Walking in nature, immersed in the vast sounds of early morning birdsong. High up in the canopy, a breeze gently rustles the leaves in waves of shimmering, all-encompassing magical sounds above.

The cool wind awakens exposed skin relaxing into her beauty. Grounded on the earth, the presence of a world awakening, brought to life, and an invitation to surrender to the stunning surroundings of the natural world. 

This work is an exploration of vocal textures and sonorities, moments expansive and vast, and also, distinctly present, personal, and intimate, and bringing us all in close, safe, anchored in our grounded bodies. It seeks out the essence of magical beginnings through voice, space, breath, and embodiment.

It brings influences from Eno, Adams, Gjeilo, Corigliano, and Guðnadóttir’s stylistic music worlds into a vocal realm, and inspired by elements of Saariaho’s sonic worlds, where subtle vocal effects seamlessly emerge and weave throughout the voices and work.

It is an exploration of the stunning textural and timbral nuanced possibilities of the ensemble through the composing and rehearsal process, in crafting and realizing this work, and to those who take it forward beyond this and make it their own.

The work is anchored in nuanced harmonies and subtle textural shifts. It ultimately demands a surrender of the performer to fully embody the music. Where both audience and choir experience it together sinking in and surrounded by, the glimmering and open, the close and present, an inviting sonic world of beauty in which to let go and immerse. 

–Leah Curtis June 2023