things i don’t say
Makenna Harding-Davis
 
This piece is the sonification of self-imposed restraint and the silent battle against things left unsaid.
 
 
If we are trees
Gibson Mahnke
 
“well, an old stump is good
for sitting and resting.
Come, Boy, sit down.
Sit down and rest.”
 
And the boy did.
 
And the tree was happy.
 
The Giving Tree
Shel Silverstein
 
 
Invisible Keepsakes
Olivia Marckx
 
Invisible Keepsakes is a song cycle setting of five poems by Carl Sandburg. Sandburg’s nature poetry consistently ventures beyond mere observation, offering an anthropomorphized conception of the natural world’s interaction with humanity. In this song cycle, the cello and voice mirror that level of interconnectivity, constantly trading motives and commenting on each other.
 
 
towards the lonely tree
Benjamin Beckman
 
This idea for this song cycle was born when mezzo-soprano Tyler Roberts, for whom the piece is written, shared with me Millay’s poem “What lips my lips have kissed”–the text of the fourth song in this cycle. I drew three other poems from Millay’s volume The Harp Weaver and Other Poems. With the four songs, I tried to create a sense of the narrative arc of a relationship from its genesis to eventual death.
 
 
Nachhall
Henryk Golden
 
“Nachhall” literally translates to “after sound.” The “after sound” is created by playing the strings of the instrument in such a manner that the fingers of the violinists left hand do not stop a certain string from sounding. This lack of stopping creates different drones throughout the piece. The piece is a dance for the fingers for the player as they have to carefully avoid the string that ought to be resonating, while rapidly moving around the fingerboard. This dance of resonance and movement is what you hear.
 
 
for jim
Ella Kaale
 
in memory of my late grandfather (1942-2024)