Composer
*this work is not yet completed This new 30 minute work for Hilary Hahn and Matthias Goerne weaves together the German poetry of Paul Celan with new interstitial verse by Rebecca Gayle Howell, and explores the fervent search for silence in our modern world. (program notes will be available after the premiere) Program Notes Recording … Read more
Program Notes I am constantly drawn to the ‘dohe’ (couplets) of Kabir. His statements are pithy but their meanings are vast. They have been set and sung for hundreds of years in the Hindustani classical tradition, and they seem to meet each generation of performers and listeners in a unique way. This tiny couplet is … Read more
Keval Shah and Jess Dandy (image by Clare Park) Program Notes Godsongs is a song cycle that traces the journey of the Bhagavad Gita (literally translated as ‘god song’). Woven interstitially through Western art song, these original Sanskrit settings of verses from the Gita open a direct channel into the dialogue between Arjuna and Krishna … Read more
Program Notes (see the full version of Sunaao for program notes) Text (by Reena Bhansali) III. Behta Jaa Na-daal khud pe tu zyaada zorBhool jaao duniya ka yeh saara shorNadi ke saath behta jaaHavaa ke saath uṛta jaa Don’t be too hard on yourselfForget the noise of the worldGo on flowing with the riverGo on … Read more
Program Notes The first time I heard Samuel Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915, it changed my life. I was fourteen years old, and as I sat under the stars at the beautiful Ford Theater on a summer night in in Los Angeles with my parents, I completely identified with the voice of the child who … Read more
Program Notes When a person is gaslit, they are taught to not trust their own mind, their memories and reasoning. Their thoughts become rearranged, and with their thoughts, their reality. This can be true for an abused domestic partner, and it can be true for a public confused by disinformation and propaganda. To start toward … Read more
Program Notes When a person is gaslit, they are taught to not trust their own mind, their memories and reasoning. Their thoughts become rearranged, and with their thoughts, their reality. This can be true for an abused domestic partner, and it can be true for a public confused by disinformation and propaganda. To start toward … Read more
Program Notes This song for soprano, tenor and piano and violin was originally the fifth movement of my oratorio, eponymously titled This Love Between Us. The text comes from a variety of translations of ancient saint-poet Kabir’s writings, and from the Isa Upanishad. The original version starts and ends with the same duets between solo … Read more
Note: This is the first three movements of this set (Act 1), which were commissioned by TENET Vocal Artists. Movements 4 and 5 (along with interludes) were commissioned by Backshore Artists’ Project and Music from Angel Fire and were premiered in August 2025. Program Notes I’ve always been fascinated by iconoclastic women — those who … Read more
***This work is not yet completed*** This will be a set of three songs in Hindi, setting the text of 15C Indian saint-poet Kabir. The cycle will be suitable for younger singers, and will be an entry point for singers to learn to sing in Hindi. One song from the cycle, Dhire Dhire, is currently … 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 Wendell Berry’s beautiful sonnet begins with the line: “Who makes a clearing makes a work of art.” While this poem is about an actual clearing in the woods, Berry’s words made me reflect on how many ways there are to make a clearing — both outwardly and in our own souls — to … Read more