Forty-Eight Duets for Medium Voices

Take My Hand

Take My Hand was composed as a gift for a friend of the composer. It is a setting for medium voice and piano based on a poem by Robert Bode that celebrates the union of two lives. Rich keyboard harmonies support an arching melodic line in the voice, all in a moderate tempo. The piece is an ideal song for any wedding ceremony. Duration: ca. 2:00.

American Death Ballads

American Death Ballads was composed especially for tenor Brian Thorsett. We have been frequent collaborators since 2011, when he premiered the complete set of my Three Settings of W. B. Yeats for string quartet and tenor. At his urging, I transcribedand published my Three Poems of Christina Rossetti (originally for medium voice) for high voice, which he premiered at the San Francisco Conservatory in 2014. American Death Ballads was premiered by him at the San Francisco Conservatory, November 1,2015, with pianist John Churchwell, and at the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) Conference in Chicago, July 10, 2016, with pianist Warren Jones.

American Death Ballads

American Death Ballads was composed especially for tenor Brian Thorsett. We have been frequent collaborators since 2011, when he premiered the complete set of my Three Settings of W. B. Yeats for string quartet and tenor. At his urging, I transcribedand published my Three Poems of Christina Rossetti (originally for medium voice) for high voice, which he premiered at the San Francisco Conservatory in 2014. American Death Ballads was premiered by him at the San Francisco Conservatory, November 1,2015, with pianist John Churchwell, and at the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) Conference in Chicago, July 10, 2016, with pianist Warren Jones