow” from While We’ve Still Got Feet. Copyright © 2005 by David Budbill. Used with the permission of The Permissions Company, LLC on behalf of Copper Canyon Press, coppercanyonpress.org. All rights reserved worldwide.

Tomorrow

Paraphrase on 'O Traurigkeit, O Herzeleid' by Alex Van Sant, based on the eponymous Bach chorale (BVW 404). 

Written for and performed by Meggie Lacombe as part of le Vivier Interuniversitaire's 2024 edition of Projet de collaboration interuniversitaire. Recorded by La Conserve Média and Frédéric Le Bel at Édifice Wilder, Espace Bleu in Montreal, QC on May 6th 2024.

Recording with video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACAt76mq0TI

https://levivier.ca/en/viu

Paraphrase on 'O Traurigkeit, O Herzeleid'

Vineyards by Alex Van Sant, composed for Choral Collective at McGill University. Premiered on November 19th, 2022 at Choral Conversations: Music Of Living Composers. Conducted by Alex Van Sant in Redpath Hall at McGill University. Text from the Bible (ESV), Song of Solomon 7:20.

Vineyards

The Wound composed and conducted by Alex Van Sant. The text is assembled from excerpts from two poems by Emily Dickinson (1233 and 1188) and two letters she wrote to her lover Susan Gilbert in 1852. Performed on November 3rd 2023 by Choral Collective at Centre des Services Communautaires du Monastère in Montreal, Quebec. Thanks to Choral Collective, McGill Choral Studies, and McGill University Graduate and Professional Studies Student Engagement Fund. 

Singers: Ben Charo, Ian Plansker, Jonah Stemen, Ryan Doyle Valdés, Nate Marvit, Rachel Hottle, Victoria Vasta, Megan Batty, Emilie Puopolo, Laura Albrecht, Rileigh Wilansky-Traynor, and Natalia Popovska.
Rehearsal accompanist: Skylar Cheng.

The Wound

Vocalise Two for solo cello by Alex Van Sant. Written in 2024 for performance by Clara Griffin on December 11th 2024. 

This piece is an exploration of the vocal changes that resulted from my use of testosterone—a chronicle of frustration and frenzied battling with my voice that eventually settles with a consonant and melodious ending in the instrument’s lower register.
Vocalise Two uses a solo instrument to express my experience of my voice as a locus of struggle, self-discovery, and self-construction.

Vocalise Two

Piano mockup of my setting of 19 MURALS FOR MY BEDROOM WALL by Charlie Zacks for TTBB chorus.

19 MURALS FOR MY BEDROOM WALL

Running, Swimming by Alex Van Sant.

Written for and performed by Dylan Pinette as part of le Vivier Interuniversitaire's 2025 edition of Projet de collaboration interuniversitaire. Recorded by La Conserve Média in Quasar Studio, Montreal, QC on May 8th 2025.

Recording with video: https://youtu.be/2FqdrJT0XNk?si=-kbwzfiygS1SoLUl

levivier.ca/en/viu

Running, Swimming

Psalm 58 by Alex Van Sant with text from the Bible and by Fanny J. Crosby. Written for and premiered by Choral Chameleon at Choral Chameleon's 2025 Composers' Institute in New York City. Premiered at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Manhattan under the direction of Vince Peterson on June 27th 2025, and recorded June 28th 2025.

Text:
O you rulers, you devise injustice, you work wickedness, your hands deal out violence upon the earth. Break the teeth in their mouths, O God, let them be like the snail that melts into slime, let them vanish like water that flows away. Let the righteous wash their feet in the blood of the wicked. Then the people shall say: surely there is a God who judges the earth. No King but Christ our Lord!

Program Note:
Threats of divine punishment and damnation have long been wielded against queer people. My piece imagines how some of that threatening biblical language might instead express a queer perspective on authority and violence. The psalms of the Bible come from a place of desperation, they are powerful expressions of joy, pleading, rage. They are intimate conversations with God. I find them to be poignant and, at times, incisively accurate expressions of modern day struggle--in this case of a political nature. This piece uses an adaptation of Psalm 58, which speaks of snakes, stillborn children, melting snails, shattered teeth, lions, streams of blood (only some of which I include in my setting)—I find it theatrical and almost camp in its fantastical and hyperbolic imagery and absurd sadism. The phrase "No king but Christ our Lord", which I added to my adaptation of the psalm, comes from a hymn, with text by Fanny J. Crosby. This phrase has been used by a leftist school of thought called Christian Anarchism as a statement of loyalty to the teachings of Christ above all else (eschewing the authority of any party, state, ruler, army, nation, etc.). It is my hope that this piece can be an example of the theatrical, playful, and especially the mobilizing and liberatory potential of the biblical text and language especially as it relates to queerness and oppression at the hands of the state.

Psalm 58

New England-based composer, conductor, and vocalist. They/he.

Alex Van Sant

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