This piece unites the English-language Psalm 23 with Latin words of the Requiem Mass (“Requiem aeternam”). Through its combination of disparate texts, including a psalm with liturgical prevalence across different faiths, the piece aims to highlight the universality of the experience of loss and celebration of the journey of life.

Recorded by the Choir of the Church of St. Mary the Virgin in Times Square and conducted by David Hurd (November 5, 2023).

For more information:
https://www.emmakdaniels.com/23rd-psalm

23rd Psalm

Oxymoron represents a battle of conflicting views about women: who they are and who they should be. The choir sings the role of the voices to the far left of Zsuzsanna’s poem, while the quartet of soloists take on the role of the indented voices of objection. The piece begins with a dramatic opening, in which all characters are distressed about the possibility of strong women, whether it’s a melodramatic or comical sense of distress (on the side of the full choir), or a true sense of rejection of the idea of strong women in general (from the soloists). As the choir first sings the words, “Women of strength,” they are confident. The soloists interject with their doubts. Then, the choir, feeling somewhat bullied by these comments, begins to sing the text, “Women of strength?” with hesitancy. After another round of soloist interruptions, the choir gains a new sense of questioning and curiosity about strong women. As the final round of brutal feedback from the soloists progresses, the choir is feeling increasingly confident in their original belief in the power of women. With renewed tenacity, they interrupt the soprano soloist and proceed to hammer down their point.

Written for Zsuzanna Ardó's PlanetWoman project.
Performed by C4: The Choral Composer/Conductor Collective and conducted by Katie Kress (March 16, 2024).

Solo quartet performed by Hannah Cai Sobel, Cynthia Shaw, Jacob Lyon, and Bryan Lin.

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PlanetWoman
Poem © Zsuzsanna Ardó
Music © Emma Daniels
Created for the PlanetWoman international project curated by Zsuzsanna Ardó.
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For more information:
https://www.emmakdaniels.com/oxymoron

Pulse

Oxymoron

Text adapted from the Panikhida

Russian:
Vechnaya pamyat’.
Vechnaya pamyat’.
Vechnaya pamyat’.

English::
Memory eternal.
Memory eternal.
Memory eternal.

Source: Panikhida

Vechnaya pamyat'

Text adapted from the Qur'an 31:34

Arabic:
Inna Allaha AAindahu AAilmu assaAAati
wama tadree nafsun matha taksibu ghadan
wamatadree nafsun bi-ayyi ardin tamootu

English:
Indeed the knowledge of the Hour is with Allah.
No soul knows what it will earn tomorrow,
And no soul knows in what land it will die.

Source: The Qur’an: With a Phrase-by-Phrase English Translation

Wamatadree nafsun bi-ayyi ardin tamootu

Text from the Hebrew Prayer Book

Hebrew:
Eil malei rachamim, shochein bam’romim.
Ham’tzei m’nucha n’chona al kanfei hash’china,
b’ma’alot k’doshim u’t’horim k’zohar harakiam,
Ba’al harachamim,
yastireim b’seiter k’nafav l’olamim,
V’yitzror bitzror hachayim et nishmatam.
Adonai, Hu nachalatam,
v’yanuchu b’shalom al mishkavavam. V’nomar: Amen.

English:
O God, full of compassion, Eternal Spirit of the universe, 
grant perfect rest under the shelter of Your Presence
to our loved ones who have entered eternity.
Source of mercy and loving kindness,
let them find refuge forever in Your loving presence,
and let their souls be bound up in the bond of eternal life.
The Eternal God is their inheritance.
May they rest in peace, and let us say: Amen.

Source: The Union Prayerbook: Sinai Edition

Eil malei rachamim

Text from the Missa pro defunctis

Latin + Greek:
Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine;
et lux perpetua luceat eis.
Te decet hymnus, Deus, in Sion,
et tibi reddetur votum in Jerusalem.
Exaudi orationem meam;
ad te omnis caro veniet.

Kyrie eleison.
Christe eleison.
Kyrie eleison.

English:
Eternal rest grant them, O Lord;	
and perpetual light shine upon them.
A hymn is fitting for you, O God, in Zion,
and homage shall be paid to You in Jerusalem.
Hear my prayer;
to You all flesh shall come.

Lord have mercy.
Christ have mercy.
Lord have mercy.

Introit + Kyrie

Just before studying abroad in St. Petersburg, Russia, I read Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina. This book introduced me to the Russian spirit that is all at once lively and despondent, proud and reserved, genuine and dishonest. It introduced me to the enigma of the Russian soul. I was especially struck by the passage, which describes a pivotal realization by a central character, Constantine Dmitrich Levin - the text I chose to set to music for this piece. Levin reflects on the knowledge he has always had, that he “must love his neighbor and not throttle him,” but grapples with the idea that reason has caused men to throttle others to satisfy their needs and desires. How do you explain love using reason? Levin concludes that love is a natural phenomenon, beyond reason and conscious thought. It’s a simple idea, but one that alters Levin as he becomes a happier man, putting more value into his life and his ability to love. I’ve aspired to capture Levin’s inner conflict musically, through a tenor melody with repeated G-flats that struggle to resolve to Fs and clashing minor seconds, almost always sung with increasing dynamics. Simple triads depict a sense of clarity, while frantic, turbulent soprano solo lines represent the twisty, complicated, and sometimes very pessimistic Russian character. Deep, slow chords in a lower register reminisce of traditional Russian Orthodox choral music. Focusing on one man’s psychological journey, this piece endeavors to depict the intricate, incredibly complex Russian mind.

