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 […]
Malhaar: A Requiem for Water
Program Notes In Hindustani music, Malhaar(p/d) refers to a family of raags that beckon rain. As the legend goes, the greatest musicians could cause a downpour from even the most severely parched skies by the […]
Say Your Name
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. […]
A Winter Breviary
Program Notes I. We Look for You (Evensong – Raag Hamsadhwani)II. The Year’s Midnight (Matins – Raag Malkauns)III. The Unexpected Early Hour (Lauds – Raag Ahir Bhairav) This set of three carols, on new texts […]
Take What You Need
You have reached the main landing page for Take What You Need. For specific versions, see the sidebar of this page. Take What You Need is more than just a piece of music. It is […]
Listen
Program Notes When I worked with Urban Voices Project, a choir on Skid Row in downtown Los Angeles, I met a man named Brian Palmer. He used to say, “One act of love, I know […]
She Will Transform You (SATB + flute)
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 […]
The History Of Red (chamber orchestra version)
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 […]
This Love Between Us, mmt 5 (Trio Version)
Program Notes This song for soprano/mezzo, 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 […]
When the Guitar
Program Notes As a companion piece to Victoria’s O Vos Omnes, I chose to set a beautiful text by the 14C Persian poet Hafiz. The text of O Vos Omnes is asking, simply, to be seen in a […]
She Will Transform You (choir+orchestra)
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 […]
When the Violin (SATB+cello)
Program Notes As a companion piece to Victoria’s O Vos Omnes, I chose to set a beautiful text by the 14C Persian poet Hafiz. The text of O Vos Omnes is asking, simply, to be […]
