SI: What makes Luciana Souza the perfect singer for this song cycle’s premiere? Especially inspiring was the chance to explore, through this perspective of this one life coming to an end, the experience of facing death and the treasury of life’s myriad experiences that are in so many ways universal to all. The poem was endlessly inspiring: so many images, particular and visual, and so many emotions and opportunities to investigate the human experience on a very intimate scale. We consulted with Joseph Cermatori to sculpt a unified libretto, and to follow that original intent of the form. We set about to excerpt it, choosing passages that felt ripe for music-making, while maintaining her original abecedary form. We were overwhelmed at this generous invitation, and vowed to honor the poem and to be true to the feeling of the whole work. In a phone conversation with all of the composers, the poet welcomed us to excerpt the poem in order to better serve the music and the new work as a whole. Through the lens of these visceral personal moments are glimpses into different points in time in human history, recalling childhood, the fallout of war, a sense of home, intimacy, loss, nostalgia, the mundane, and the epic. Rachel Grimes: Carolyn Forché’s remarkable poem “On Earth” is a profoundly beautiful and devastating exploration of the last moments before death from the perspective of a woman recollecting her life in shards of crystalline memories. Second Inversion: What is this poem about, and how did it inspire the music?

In anticipation of tonight’s performance, we asked each of the five composers one question about the poetry, music, and meaning behind The Blue Hour: Visit t he video link below to tune in to tonight’s live stream, or click here to stream directly from Facebook. Grammy-winning jazz singer Luciana Souza joins the chamber orchestra in this song cycle written by a collaborative of five leading composers: Rachel Grimes, Sarah Kirkland Snider, Shara Nova, Angélica Negrón, and Caroline Shaw.Īnd although the concert itself is in Boston, you can still hear every minute of this musical tour de force right here on Second Inversion during our live video stream of the performance this Friday, November 10 at 5pm PT / 8pm ET. Based on Carolyn Forché’s abecedarian poem “On Earth,” the song cycle explores the last hour of one woman’s life, the fleeting memories from A to Z that flash before her eyes-and how her one single story is ultimately many stories: an intimate snapshot of our shared humanity. One woman’s story comes to life through the voice of five composers tonight in A Far Cry’s performance of The Blue Hour.

Shards of war aphex