Dora Cardona on the vocal solo with Abraham Oleksnianski on the Viola solo, recorded in the studio. Full orchestra is still MIDI.

Here are the lyrics:

You wake up, barely conscious.
Let out your little sigh.
You stand up and lie throughout your nest.
Spreading your wings to fly.

You look over to take your leap,
Realize you're just too high.
Will you soar? Avoid the deep?
Glide across the sky?

It is too late. You're not quite ready to fly...
Wings appear just for show although it took your all.
Don't cry as you look upon the sky.
It is not the end once you fall...

Sora

Music, Lyrics & Orchestration by Rudy Percival

Performed and recorded by Margarida Neto (Voice,) Elliott Park (Conductor)& RAM Musicians at the Angela Burgess Recital Hall in May 2022.

"'Don't You Remember?' pays homage to my maternal grandparents; Marjorie and John Kimpton. It is my attempt to voice the love that they had for one another, an assemblage of my memories of them as well as my mum’s."

Don't You Remember?

"Gospel oak" is a set of nine new songs for double choir a cappella composed by John William Griffith II, setting the poetry of Sharon Morris. It was premiered on 30 March, 2023 at St James Sussex Gardens with the composer conducting an ensemble of 24 singers. Each song explores different textures within the choral idiom as inspired by Morris's words. They can be performed as a full set, as individual works, or as pairings.

Gospel Oak, VII. Summer

Excerpt from Forrest Pierce's symphony for Coloratura, Oboe d'Amore and Chamber Orchestra.  Margaret Marco, Oboe d'Amore, Sarah Tannehill, coloratura, Kansas City Chamber Orchestra, Bruce Sorrell Conductor.  Score and parts available from www.forrestpierce.com

To Me My Myrrh, From  "The Twelve Kisses"

Fourth Movement from "The Twelve Kisses," for coloratura, chamber orchestra and oboe d'amore.  Score and parts available at www.forrestpierce.com.

The Old Song, From  "The Twelve Kisses"

Two movements from Jasmine Arrow Music, by Forrest Pierce, on texts from the sayings of the Buddha (Dhammapada).  www.forrestpierce.com

The Scent of Jasmine

The Gorgeous Nothings (2016) for Soprano, Flute, Oboe and Piano
Texts: Emily Dickinson - fragments
Live Performance:
Sarah Tannehill Anderson, Soprano
Annie Gnojek, Flute
Margaret Marco, Oboe
Ellen Sommer, Piano

I. Clogged Only With Music 

Clogged
only with
Music, like
the Wheels of
Birds -

Afternoon and 
the West and
the gorgeous
nothings
which
compose
the 
sunset
keep
their high 
appointment


II. In This Short Life  

In this short Life
that only  (merely) lasts an hour 
How much – how 
little – is
within our
power


III.  Paradise Is No Journey 

Paradise is no Journey
because it he is within -
but for that very cause
though - it is the
most arduous of
Journeys - because as
the servant conscientiously
says at the Door
we are out -
always - invariably –


IV. The Little Sentences 

The little
sentences
I begun
and never
finished -
the little
wells I dug and
never
filled –


V. It Is Very Still 

It is very still in the
world now - Thronged
only with Music, like the

Decks of
Birds -

and the Seasons
take their hushed
places like figures
in a Dream -



Program Notes: “The Gorgeous Nothings” takes its title and inspiration from the facsimile publication of Emily Dickinson's complete envelope writings edited by Marta L. Werner  and Jen Bervin.  These beautiful fragments range from completed, self-contained short poems to mere thoughts hastily expressed on scraps of paper.  I was drawn to these sketches as they seem to give us a glimpse into Dickinson’s creative process.  Also, perhaps because of their very nature of incompleteness, the fragments allow the reader to engage in new ways with Dickinson’s words. It is my hope that the music captures these wonderfully suggestive aspects of the fragments.

Permission to use “Clogged Only With Music “granted by Harvard University Press. THE LETTERS OF EMILY DICKINSON, edited by Thomas H. Johnson, Associate Editor, Theodora Ward, Cambridge, Mass.: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Copyright © 1958 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. Copyright © renewed 1986 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. Copyright © 1914, 1924, 1932, 1942 by Martha Dickinson Bianchi. Copyright © 1952 by Alfred Leete Hampson. Copyright ©1960 by Mary L. Hampson.

Permission to use “In This Short Life “granted by Harvard University Press. THE POEMS OF EMILY DICKINSON, edited by Thomas H. Johnson, Cambridge, Mass.: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Copyright © 1951, 1955 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. Copyright © renewed 1979, 1983 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. Copyright © 1914, 1918, 1919, 1924, 1929, 1930, 1932, 1935, 1937, 1942, by Martha Dickinson Bianchi. Copyright © 1952, 1957, 1958, 1963, 1965, by Mary L. Hampson.

Permission to use “Paradise Is No Journey,” “The Little Sentences” and “It Is Very Still“granted by Harvard University Press. THE LETTERS OF EMILY DICKINSON, edited by Thomas H. Johnson, Associate Editor, Theodora Ward, Cambridge, Mass.: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Copyright © 1958 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. Copyright © renewed 1986 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. Copyright © 1914, 1924, 1932, 1942 by Martha Dickinson Bianchi. Copyright © 1952 by Alfred Leete Hampson. Copyright ©1960 by Mary L. Hampson.

