Choral Commission: I Hold Your Name

Everything we do right now is colored by our present circumstances. Sometimes, it works out well. I was recently commissioned by the Cantate Chamber Singers and their redoubtable conductor, Victoria Gau, to write a choral work that reflects the current moment. The text for the piece, I Hold Your Name, was commissioned from the poet Adrianna Smith. It was my first opportunity to work with a poet in such an interactive way. Her original libretto was beautiful, and if I asked for an alternate word that might include, say, more long vowels, she was right on top of it. My hope is that I fashioned the music in such a way that all of her lines are clear and understandable. The goal is to have some sort of performance in the spring. If a choir can feel safe singing a public performance, then we’ll know that we are somewhere close to normalcy.