If I Can Sing, I Still am Free

2016 Idaho All-State, 2018 Arkansas All-State selection

“If I Can Sing, I Still Am Free” was the winner of the San Diego choir SACRA/PROFANA’s 2014 composition competition. It’s an ideal piece for festivals and large ensembles, with a text that champions inner strength in the face of adversity. It has quickly become one of Campbell’s most performed works, performed by high school, collegiate, and community & professional ensembles.

Here’s what SACRA/PROFANA director, Krishan Oberoi, had to say about the piece: “We were struck by Rich Campbell’s unconventional approach to Sara Teasdale’s poem, ‘Refuge’. Rich’s setting of the text represents a radical departure from almost all other choral settings of the poem. Campbell eschews an introspective interpretation of the poem (which seems like the natural response to Teasdale’s pensive text), favoring instead a brash, declamatory setting which mirrors the composer’s own contemporary urban environment. The musical language reflects Campbell’s eclectic musical influences, incorporating strains of jazz, musical theater, and balletic composers like Stravinsky in a propulsive union that carries the listener forward to a rousing climax of human affirmation.“