New York VoiceDance

• A wordless piece by Greg Jasperse, full of dynamics, rhythm, and joy! A cappella.

Quiet as the Moon

• By Dave Brubeck, this piece features wonderful textural and time play, and I really like Iola Brubeck’s poem.

Child with the Starry Crayon

• I love the text and its imagery, as well as how Eleanor Daley served the text so well.

I Got It Bad and That Ain’t Good

• I always liked the angularity of this melody by Duke Ellington, and Paris Rutherford‘s arrangement more than does it justice.

Gate Gate

• A fantastic piece by Brian Tate! Love the energy, text, rhythm, time changes, and textures.

I Thank You God

• One of my favourite E.E. Cummings poems set by Gwyneth Walker. Beautiful piano accompaniment. A big dramatic ending that isn’t overblown.

Te Quiero (I Adore You)

• Heartbreakingly gorgeous a cappella ballad by Alberto Favero. I think I hold my breath every time my women’s choir sings this. A love poem set against a backdrop of political turmoil, with lovely Latin-American tinged texture, harmony, and flow.

The Aurora Borealis

• The text, a sonnet, stopped me in my tracks when I encountered it, and I knew I (Elise Letourneau) would eventually be setting it, and I love how it turned out. It’s a piece for mezzo-soprano, women’s choir, and piano. Doreen Taylor-Claxton and Vox Eclectica Women’s Chamber Choir did a beautiful job when it was premiered last fall.

Dusk

• A beautiful setting by Dave Brubeck of a meaningful text by Langston Hughes. Some sophisticated jazz harmonic elements, but not outside the realm of familiarity for more traditional choirs.

• A very groovy and rhythmic a cappella piece by Ysaye Barnwell with a positive message of self-acceptance. Since it was originally done by a women’s a cappella group, some of the higher men’s parts are easily assignable to lower women’s voices if you don’t have enough men.