Poetry

A request by Artistic Director Susan Glass for a new choral work addressing climate change resulted in the creation of “Planet Earth Lullaby.” Composer Rich Campbell contemplated and determined the piece would be both an alarm for help and a call to action. For over a century the internationally recognized distress signal has been the […]

A brief, delightful and whimsical setting of a text by American poet Gertrude Stein. It may be learned quickly. It is almost entirely built on a round, which underscores the poem’s wordplay. For 3-part treble choir, with piano accompaniment. Secular.

When I first discovered Charles Bernstein’s beautiful poem, I knew immediately that I wanted to set it for men’s chorus. The poem expresses so much within a brief, 4-verse form. I set out to use harmony to color the text’s rich imagery while honoring the poem’s lyrical and repetitive nature in the melody. The surprising […]

The Metropolitan Transit Authority in New York has a “Poetry in Motion” series that puts posters of poetry in subway cars. I was on the 1 train on Manhattan’s West Side one day when I saw the poem “Heaven,” by Patrick Phillips. I was immediately captured by the simple beauty of Patrick’s poem, and the […]

This setting of a poem by Linda Marcus is entirely pentatonic (i.e. uses only 5 notes – C, D, F, G and A) apart from the very last measure. The pentatonic setting is intended to create a naive effect, recalling childhood. (The very opening is based on a universal 3-note ‘song of childhood’.) The points […]

The bass section plays a featured role in this setting of the wistful and evocative poetry of Sadakichi Hartmann. A barcarolle-style accompaniment and layered, drifting harmonies express the themes of ocean waves, drifting ships, and nostalgia for things past.

Composer’s Note: “The Red Wheelbarrow,” an innovative environmental/imagist poem I first read as a teenager, struck me as an alluring and joyful means to immerse in a commission by Austin’s Inversion Ensemble for their Planet Home project. The score blossomed during a fellowship at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, a pastoral setting that […]

In the poem “Psalm of the Sky,” Rabbi Rachel Barenblat reimagines “The Lord is My Shepherd” (Psalm 23) in a contemporary context. Performers may highlight the many instances of text painting and create contrast between moments of gentleness, boldness, and carefree movement. The last verse of Psalm 23 is included in Hebrew as a coda […]

Among The Trees  The Clearing Rests In Song and Shade I Go Among the Trees and Sit Still All the Earth Shall Sing (The dark around us, come) Three Songs for SATB Choir & Piano Words by Wendell Berry These three songs are about finding peace and unity within nature.  Balance comes to many of […]

Steven Paxton’s RAINDROP SONG is a setting of a whimsical poem by Texas poet Chris Willerton, about a talking raindrop. This short, delightful work for treble choir requires a good pianist, and includes short spoken segments for individual speaker as well as full choir.

“Coney Island,” was written by Pulitzer prize winning American poet Sara Teasdale (1884-1933) and was first published in 1911 in the collection “Helen of Troy and Other Poems.”. Born in St. Louis, Missouri, she lived for many years in New York City. My immigrant great-grandparents settled in Brooklyn, New York, in the 1890’s, and lived […]

In the poem “Psalm of the Sky,” Rabbi Rachel Barenblat reimagines “The Lord is My Shepherd” (Psalm 23) in a contemporary context. Performers may highlight the many instances of text painting and create contrast between moments of gentleness, boldness, and carefree movement. The last verse of Psalm 23 is included in Hebrew as a coda […]

A moving setting of the classic American lullaby. Good for developing singers, but also a good choice for some lovely unison singing with more advanced ensembles. The students we arranged this for absolutely loved it. We hope your choir does too.

The text of “In Those Years, No One Slept” is a scene from a time of conflict/war, by Romanian-American immigrant Claudia Serea. The score is at once rhythmic and exciting, haunting and unsettling. It was a winner of the 2018 Uncommon Music Festival Composition Competition. It is accessible for all fine high school, collegiate and […]

This is a simple a cappella setting of William Blake’s poem, ‘Little Lamb, who made thee?’ The two verses are set for SATB, with an optional soprano solo at the beginning. It was written for Sutton Coldfield Chamber Choir, but is suitable for a group of any size, from quartet upwards!

“Prelude and Cherubic Hymn” was commissioned by the John F. Kennedy School in Berlin, to mark the 25th anniversary of their annual Advent services held in Berlin Cathedral. It was performed by joint choirs, drawn from students, parents and faculty, and choir members of the American Church in Berlin on 29 November 2017. The piece […]

I have loved this poem for as long as I can remember. It’s crisp, fresh imagery, it’s success in conveying, with a magnificent economy, what a poem is all about, is indeed a small miracle. I could not resist the temptation to set it for chorus. Because the poem had “gestated” for many years, I […]

In the poem “Psalm of the Sky,” Rabbi Rachel Barenblat reimagines “The Lord is My Shepherd” (Psalm 23) in a contemporary context. Performers may highlight the many instances of text painting and create contrast between moments of gentleness, boldness, and carefree movement. The last verse of Psalm 23 is included in Hebrew as a coda […]

The author of the text of this composition, Norbert Čapek (1870-1942) was the founder of the Unitarian movement in what is now the Czech Republic. Originally destined for the Catholic priesthood, he converted to the Baptist faith; however, his views gradually became more liberal, and he was forced to emigrate to the United States. After […]

A setting for unaccompanied SATB choir (with divisi) of words by Eric Gosney, a poet from England’s Isle of Purbeck. A wistful and nostalgic love song, in which the poet wishes to “thwart old Time’s irrevocable plan and live again those two short hours with you”. These evocative words are set with suitably tender harmonies […]

This is an a cappella setting of William Blake’s poem ‘The Tyger’ for mixed choir (SATB) with some divisions. It may be performed on its own, or preferably as a companion piece to ‘Little Lamb, who made thee?’, also obtainable through Swirly Music. It is suggested that ‘Little Lamb’ be performed first, as there is […]

This work won special commendation in the Phoenix Choral Composition Competion (UK) in 2010. It was premiered by the Phoenix Singers of Shrewsbury in St. Mary’s Church, Shrewsbury, England in April 2011.

This composition won first prize in the Longfellow Choral Composition Competition in 2011. I have enjoyed Longfellow’s poetry for many years–“Excelsior” in particular. However, I’ve never managed to develop a huge amount of sympathy for the poem’s protagonist. Here we have a youth who ignores the advice of everyone around him that his journey was […]