The Lord's Prayer (5:30)
for soprano
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Why won't you let me look right at you
for soprano
Premiered at the Sao Paolo Contemporary Composers Festival by Chloe Boelter, soprano and Leandro Roverso, piano Death comes for us all, but how should we face it? Do we run? Or might some welcome it with a smile? When Susan sent this provocative text to me, I thought immediately of the Germanic literary trope of welcoming death as an old friend, or like ent... Read More
Premiered at the Sao Paolo Contemporary Composers Festival by Chloe Boelter, soprano and Leandro Roverso, piano Death co... Read More
Pretty Girl
for soprano, mezzo, and piano
Premiered at the Kennedy Center Feb. 14th, 2022 Katerina Burton, soprano Amber R. Monroe, soprano Robert Ainsley, piano Lyrics: Pretty girls don’t suffer no fools We make ‘em, we don’t follow no rules One look at you, I knew your heart in an instant The fire in your voice, How it glittered like a thousand jewels You line your eyes like a qu... Read More
Premiered at the Kennedy Center Feb. 14th, 2022 Katerina Burton, soprano Amber R. Monroe, soprano Robert Ainsley, pia... Read More
Concrete Sea (2020) 8:00
for soprano
Premiered by the Cincinnati Song Initiative by Shannon Cochran, soprano and Christine Lalog, piano Lyrics by the composer: I am a drop in a concrete sea Not a sea of tranquility, But the torrent of life, with its countless terrors Beating me battered, leaving me lost in the errors Of my ways Oh, won’t you hold me through the storm? Won’t s... Read More
Premiered by the Cincinnati Song Initiative by Shannon Cochran, soprano and Christine Lalog, piano Lyrics by the comp... Read More
Dearest Muse (2020) 4:00
for baritone (or tenor) and piano
My dearest muse, your eyes are like the sun and the moon Your voice like the angels, when you speak the world ceases to move And nothing compares to the inspiration I find in your room Your Joy is my motivation When you smile my heart sings Your devotion to me is the sweetest caress In your bosom is my bliss Is our love as dear to you... Read More
My dearest muse, your eyes are like the sun and the moon Your voice like the angels, when you speak the world ceases to... Read More
Tarantula Hawk (2020) 4:00
for mezzo and piano (ver. for tenor available)
Lyrics by the composer: A flicker of wings, a flash of jet-black I was unprepared for such an attack Of vicious venom, so sweetly it slides Into the dark depths of my soft insides. You cut into me, sliced between my legs Planted your sole seed, can’t hear as I beg To be freed from this, my prison of flesh As I am consumed, down to ... Read More
Lyrics by the composer: A flicker of wings, a flash of jet-black I was unprepared for such an attack Of vicious... Read More
Bergmanden (The Miner) (2020) 10:30
for bass and piano (ver. for mezzo available)
Translation: Beetling rock, with roar and smoke Break before my hammer-stroke! Deeper I must thrust and lower Till I hear the ring of ore. From the mountain's unplumbed night, Deep amid the gold-veins bright, Diamonds lure me, rubies beckon, Treasure-hoard that none may reckon. There is peace within the deep-- Peace and immemorial sleep; Hea... Read More
Translation: Beetling rock, with roar and smoke Break before my hammer-stroke! Deeper I must thrust and lower Till I... Read More
Heart's Haven (2020) 4:30
for tenor and piano (ver. for female/treble belter available)
Lyrics by the composer: I used to feel like our love kept me sustained Thought it was paradise I used to feel fire coursing through my veins, But there was poison inside. I thought that we would be together, I wouldn’t have to walk alone. But they say hell is other people, So I’ll just burn here on my own. Can’t remember all the... Read More
Lyrics by the composer: I used to feel like our love kept me sustained Thought it was paradise I used to feel f... Read More
Elegy (2018) 4:00
for tenor and piano