Composer
Program Notes Jahaaṅ translates roughly to, “the place where…” It is this sense of both distance and possibility that I wanted to convey in these arrangements of folk songs from different states and languages within India. This final movement, Kuttanadan Punjayile (Malayalam) is about longing for home on so many levels: In the most literal … Read more
NOTE: This is the page for the SSAA (treble choir) version of This Love Between Us. For the SATB (original) version please go to This Love Between Us. Program Notes This Love Between Us is a piece about unity. Its seven movements juxtapose the words of seven major religious traditions of India (Buddhism, Sikhism, Christianity, Zoroastrianism, … Read more
Program Notes see program note for full work here Recording Recording of SATB version is forthcoming — in the meantime, here is the SSAA version: Text (Still I Rise by Maya Angelou. Reprint on a public site not authorized by estate.) Performances This piece was commissioned by Lehigh University Choral Arts for their women’s ensemble, … Read more
Program Notes ‘Say Your Name,’ a voting-rights cantata composed by Reena Esmail and written by Rebecca Gayle Howell. Here is the resilient story of a woman named Democracy, a woman battered by gaslighting and confusion. As she finds the courage to remember who she is, she learns what we all must: that to guard our … Read more
Program Notes She Will Transform You is centered around a beautiful poem of Indian-American author Neelanjana Banerjee. She speaks about the beautiful relationship of an immigrant and her child to their country of origin, and the significant role a child from both cultures has in bridging the divide between them. As a child of immigrants, I have felt both that distance … Read more
Program Notes This Love Between Us is a piece about unity. Its seven movements juxtapose the words of seven major religious traditions of India (Buddhism, Sikhism, Christianity, Zoroastrianism, Hinduism, Jainism and Islam), and specifically how each of these traditions approaches the topic of unity, of brotherhood, of being kind to one another. The texts come either … Read more
SKIP TO INFORMATION ON THIS VERSION Take What You Need is more than just a piece of music. It is a warm, safe, equitable space, where musicians and community can connect with one another, where stories can come forward, and where the foundations of a relationship can be built and nurtured. Bring Take What You … Read more
Program Notes The genre of women’s choral music is very special to me. The first piece of music I ever wrote, at age 13, was for the choir at the all-girls middle school I attended in Los Angeles, long before I knew it was even possible to be a professional composer. Each of the movements of I Rise: Women in Song is inspired … Read more