Concert Day in Chicago

Concerts where a composer is hearing their piece performed for the first time always have a special edge of excitement to them. Today was one of those concerts. James Kallembach chose to set the poems of puritan colonist Anne Bradstreet in his piece for us, A Wreath of Thyme. This piece tells the story of Anne’s life, her love for her husband, the difficult times she went through as a colonist in America, and her faith in God. This is an intense story and James has treated it with great sensitivity and beauty.

Jen and I talk a lot about the poems for all the pieces we are working on and how we want to express them. For these poems in particular, we have discussed Anne’s life, how she may have been feeling, and what she was going through when she wrote these poems. In particular Jen and I often think of Anne Bradstreet, at her desk occupying her time by writing her poems. One piece (no.2) has Anne making little jokes “As loving hind that hartless wants her dear” (hind-female deer, hart-male deer), “a dearer deer far dearer…” we imagine her giggling at her clever puns.

The concert tonight was in yet another beautiful church, Hyde Park Union Church, and was very well attended by a friendly audience. Then we went to Piece Pizza to visit with friends and celebrate the performance.

Thank you to James for writing a beautiful piece, to Hyde Park Union for the amazing concert space, and to friends new and old for being a wonderful audience!

-Heather