pianist: David Lyons
mezzo soprano: Allison Spiller
violin: Victoria Moore


Raduysia Maria (Ave Maria in Russian)

mezzo soprano: Allison Spiller
pianist: David Lyons
text by: Anna Akhmatova

She wanted storms / Oна грозы желала 
You will hear thunder and remember me,
And will recall that it was storms she wanted….
The border of the sky will be hard crimson,
But your heart will be as it was – on fire!

And it will all come true this day in Moscow,
When this time for good I will forsake you
And hasten to the heights that I have longed for,
Leaving my shadow still to be with you.


Услышишь гром и вспомнишь обо мне,
Подумаешь: она грозы желала…
Полоска неба будет твердо-алой,
А сердце будет как тогда – в огне.
Случится это в тот московский день,
Когда я город навсегда покину
И устремлюсь к желанному притину,
Свою меж вас еще оставив тень.


She Wanted Storms (in Russian)

mezzo soprano: Allison Spiller
piano: David Lyons
recorded 09/21/2015
text by Anna Akhmatova


“With Coal He Marked on Me…” 

Углем наметил на левом боку
Место, куда стрелять,
Чтоб выпустить птицу — мою тоску
В пустынную ночь опять.

Милый! не дрогнeт твоя рука.
И мне недолго терпеть.
Вылетит птица— моя тоска,
Сядет на ветку и станет петь.

Чтоб тот, кто спокоен в своём дому,
Раскрывши окно, сказал:
«Голос знакомый, а слов не пойму» —
И опустил глаза.

31 января 1914, Петербург
	
With coal he marked on me black
A target on my left side
To shoot and free my anguish, the bird,
Into the empty night.

Your hand, my friend, it will not tremble,
And I will not suffer long.
The bird —my anguish— will soar, released,
 To perch on a branch, and sing its song.

And he who’s at his window, at home so content
Will say as he hears the refrain:
“The voice is familiar, the words I don’t know,”
And lower his eyes again. 

January 31, 1914 Petersburg

By Anna Akhmatova



Углем наметил на левом боку / With Coal He Marked on Me

text: Birthe Noer Myers
soprano: Emily Dworak
piano: Altynay Karsakpayeva
recorded January 21st, 2017

If I Could Call You Mine

The sky, the vaulting sky, the ocean wide,
and butterflies,
and all the birds with feathers fine
and the summer time;

birch tree groves in cool and very early spring,
And fields of grain,
lush, green fragrant grass,
cathedrals, cottages, and lakes.

Soaring, brave or sweet, mountain heights
and steep ravines, and valleys deep
with verdant fields –
all this I would spread in front of you to have –

with all the stars in August skies,
and moon and sun,
the cosmos, too, I’d give to you
if I could call you mine.

The sky, the vaulting sky, the ocean wide,
and butterflies,
and all the birds with feathers fine
if I could call you mine.

If I Could Call You Mine

text: Birthe Noer Myers
soprano: Emily Dworak
piano: Altynay Karsakpayeva
recorded January 21st, 2017

Love Lost, Love Found

How could I leave while meadow sweet blooms on the hill,
how can I be here and not there where I belong,
not see the water glinting in the fjord.
No more running bare foot through the dew-wet grass. 
In morning’s mist not finding speckled eggs of shore birds.

And shall I see the yellow gorse again?
Or smell the heady scent of elder blooms?
Or see the wind play waves with barley?
Not hear the fishing boats’ tuck-tuck, tuck-tuck at night?
Not hear the lark that sings on sunny days,
nor listen to songs we sang?

There will be flowers here that bloom,
and lakes and rivers, and the ocean wide,
and you, my love, you will be here with me.
You are more precious to me than all that.

I thrive here,
in your care.
I drown my longing in your arms.
I’m homesick,
a flower,
roots severed,
but I am here with you.

Love Lost, Love Found

This beautiful piece was composed by my classmate Hannah Cook in 2015 and performed at the March 2015 Outside the Box recital of the emerging composers. It has been comfort to me since my husband's passing on 1/28/2017.


"Don't Stand At My Grave And Weep" (text by Mary Elizabeth Frye)

Do not stand at my grave and weep;
I am not there. I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow.
I am the diamond glints on snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain.
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awaken in the morning's hush
I am the swift uplifting rush

Of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry;
I am not there. I did not die.

Hannah Cook: "Do Not Stand at my Grave and Weep"

cello: Byron Farrar
flute: Alexandra Jochum
piano: Altynay Karsakpayeva
composed by Christina Lyons
recorded 4/3/2017 in the Old Baptist Foundation, Carbondale, IL

Fear

Despair

Elation

flute: Alexandra Jochum
piano: Altynay Karsakpayeva
recorded 4/30/2017

Pling

Flutile

flute: Alexandra Jochum
piano: Altynay Karsakpayeva
recorded 5/4/2017

Lullaby For Vincent

flute: Alexandra Jochum
piano: Altynay Karsakpayeva
recorded 05/09/2017

Acceuil De Printemps

Christina Lyons, originally from Germany, holds a Master of Arts in Translation (1998), a PhD in English (2003), a Master of Arts in Teaching (German/French/English, K-12; 2007), and a PhD in Curriculum & Instruction (2013.  From spring 2015 until spring 2016, as emerging composer, Dr. Lyons has taken composition classes at Southern Illinois University Carbondale with Armando Bayolo, Christopher Walczak, and Philip Brown, and has been working on several CD recordings with students of the School of Music. Dubbed the “Renaissance woman” of the College of Liberal Arts, she won the 2016 University-Level Teaching Excellence (Non-Tenure-Track) Award in March 2016. 
Her music has become increasingly popular: “Yggdrasil” (keyboard category), “The Wicked Queen,” and “A Week’s Good-Bye” (children’s category) won 1st, 2nd, and 3rd prize in the 2013 Composers Guild composition contest. In July 2014, “Children in the Country: Three Dances for Flute and Piano” won 3rd prize in the composition contest of the Franz Schubert Konservatorium in Vienna, Austria. “Listening to Nature” was awarded Honorable Mention in the Instrumental category of the 31st Mid-Atlantic Song Contest of the Songwriters Association of Washington in January 2015. Her piece for mezzosoprano and piano, “To the Moon” (text by Percy Bysshe Shelley), was a nominee for the American Songwriting Awards in June 2015. Her “Anna Akhmatova Song Cycle” and “She Wanted Storms” for mezzosoprano (in Russian) and piano were nominees in the category “World Music,” “Summer Festival” (for flute and piano) was a nominee in the category “Children’s Song,” and “I Live, Like a Cuckoo in a Clock” was official finalist in the category “Adult Alternative” of the Hollywood Songwriting Contest 2015.  Further, “She Wanted Storms” was the award winner in the category “classical” in the 2015 American Songwriting Awards (ASA), and “Hope is the Thing With Feathers” and “Summer Festival” were both nominees in the same category. "Summer Festival" also made it to semi-finalist in the 2016 Song of the Year competition, and was finalist in the 18th Annual Great American Song Contest of 2016. "Nostalgia" received a Runner-Up placement in the 2017 Song of the Year songwriting competition.

Christina Linda Lyons

Popular tracks