My first commission premiere of the 2019-2020 will be taking place this upcoming weekend, on the 7th and 8th of December at Morristown United Methodist Church in New Jersey. Harmonium Choral Society and Dr. Anne Matlack will be premiering “In the Beginning was the Word” on their “Words Matter” program.

It was a joy to work on this setting of iconic Christmas verse John 1:1: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” I set the verse in translation in the top five spoken languages in the world: Mandarin, Spanish, English, Arabic and Hindi. I used repetition of the different translations to create a joyful and rhythmic setting, while the English translation slowly comes into focus over the course of the piece.

Harmonium Choral Society have already given wonderful performances of my “Mater Dei” and “We Walked Through the Trees”. Very much looking forward to attending these concerts and meeting everyone in person! The Saturday concert is at 8 pm and the Sunday concert is at 3 pm.