4 Haiku (2010)

One day I read this Haiku by Issa:

Napped half the day;

no one

punished me!

I nearly fell off the chair laughing. The poem was coy, witty, personal, and universal all at once. For a brief moment I was with Issa, sitting beside him in a state of totally amused understanding. After pouring through Haiku by the Japanese masters Issa, Buson, and Basho, I was struck by how they had an amazing perspective of blissful objectivity towards their surroundings. This, combined with an ability to crystallize both a moment in time and the perception of that moment into a handful of crisp, evocative and affecting syllables, was astounding.

For my pieces I selected poems about nature and animals. Before composing I tried to imagine the exact circumstance of the writer as he wrote the Haiku. Where was he? What was he doing? What had just happened? In a way my settings are like mini dramatizations of each poem’s scenario. A mood is set. Something happens. The poet writes.

This work was commissioned by the Young New Yorkers Chorus as part of their annual composer competition and premiered June 5, 2010 at St. Peters Church, 619 Lexington, New York, NY

October 21, 2023 Schwere Reiter, Munich, Germany. Via-Nova Chor.

October 20, 2013 Aries New Music Festival, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO. CSU Concert Chorale.

May 13, 2011 Haverford College, Haverford, PA. Haverford College Chamber Singers, Ng Tian Hui, Conductor.

April 6, 2011 Winchester, MA. Winchester High School Choir, Chris Nickleson, Conductor.

June 5, 2010 St. Peters Church, 619 Lexington, New York, NY. The Young New Yorkers Chorus.