Four orchestral songs with a light touch that are jazzy, sassy, playful, and tuneful.

Movements:

I. Janitor, II. Bread Maker, III. Evolution, IV. 400 Bridges

Duration: 14’00”
Year of Completion: 2000

Soloist: Mezzo-soprano

Orchestra: 2222 221 hrp 1perc timp strings

Winner of the Omaha Symphony’s Composition Competition

Composer's Note:

For Three Sundays was commissioned in 2000 by Dutch singer Wilma Wever with a grant from the Amsterdam Fonds voor de Kunst. Wever premiered the songs in New York City’s Wiell Hall and in the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.  

As part of the joint American and Dutch premieres, I was asked to write a work that would tie in themes or sounds from both Holland and America.  I asked friend and poet, Erin Galligan to collaborate on the project. The first three songs in the set, ‘Janitor,’ ‘Bread Maker,’ and ‘Evolution’ were preexisting poems. Galligan especially wrote ‘400 Bridges,’ a poem about Amsterdam, to be a part of the song cycle.

I subsequently expanded the songs into a setting for singer and orchestra. That version won first prize in the Omaha Symphony Orchestra Guild Composition Competition in 2001 receiving a performance with the Symphony and singer Stephanie Houtzeel.

--K.B.