LGBTQIA+ individuals face judgement every day based on religion, but Jesus’s true message was a message of love and acceptance. I composed “God is Love” during Pride Month 2023 as a message of healing to LGBTQIA+ Christians and those who see God outside of Christianity. 

If you would like to support me as an artist, you can purchase this piece on iTunes and listen to my music on streaming services. 
https://music.apple.com/us/album/god-is-love-single/1691698589

Purchase the sheet music on Amazon here: https://a.co/d/5oVYBT7

Thank you for listening!

©2023 Xavier Hersom

God is Love

St. Pauli Murray was a civil rights attorney who stood for race and gender equality, a member of the LGBTQ+ community, and the first Black woman to become an Episcopal priest in 1977. The Pauli Murray Family Home is a National Historic Landmark in Durham, North Carolina. Pauli was named to Episcopal sainthood in 2012 and her feast day is July 1st.

St. Pauli Murray

If you would like to support me as an artist, you can purchase this piece on iTunes or listen to it on other streaming services. Thank you!
https://music.apple.com/us/album/fantasia-of-wondrous-love-single/1691698756

Fantasia of Wondrous Love

International Youth Music Competitions (IYMC)
Atlanta, USA
Second Prize (Open 27+ Division)

I composed “Chasing Dreams” while I had a week off college to recover from a car accident (I missed the deer but totaled my car). It was just after my girlfriend at the time broke up with me because her parents did not approve of her dating a transgender man. To this day, it is personally my favorite piece I have written, and it helped remind me of why I am pursuing a degree in composition.

“Chasing Dreams” is a highly emotional piece about the journey of achieving one’s dream despite adversity. It is dedicated to all students and educators who experienced depression during COVID-19, yet still managed to chase their dreams and inspire others.

Purchase this piece on iTunes here:
https://music.apple.com/us/album/chasing-dreams-single/1693648490

The sheet music is available on Amazon here: 
https://a.co/d/6eFHOj5

Thank you for listening! 

©2023 Xavier Hersom

Chasing Dreams

If you would like to support me as an artist, you can purchase this piece on iTunes or listen to it on other streaming services. Thank you!
https://music.apple.com/us/album/fantasia-of-shady-grove-single/1691820827

Fantasia of Shady Grove

“The wedding” was written as a gift for my parents who married in 2021. The piece has four sections—A, B, C, A—illustrating different stages of a marriage. Section A “Falling in Love” starts with the thin harmonic texture of solo piano, then develops to the rich harmonic texture of the full piano quartet—this symbolizes the couple’s growing affection for one another. Section B—“The Bride Ascending the Aisle” and “Butterflies”—paints a picture of the bride gracefully proceeding up the aisle to join her partner and the nervous butterflies they feel once they are together—the viola and piano’s eighth notes imitate a butterfly’s flight. The scene shifts in section C to the wedding reception where the community joins in “The Wedding Dance.” Finally, the last section “The Old Couple Reminisces” is a recapitulation of section A “Falling in Love.” When section A is performed at the beginning of the piece, the harmony is slow to build (as love takes time to grow). Upon reflection of their life together, the couple has a richer picture of what love means to them. 

If you would like to support me as an artist, you can purchase this piece on iTunes and listen to my music on streaming services. 
https://music.apple.com/us/album/the-wedding-single/1693649865

Purchase the sheet music on Amazon here: https://a.co/d/hR6NOLN

Thank you for listening!

©2023 Xavier Hersom

The Wedding

International Music Composition Competition 2020 
Creative Music Class 
Third Prize

New Voices for Young Flutists
Honorable Mention 2022

Xavier Hersom composed “Hope” in 2020 during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.  “Hope” is a simple, yet beautiful composition for solo flute and piano. The evolving melody passing between the instruments represents life’s changing tides. There are periods that are graceful and pensive and others that are fleeting and exciting. The end of the piece is grave like looming depression, but it finally resolves in a bright cord—this symbolizes how even as we face our most difficult situations in life, in the end, there is always hope. 

Dr. Julianna Sabo de Figueroa, Flute
Logan Unger, Piano

Purchase this piece on iTunes here:
https://music.apple.com/us/album/hope-single/1693052241

The sheet music is available on Amazon here: 
https://a.co/d/gHwNNAP

Thank you for listening! 

©2023 Xavier Hersom

Hope

"Unheard" is a viola solo dedicated to those whose culture, stories, histories, and music remain unheard within the public school system.

Purchase the sheet music here! 
https://a.co/d/iQSwhQj

©2023 Xavier Hersom

Unheard (Viola Solo)

Composed by Xavier Hersom 
Performed by Shepherd University

Movements:
1. The Little Match Girl
4. The Feast  

You are about to hear the world premiere of 2 movements from my unfinished string trio “The Little Match Girl,” which is inspired by Hans Christian Anderson’s timeless fairytale first published in 1845. 
Unlike Anderson’s other fairytales, “The Little Match Girl” was loosely based on the childhood experience of his mother. Anderson himself also grew up in stark poverty and overcame many obstacles to become one of the greatest Danish authors who ever lived. 

The story follows a small homeless girl who tries to sell matches on a cold New Years Eve night. Selling matches at the time was the legal form of begging. When she is unable to sell matches to the people who pass by her unfazed, she lights one match at a time to keep warm.As she lights each match, she has glorious visions of a warm fireplace, a New Years feast, a beautiful Christmas tree, and finally her deceased grandmother who takes her up to heaven at the end of the story. Read the short fairytale here: https://andersen.sdu.dk/vaerk/hershol...

Although “The Little Match Girl” is a fairytale, homelessness is a very real issue even today.  According to the West Virginia Department of Education 2023 report, there are 13,530 homeless students in West Virginia and Jefferson County has the highest percentage of student homelessness at 1,582. 

My The Little Match Girl piece sounds dark and unsettling. I hope it inspires you to take action to address homelessness in our community. Thank you! 

Source: 
West Virginia Department of Education. "Count of West Virginia Students Experiencing Homelessness (SY23)." 2023. https://wvde.us/wp-content/uploads/20...

Copyright © 2024 Xavier Hersom

The Little Match Girl Mvts. I & IV

Xavier Hersom (b.1995) is an international-award-winning composer whose focus is addressing social issues through art. 

He believes art enables people to see the world from different perspectives and that music can spread awareness of critical issues today. 

Xavier is the author of several books, including "Transition" which illustrates his real-life experience of coming out as a man (assigned female at birth) and spiritually growing into the person he was always meant to be.

Xavier Hersom

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