To Avielle, On Her Fifth, Sixth Birthday (The Unarmed Child)
From the large choral work, "The Unarmed Child." There's really no way to appropriately recognize your lost child's birthday, Jeremy said as he and Jennifer talked about what life has been like for their family since the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School took the lives of twenty children and six educators in 2012.
The Radium Girl
Based on the tragic story of the "Radium Girls" - young women who were exposed to radium as part of their work in clock factories who eventually died from the exposure. This piece is intended to shine a light on these women and other people working in tragic conditions through the power of song. Unique overtone singing and interesting musical textures express the text in a creative way.
Lamiya’s Song
Lamiya's Song is written to bring attention to one of the most significant and challenging issues in our world today, the global refugee crisis. Lamiya Safarova lost her home and her village to the Nagorno-Karabakh War when she was only nine, eventually settling with her family in a cardboard shack on the shore of the Caspian Sea. She began writing poems to express her feelings. The loss of her home and her village had a profound impact on Lamiya. And so did being classified as a "refugee" by her classmates in school. Lamiya has a name, and her poem gives her a voice.
My Name is Lamiya: Don't Call Me "Refugee"
This composition was written to bring attention to one of the most significant and challenging issues in our world today, the global refugee crisis. Nine-year-old Lamiya Safarova lost her home and her village, and she began writing poems to express her feelings. The stirring text and repeated rhythmic elements persist throughout this work, along with body percussion that represents the journey of the refugee, forced away from their home, most often by foot.