Vocal

Songs from the Chinese (Hsiao Yen) for Soprano and Guitar

This is a setting of six short poems by the Chinese poet Hsiao Yen who was born A.D. 464 and died A.D. 549. He was a founder of the Liang Dynasty, reigning as Emperor Wu from A.D. 502 until A.D. 549, the longest reign in the southern dynasties era. A devout Bhuddist, he became a monk twice, retiring to a monastry three time in his life. He was a man of great learning and considerable poetic ability.

Lamentation for High Voice and Piano

This is a setting of the last chapter of Lamentations. It is available in a version string orchestra.

Five Love Songs from Shakespeare
for High Voice and Piano

O Mistress Mine; Fear no more the heat o’ the sun; Take, O take those lips away; Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?; It was a lover and his lass;

Six Fragments from Rimbaud’s “A Season in Hell”
for Medium Voice and Piano

Limericks From Lear
for Medium Voice and Piano

A comic song – a setting of Limericks by Edward Lear

‘My familiar’ (poem by John Godfrey Saxe), and ‘Limericks from Lear’ (Edward Lear).

Songs of Ashes
for High Voice and Piano

A setting of fifteen poems by Jerzy Fitcowski concerned with the Holocaust.

Love Songs
for Medium Voice and Piano

The dawning morn; Weep you no more sad fountains; And is it night?; I ne’er was stuck before that hour; O my luve’s like a red, red rose;

Songs from Hanagid
for Tenor and Piano

A setting of eight poems by the Jewish poet Samuel Hanagid (993-1056CE).

Psalm 147
for Soprano, Flute and Piano

‘I think continually of those who were truly great’
for Voice, Horn and Piano ‘ (poem by Stephen Spender)

Eleven Jewish Folk Songs
for Voice and Piano

‘I never saw another butterfly’
for childrens’ voice and piano

A setting of poems written by children in Terezin.

‘Love, Life and Lyric
for Voice and Piano (poems by Marketa J. Zvelebil)

‘A Slash of Blue’
for vocal duet and piano (poem by Emily Dickinson)

Kaddish Yatom
for Two Soprano’s (Tenor’s/Soprano and Tenor) and Piano

A setting of Mourners Kaddish

Four Days In A Week
for Voice and Piano
(Poems by Malcolm Miller)

Be The Change You Want To See
for Soprano, Mezzo Soprano, Narrator, Cello and Piano

A song cycle about peace. It is a setting of a range of texts from the Bible, the Mishnah, contemporary and ancient Hebrew and Israeli poets, non-Jewish poets, HH The Dalai Lama and Mahatma Gandhi. It is scored for Soprano, Mezzo Soprano, Narrator, Cello and Piano. The work is dedicated to Nitza and Robin Spiro with love and recognition of their work in promoting Jewish culture through the Spiro Ark, and for their constant support of the work of the composer.

Two Shakespeare Sonnets
for Soprano and Piano

Sonnet 116 Let me not to the marriage of true minds
18 Shall I compare thee to a Summer’s day?

Siren Song
for Mezzo Soprano

Poem by Margaret Atwood. Composed in 2010 the flexible, almost improvisational style of this song helps to evoke a vivid sense of beauty tinged with sadness and loneliness. In Greek mythology the Sirens were creatures with the head of a female and the body of a bird. They were the daughters of the muse Melpomene, herself the daughter of Zeus. They were Pisinoe, Aglaope and Thelxiope, companions of Pesephone, who was carried off by Hades. The sirens begged Zeus for wings to enable them to look for her and consequently they became half woman and half bird. They lived on an island and with the irresistible charm of their song they lured mariners to their destruction on the rocks surrounding their island. Once a sailor heard their song, he would be in their control. He would attempt to get as close to them as possible, steering the ship into the rocks and wrecking it. Shema for Soprano, Mezzo Soprano and Cello A setting of Deuteronomy 6:4-9, the first section of The Shema, a central prayer in Jewish Liturgy