Light Through Windows was written in 2016. Meant to evoke the wonder one feels when a darkened window reveals its glory, the a cappella choral piece draws a parallel between a stained-glass window and an illuminated manuscript. This recording is of the excellent Vox16 (now Radiance) from Seattle, led by Markdavin Obenza. 
 
TEXT
Hushed, grey, a tall cathedral, 
washed in faint morning light.
Day breaks through mullioned windows, 
brushing away the night.
Light through windows
Light through stained-glass windows
Tales cast and retold in shades of scarlet 
Silver, sky-blue, sea-green, sage 
Sun-dappled rose, russet and gold 
Revelation in the nave
Light through windows
Light through stained-glass windows
On a lectern lie scores of sacred music 
Neumes, breves, calligraphy 
Rimmed in red, glistening with gold, 
Recitation on the page
Gold on parchment 
Gold on ecru parchment
Light floods the floor as 
Sunbeams stream in, 
Cascading ’cross stone walls, 
Arches, apse and pillars glow 
Lux Aeterna
O Light through windows 
Silver, sky-blue, sea-green, sage 
Light through stained-glass windows
Like a manuscript gilded, 
the church is resplendent. 
Stories and windows illumined.
—Caroline Mallonée

Locally Sourced

Light through Windows

Caroline Mallonee (b. 1975) is a composer and performer based in New York State. Mallonee's music has been programmed at venues in New York including Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall in Lincoln Center, Symphony Space, Merkin Hall, Bargemusic, Tenri Cultural Center, Town Hall, Roulette and Tonic, as well as further afield at the Long Leaf Opera Festival (NC), Carlsbad Music Festival (CA), Bennington Chamber Music Conference (VT), Cambridge Music Festival (UK), Tokyo Opera City (Japan), Bowdoin Summer Music Festival (ME), on the New Music New Haven series (CT), the Corcoran Gallery (Washington, DC) and Jordan Hall (Boston, MA).
Mallonee has collaborated with ensembles including the Spektral Quartet, Firebird Ensemble, Present Music, the Wet Ink Ensemble, the Da Capo Chamber Players, Antares, PRISM Saxophone Quartet, ANA Trio, Ciompi Quartet, Orkest di Ereprijs, and the Buffalo Chamber Players. Her music has been played by soloists including pianists Eric Huebner, Stephen Gosling, and John McDonald, as well as Haruka Fujii (percussion), Natasha Farny (cello), Amy Glidden (violin), Feng Hew (cello), Janz Castelo (viola) and Kimberly Sparr (viola).
Mallonee has been recognized through commissions and awards from the Fromm Foundation, Meet The Composer and ASCAP.
She is a professional singer in the Vocalis Chamber Singers and is the director of the Walden School Creative Musicians Retreat, a week-long festival for composers and improvisers held in New Hampshire each June. As a violinist, Mallonee was a founding member of pulsoptional (based in North Carolina) and Glissando bin Laden (based in New York City).
She studied composition with Louis Andriessen at the Royal Conservatory of the Hague (Fulbright Fellowship, 2005), Scott Lindroth and Stephen Jaffe at Duke University (Ph.D. 2006), Joseph Schwantner and Evan Ziporyn at the Yale School of Music (M.M. 2000), and Bernard Rands and Mario Davidovsky at Harvard University (B.A. 1997).