Landis Settings for chamber choir (2011)
Duration: 7'
Program Notes:
The three poems set in these Landis Settings are works by poet Joan Hutton Landis. I first met Joan in her capacity as the head of Liberal Arts at the Curtis Institute where she inspired countless young musicians over 25 years to read and love the likes of Shakespeare and James Joyce. However, it wasn’t until I was leaving the Curtis Institute that I first became acquainted with her poetry. Her work is unflinching, beautiful and honest...not too mention mischievously fun. I had long wanted an opportunity to set some of her work and finally got the opportunity with this set. Commissioned and premiered by the Philadelphia-based chamber choir, The Chestnut Street Singers, it seemed perfect to have them heard for the first time just blocks from where Joan and I had first met. You can read more of Joan Hutton Landis' poetry in the published collection That Blue Repair, published by Penstroke Press and available in most online book retailers.