simon hutchinson

This has been a very choral month for me with a reading from Revalia, an Estonian men’s choir, and a performance by Sospiro, a Eugene-based new music choir under the directorship of Chris Prosser.

I composed both of these pieces in September, and, due to time constraints, chose to set two short poems by Emily Dickinson:

Touch lightly Nature’s sweet Guitar
Unless thou know’st the Tune
Or every Bird will point at thee
Because a Bard too soon —

…and…

In this short Life
That only lasts an hour
How much — how little — is
Within our power

I really enjoy Dickinson’s pithiness probably for the same reasons that I admire Basho’s haiku, and the focus on humanity (as opposed to haiku’s focus on nature and imagery) gave me a lot to work with. Although I hadn’t intended so when I composed them, I think that the pair makes a nice set, probably because I composed them so close together in time, and at such a rate I wasn’t aware of how much each piece was borrowing from the other!

Enjoy:

Touch lightly Nature’s sweet Guitar
for mixed choir, performed by Sospiro; Chris Olin, conductor

In this short Life
for men’s choir, performed by Revalia

Harold Golen Gallery
2294 North West 2nd Avenue
Miami, Fl, 33127
Admission: Free

The fixed-media-only version of my piece, “Ewha, Nabi” will be performed on the “Jukebox Program” of the 12 Nights’ Electronic Arts and Music Festival in Miami.

School of Music, Room 163
University of Oregon, Eugene, OR
Admission: $8 general, $5 students

The fixed-media-only version of my piece, “Ewha, Nabi” will be performed at this season’s Future Music Oregon concert.

School of Music, Room 163
University of Oregon, Eugene, OR
Admission: Free

“Sospiro” will have its first concert of 2009, filled with performances of new pieces written for the choir, including my piece “Touch lightly Nature’s sweet Guitar,” composed on the text of the Emily Dickinson poem of the same name.

Here’s the facebook page for the concert: LINK!