• Premiere: April 25, 2007 / Toronto / Vespera Ensemble / Sarah John

• Instrumentation: SSA & keyboard

• Duration: 2:00'

• Text: Traditional Latin prayer.

• Suitable for choirs of all levels

• Appropriate for worship or concert performance

Program Note

Modeled after the brief, choral "Ave Maria" in Poulenc's Dialogues des Carmélites, this piece shows a glimpse of the shape my choral writing would take over the next ten years: fluid changes in tonal center, lush dominant chords, chromaticism and sturdy counterpoint.

Completed in late 2006, it was premiered by the Vespera Ensemble, a women's choir in Toronto under the direction of Sarah John, who accepted the piece after a call for scores. Their performance was the first premiere of a choral work where I was not singing or conducting, and was also my first non-US premiere.