Without Coco

North Coast Winds Quintet:
Zoe Stier (flute)
Johanna Cox Pennington (oboe)
Ben Chen (clarinet)
Emily Shelley (horn)
Arleigh Savage (bassoon)

Kent State Stark Fine Arts Building, North Canton, OH
15 October 2023

Variation, for woodwind quintet (2018)

The Weft and Weave Between Us (2023)
C flute doubling bass flute, Bb clarinet doubling bass clarinet

Synergy 78 (Carol Shansky, flute, and Michelle Kiec, clarinet)
Mississippi University for Women Kossen Auditorium, Columbus, MS
9 March 2024

The Weft and Weave Between Us: i. The best thing we can do is talk about it (2023)

The Weft and Weave Between Us: ii. Just one blade of grass (2023)

The Weft and Weave Between Us: iii. Love is an action verb (2023)

Catch at Hope (2022)

Composer - Carolyn Quick
Text - Christina Rossetti

Portland Phoenix Chamber Choir
Director - Dr. Justin Smith
Soloists - Margaret Tyler, Paul Sadilek, Andrew Bergh, Daphne Barnum

2024 NW ACDA Performance, Spokane, WA
January 26th, 2024

Catch at Hope sets Christina Rossetti's poem De Profundis which speaks to the frustrations of life and the desire to be nearer to the joy and beauty that Heaven or the idea of something beyond provides. Regardless of religious ties, the act of pining for joy and beauty is a fundamentally human act; and as we reflect upon the state of the world, whether we are experiencing stasis and crushing monotony, or are observing history's most egregious moments repeat again and again, sometimes all we can do is strain our hearts and stretch our hands to "catch at hope."

De Profundis

Oh why is heaven built so far,
Oh why is earth set so remote?
I cannot reach the nearest star
That hangs afloat.

I would not care to reach the moon,
One round monotonous of change;
Yet even she repeats her tune
Beyond my range.

I never watch the scatter'd fire
Of stars, or sun's far-trailing train,
But all my heart is one desire,
And all in vain:

For I am bound with fleshly bands,
Joy, beauty, lie beyond my scope;
I strain my heart, I stretch my hands,
And catch at hope.

- Christina Rossetti (1876)

Catch at Hope

O Fire (2024)

Composer - Carolyn Quick
Text - Hildegard von Bingen/Nathaniel M. Campbell

Royal Voices of Charlotte
Director - Dr. Justin Smith
Soloists - Carolyn Quick, Daphne Barnum, Madolynn Hurley, Donovan Cassell, Miles Thoming-Gale, Nick Pierle, Monika Vrabel, Andrea Parrone

Performed in Nafplio, Greece ahead of the 28th Preveza International Choir Competition
*Recipient of the Special Jury Prize for Best Performance of a Contemporary Piece*
July 3rd, 2024

O Fire sets the first half of Nathaniel M. Campbell’s translation of Hildegard von Bingen’s evocative work O ignis Spiritus paracliti. The text speaks about the omnipotent and saving power of the Holy Spirit with awe and exuberant reverence. O Fire takes this beautiful, vivid text and gives it a completely new musical setting. In homage to the original melody, O Fire opens with a melodic leap of a perfect 5th, before rushing melismas build and cascade into whispers in the original Latin text meant to personify the Holy Spirit and its Divine, enigmatic presence (drawing inspiration from the “rushing mighty wind” brought on by the presence of the Holy Spirit in Acts 2:2 and evoking a crackling fire).

After building in excitement as the Holy Spirit is praised, the piece slows down, becoming more placid and reflective, introducing a group of soloists, as the text begins to focus on the breath, taste, and sight of the “mirrored work of God.” In Divine Love (Caritas) in Liber Divinorum Operum III.3, Hildegard writes: “...I have written humanity, who was rooted in me like a shadow, just as an object’s reflection is seen in water.” Here we see her delve into the humanity and heart of this text. The full choir then comes back in, boldly affirming the text. As she pleads for the lost and the estranged, the choir scatters and fragments, slowly finding each other once more before the text presents images of might and power. The music again builds in rhythmic intensity and energy before dramatically ending with a plea for the downtrodden to be freed from their oppression through the mighty will of God.

O fire of the Spirit and defender

O fire of the Spirit and Defender,
the life of every life created:
Holy are you—giving life to every form.

Holy are you—anointing the critically
broken. Holy are you—cleansing
the festering wounds.

O breath of holiness,
O fire of love,
O taste so sweet within the breast,
that floods the heart with virtues’ fragrant
good.

O clearest fountain,
in which is seen the mirrored work of God:
to gather the estranged
and seek again the lost.

O living armor, hope that binds
the every limb,
O belt of honor: save the blessed.

Guard those enchained in evil’s prison,
and loose the bonds of those
whose saving freedom is the mighty* will of
God.

- Hildegard von Bingen (translation Nathaniel M. Campbell)

O Fire

Bagatelle for Ocean for solo vibraphone

Recorded by AREPO Contemporary Music Ensemble, July 2024.

According to the Hour (2024) for cello, clarinet, guitar, and accordion

The music of Cara Haxo juxtaposes delicate, sparkly textures with the gritty and the grotesque. Haxo is the winner of the 2022 NWMF Emerging Women Composers Competition. Other awards include the IAWM Libby Larsen and Ellen Taaffe Zwilich Prizes and the NFMC Young Composers Award. She has received commissions from the May Festival Youth Chorus, Quince Ensemble, and Splinter Reeds. Haxo is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Music at The College of Wooster and an Academic Dean and faculty member for The Walden School Young Musicians Program.

The Weft and Weave Between Us: iii. Love is an action verb (2023)

Cara Haxo

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