...haunting and poetic musical lines for soprano...

— Edward Ortiz, Sacramento Bee

Kurt Erickson

Chicago Songs

soprano and piano

Chicago Songs is my attempt to musically recreate something of the spirit and people found in Carl Sandburg’s iconic poetry. Sandburg’s world is one filled with the grit of burgeoning industrialization, the earnest hope of immigrant settlers, and the heartache and beauty found in the everyday. His characters are larger than life, yet tragically human — there’s a poignancy in their foibles that I find very attractive. As a composer I’ve always been drawn to nostalgic, highly personal subject matter and these texts compliment my own nostalgic, highly personal musical impulses.