forever.

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My gateway to singing as a 15 year-old was early music, particularly Renaissance madrigals and motets.  I would stay up until all hours of the night with recordings of Josquin’s Ave Maria and Thomas Tallis’ If Ye Love Me, following each individual vocal line and completely spellbound by their polyphonic textures and tense, churning harmonies.  I chose to approach setting this poetry in the same structural style, not just to experiment with those musical characteristics, but also to challenge myself to evoke as much emotion as I could with very little text - which that era of composers did so masterfully. 

This music is a message in a bottle - a love letter unreceived. It is an anthem for anyone who has ever feared to love out loud, whether to avoid causing pain for someone else, or in fear of being rejected or discriminated against for who they love. 

Commissioned by Michael Costello and the Chicago Choral Artists, and premiered in May 2023.