The Gorgeous Nothings for Soprano, Flute, Oboe and Piano

Piano: Jack Yarbrough
Flute: Margaret Lambie
Voice: Anna Patterson
Coached by Forrest Pierce
Performed for University of Kansas Helianthus Fall 2017 Concert

Hot Ass Poem from Four Jennifer Knox Poems by Kerrith Livengood

Performers: Sarah Tannehill Anderson, Soprano; Véronique Mathieu, Violin; Ellen Sommer, Piano

AUTUMN'S ORCHESTRA
By Emily Pauline Johnson 

I. (INSCRIBED TO ONE BEYOND SEAS)
Know by the thread of music woven through
This fragile web of cadences I spin,
That I have only caught these songs since you
Voiced them upon your haunting violin.

II. THE OVERTURE (starts at 2:00)
October's orchestra plays softly on
The northern forest with its thousand strings,
And Autumn, the conductor wields anon
The Golden-rod - The baton that he swings.

III. THE FIRS (starts at 3:13)
There is a lonely minor chord that sings
Faintly and far along the forest ways,
When the firs finger faintly on the strings
Of that rare violin the night wind plays,
Beneath the English pines beyond the sea.

IV. MOSSES (starts at 5:44)
The lost wind wandering, forever grieves
    Low overhead,
Above grey mosses whispering of leaves
     Fallen and dead.
And through the lonely night sweeps their refrain
Like Chopin's prelude, sobbing 'neath the rain.

V. THE VINE(starts at 7:40)
The wild grape mantling the trail and tree,
Festoons in graceful veils its drapery,
Its tendrils cling, as clings the memory stirred
By some evasive haunting tune, twice heard.

VI. THE MAPLE (starts at 8:24)
I.
It is the blood-hued maple straight and strong,
Voicing abroad its patriotic song.

II.
Its daring colours bravely flinging forth
The ensign of the Nation of the North.

VII. HARE-BELL (starts at 9:31)
Elfin bell in azure dress,
Chiming all day long,
Ringing through the wilderness
Dulcet notes of song.
Daintiest of forest flowers
Weaving like a spell - 
Music through the Autumn hours,
Little Elfin bell.

VIII. THE GIANT OAK (starts at 10:52)
And then the sound of marching armies 'woke
Amid the branches of the soldier oak,
And tempests ceased their warring cry, and dumb
The lashing storms that muttered, overcome,
Choked by the heralding of battle smoke,
When these gnarled branches beat their martial drum.

IX. ASPENS (starts at 13:07)
A sweet high treble threads its silvery song,
Voice of the restless aspen, fine and thin
It trills its pure soprano, light and long - 
Like the vibretto of a mandolin.

X. FINALE (starts at 14:31)
The cedar trees have sung their vesper hymn,
And now the music sleeps - 
Its benediction falling where the dim
Dusk of the forest creeps.
Mute grows the great concerto - and the light
Of day is darkening, Good-night, Good-night.
But through the night time I shall hear within
The murmur of these trees,
The calling of your distant violin
Sobbing across the seas,
And waking wind, and star-reflected light
Shall voice my answering. Good-night, Good-night.

PROGRAM NOTE:
When I first encountered the poetry of Mohawk-Canadian poet Emily Pauline Johnson (1861–1913), also known in Mohawk as Tekahionwake, I was moved by her unique and strong poetic voice. “Autumn’s Orchestra,” a suite of ten short verses, is a powerful mediation on nature and life. Throughout the poem, Johnson uses vivid visual and auditory imagery as well as symbolism, which inspired my own musical imagination and became a driving force behind my setting. “To One Beyond Seas” was commissioned by NAVO.

To One Beyond Seas for Soprano, Violin and Piano

The water sounds are made by blowing bubbles into and shaking a water bottle. Logic and Metasynth were used to create the other sounds.

Water and Juice

serpamusic.com/product/canciones-de-desamor/
Poetry by Cecilia M. Castillo
Kelley Hollis, soprano and Juventas New Music Ensemble with Andy Pease, conductor
First Church, Boston, MA, June 1st, 2019

Translation:
For a moment you search for my mouth,
With a longing that surprises me,
In a moment of mad anguish,
In a movement you do not rebuke.

And I remain as always
And the kiss is half kept,
Until, after you're gone,
My handkerchief removes it.

Sad fate of your kiss
That from my lips disappears,
And although it is quite true
That I do not love you,
I feel my soul becomes saddened.

Pride: Hand in Hand (Recorded Live June 1, 2019)

Canciónes de desamor (chamber version) - 1. Por un instante

Anna Patterson is a mezzo soprano from Lawrence, Kansas specializing in contemporary opera and song. Described as “warm and inviting”, Anna’s talents and colorful stage presence have allowed her to explore all kinds of theatre and performance including, recital series, dramatic song works, opera, and even musical theatre. She is attracted to works and projects that tell stories she feels need to be heard and collaborators that enjoy the process of discovering a piece. What excites Anna the most about music is it’s ability to tell a story before any words are said. Anna holds a BM from the University of Kansas and an MA from the Royal Academy of Music.

Hot Ass Poem from Four Jennifer Knox Poems by Kerrith Livengood

Anna Patterson

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Michaela Mack, Mezzo-Soprano

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