Let Me Sing

For soprano and orchestra (2222 222 pc hp strings) or piano. Duration - 15 minutes.

Djuna Barnes was a journalist, poet and illustrator who underwent a forced feeding to demonstrate the barbarity of the technique being used against hunger-striking suffragists. Sara Teasdale is a renowned and beloved poet who wrote anti-war poetry during the First World War, a time of extreme nationalism. Frances Harper was an abolitionist, teacher, poet, journalist and lecturer hailed as “the mother of African-American journalism.”

These are all stories that I discovered for myself and was inspired by when first reading poetry to include in this cycle. These women were activists and advocates at a time when their causes were dangerous to pursue, and when women and people of color were denied basic rights.

Commissioned by Chicago Composers Orchestra (Allen Tinkham, music director) and written for soprano Ariana Strahl.