A Timbered Choir

I just delivered the full orchestral score of my song cycle A TIMBERED CHOIR to Chung Park, Director of Orchestras at St. Olaf College. A Timbered Choir is a fifteen-minute work in three movements for tenor soloist and orchestra, on texts by Wendell Berry.  I have loved Wendell Berry’s poetry since my first encounter with it and have composed a number of choral pieces to his words.  THE CIRCLES OF OUR LIVES was the Raymond W. Brock commission from the American Choral Directors Association, their highest recognition for composers, THE WHEEL a commission from the Eastern Division of ACDA to honor Doug Miller, long-time director of choral studies at Penn State University.  Others include THE PEACE OF WILD THINGS, WE CLASP THE HANDS, and an earlier choral work on A TIMBERED CHOIR.

The three poems that comprise the text have to do with great trees:  A Timbered Choir, I Go Among Trees, and Sabbaths.  There is a majesty and reverence in these words -- wind and air, sun and shade, birds and leaves, stillness and quiet, singing and song. The timbered choir is described as “stout beams upholding weightless grace of song, a blessing on this place”.

A spring 2023 performance is planned with Wendell Berry and me in attendance.