Artist: Triad: Boston's Choral Collective
Conductor: Corey de Tar

Text: Leo Tolstoy

An excerpt from "Anna Karenina" translated into English:

Was it by reason that I attained to the knowledge that I must love my neighbor and not throttle him? They told me so when I was a child, and I gladly believed it, because they told me what was already in my soul. But who discovered it? Not reason! Reason has discovered the struggle for existence and the law that I must throttle all those who hinder the satisfaction of my desires. That is the deduction reason makes. But the law of loving others could not be discovered by reason, because it is unreasonable.

English					Russian
To love					Lyubit’

For more information:
https://www.emmakdaniels.com/the-law-of-loving-others

The Law Of Loving Others

I wrote this piece in December 2016, as I struggled to reflect on the 2016 Presidential Election. This text by Emma Lazarus, the poem engraved at the base of the Statue of Liberty, struck me as especially vital in our current political climate. A Jewish poet living in New York in the mid-19th century, Lazarus became fixated on the pogroms in the Russian Empire and the turbulent arrival of exiled refugees to the United States. She recognized the opportunity to express the predicament of refugee immigrants through her art. This poem so transparently and so eloquently conveys a desire for an America that welcomes those who are different, an America whose people can celebrate their differences. This is a desire I feel so many of us share, and a song that needs to be sung.

Artist: Triad: Boston's Choral Collective
Conductor: Charles Turner

Text: Emma Lazarus

From her poem "The New Colossus":

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles…
“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

Mother of Exiles

This piece is dedicated to my mom, who inspires me with her capacity to love and learn and grow and fight more every day. It was performed by Mivos Quartet + Matt Magerkurth at The Walden School Creative Musicians Retreat in Dublin, NH, June 22, 2017.

For Her

This is a setting of Yih'yu l'ratson (the "May the Words" prayer), which I composed for Scott Kumer and the Chicago Sinai Congregation's Professional Choir. It was premiered at Sinai on February 12, 2017. This performance took place at Westminster Choir College in February 2018, performed by the C2 Singers and conducted by Emma Daniels.

Text from the Union Prayerbook-Sinai ed.:

Hebrew:
Yih'yu l'ratson im'rei fi v'hegyon libi l'fanecha,
Adonai tsuri v'goali.

English:
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be
acceptable to You, O God, my Rock and my Redeemer.

For more information:
https://www.emmakdaniels.com/yihyu-lratson

Yih'yu l'ratson

I composed All the world for Westminster Chapel Choir. The piece sets a quote by Helen Keller, “All the world is full of suffering. It is also full of overcoming.” To me, the quote speaks quite eloquently to the sense of simultaneous darkness and light in the world and in our everyday lives. There is triumph and praise, and immense joy, but there is also pain and suffering. Helen Keller could not see or hear, and the quote is almost more meaningful because it was said by somebody who has an almost complete lack of visual and aural understanding. We all suffer and we all overcome, and these experiences unite us and inspire us, just as music does.

Artists:
Westminster Chapel Choir
Emma Moyer, soloist
Sinhaeng Lee, piano

Conductor: Emma Daniels

Text: Helen Keller

"All the world is full of suffering.
It is also full of overcoming."

For more information:
https://www.emmakdaniels.com/all-the-world

All the world

Emma is a conductor, composer, and singer based in New York City. She is the Music Director of Philomusica Concert Choir, a 40-voice, auditioned choral ensemble, and a founding member of Triad: Boston’s Choral Collective, an organization made up of singers, composers, and conductors who share artistic responsibility and perform new music. Today, she sings, conducts, and composes with C4: the Choral Composer/Conductor Collective in NYC, the choir after which Triad was modeled. She also teaches private piano and voice lessons and sings soprano in the choir at the Church of St. Mary the Virgin in Times Square. Emma has most recently served as Choral Instructor at King School in Stamford, CT as well as Pre-K-8 Music Instructor at Horizons, Norwalk Community College, assistant conductor of Lyric Opera of Chicago’s Children’s Chorus for its 2020 production of Tchaikovsky’s Queen of Spades, and conductor at Chicago Sinai Congregation.

Emma’s compositions have been performed by Triad: Boston’s Choral Collective, Westminster Chapel Choir, Tufts Chamber Singers, and other college, synagogue, and church choirs from Boston to Los Angeles. As a vocalist, she has performed both solo and ensemble work in the Midwest and on the East Coast, including with St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church in Wilton, CT, Philadelphia Symphonic Choir, Princeton Society of Musical Amateurs, and Hans Zimmer Live US Tour. She grew up singing with the Chicago Children’s Choir (now Uniting Voices Chicago), an organization born out of the Civil Rights Movement, dedicated to creating a better world through connecting singers of different backgrounds and experiences to create music. This worldview has shaped her as a musician today.

Emma holds a Master of Music in Choral Conducting from Westminster Choir College in Princeton, NJ and a Bachelor of Arts in Music from Tufts University in Medford, MA.

Emma K Daniels

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