Description

For Soprano, English Horn, Bassoon, Piano

Premiered during the 2024 International Double Reed Society Conference in Flagstaff, Arizona

(Looking for the version with Cello instead of Bassoon? Go HERE)

The text for Sun Songs comes from translated and interpreted texts of the North American Native Americans. Three different groups are represented – the Nootka, or Nuu-chah-nulth, indigenous peoples who live on the seaward coast of Vancouver Island, Canada and the Olympic Peninsula of Washington state, the Papago Indians (or the Tohono O’odham Indians) of Arizona and the Sonoran Desert, and the Havasupai People of the Grand Canyon.  These various texts were said to be used in ceremonies to bring good weather, to ask the sun and the rain to help grow the land, and to call upon the powers of nature.

By opting for these renditions of the texts, poems, and narratives attributed to indigenous people of North America, it is acknowledged that they merely capture the essence of Native American songs, language, and stories as interpreted by ethnologists, musicologists, and anthropologists seeking to safeguard the legacy of indigenous cultures during a period of rapid cultural erosion in America. Although these interpretations may not be wholly precise, my aim is to bring together these texts in reverence of the indigenous peoples who were the initial custodians of the land and persist in imparting invaluable lessons on cherishing the Earth. We ought to glean wisdom from their teachings on gratitude and stewardship of the land, striving to embody these principles before it’s too late to save our planet.

The version for Soprano, English Horn, Cello and Piano was commissioned for the 10th anniversary of Definiens, a new music ensemble in Los Angeles, California.  Joined by soprano Tony Arnold, it was premiered in February 2013 at the Idyllwild Arts Academy in Idyllwild, California, and at Highways in Santa Monica, California.