It will be spring soon (2021)

It will be spring soon was written for Ruby Hughes and Malin Broman, two musicians I am lucky enough to have enjoyed several years of wonderful musical collaboration and friendship with.  I knew from the moment I agreed to write the piece that I wanted it to be about joy in some way.  The three poems I decided to set shine a spotlight on this theme in different ways. In Coming, by Philip Larkin, (the title comes from this poem) a sense of hope and delight is heralded by the sound of a thrush singing. Little clown, my heart, by Sandra Cisneros, has an infectious, light-hearted energy to it. Finally, in Once, I by Jane Hirshfield I was struck by an incredible hazy, serene, maybe blissful atmosphere.  I hope I’ve captured some of the spirit of these wonderful poems in my settings of them.