Five   Years   Later:  
Songs   of   Hope   &   Resilience

Boston Marathon Weekend
Saturday, April 14, 2018 at 8:00 pm

​First Church Boston
66 Marlborough Street (at Berkeley Street)

Five Years Later: Songs of Hope & Resilience commemorated the fifth anniversary of the Boston Marathon bombing. The program was curated to foster reflection, conversation, and healing around this tragedy and similar events around the world. Read on to explore composers' own notes, or click below to meet the composers.

Meet the Composers

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Composers'   notes

"As yet untitled" from Portraits of Disquiet by Julia Seeholzer

“As yet untitled” is the final movement of Portraits of Disquiet, a narrative song cycle for soprano and piano using poetry by writer Kendall A. When I first read this poem, I was immediately flooded with feelings of longing, doubt, frustration, hope - feeling so small, so alone, but somehow knowing that everyone must feel like this, part of this infinite network of universal alone-ness. Kendall’s evocative, lyrical writing inspired me to compose an honest, emotional response.

Light-Dark (Chiaroscuro) by Chun-hay Shing

The title of this work originates from an Italian term in Western painting: “chiaroscuro”. It describes the technique to use contrast between light (chiaro) and dark (scuro) in portraying an object in a dramatic manner.
 
Borrowing the idea of the term, my work comes in two movements. “Scuro” opens with shimmering, dissonant harmonics opposed with dark clusters at the lowest range of the instruments. Solo passages, first for viola, then for viola and cello, dwell mercilessly in darkness.
 
In an attempt to shed off sombre impressions, the second movement “chiaro” is a dance that introduces robust rhythms and hopeful melodies in fragments, constantly interrupted by darker elements.
 
The work was written at a time when the composer himself was facing much personal struggle, and more importantly, when the Hong Kong community was suffering from long-lasting frustrations by failing to rescue the city’s diminishing democracy in one of its biggest demonstrations, the Umbrella Movement.
 
In such times, a quote from Charles Dickens’s A Tale of Two Cities became much popular words of encouragement. “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…” There is no light that is without darkness, and no darkness that is without light — it is in darkness that light shines. Apart from Hong Kong, the composer sincerely hopes to bring this message and sends his best wishes to the Boston community as well.

The Lengthening Lens (of time) by Patrick Walker

The Lengthening Lens (of time) explores the emotional healing process that surrounds a traumatic event such as the Boston Marathon Bombings. We can never forget an event such as this but through the ever lengthening lens of time we find ways to deal with the pain and sorrow. Ultimately we must move forward with hope, and someday find peace with the world, and inspiration in the love and humanity that will always be present even in the darkest of times. My hope is that while this piece was specifically written in commemoration of the Boston Marathon Bombings it will convey a message which is universally relatable. While the details will differ for each individual, our life stories all include painful or traumatic events which we have had to keep turning over and over, reliving and exploring from every angle, in order to move on and live with them. We cannot simply forget but through the miracle of the human mind we have the power to change the darkness, despair, and horror into light, hope, and beauty.  

Boston Strong by Oliver Caplan

Setting text by renown poet Richard Blanco, Boston Strong is a memorial to victims of the Boston marathon bombing, a tribute to the heroes who saved lives, and a love letter to our vibrant city. April 15, 2013 is forever seared in my heart, a day hatred punctured joy with violence, robbing our innocence. Since then, we’ve watched as our club—the club no one wants to belong to—grows: New York, Paris, London, Manchester, Barcelona, San Bernardino, Orlando. Shared values of liberty and free expression are challenged by fear. We convulse at the loss of lives and shiver at newfound uncertainty. At the same time, we remind each other of our strong community bonds and the ideals our society stands for. Each seed of hate blossoms into myriad expressions of love. This song honors the victims of a tragic day. It also tells the story of a city, rising out of darkness with resilient hope and kindness.

Hope by C. G. "Sonny" Walden

Many years ago I began the meditative practice of centering prayer. This involves returning to a word to clear the consciousness of clutter. The word that kept coming to me was hope. This proved fortuitous. Hope became not to be the shallow optimism I had cynically considered it to be, but a place of refuge and a source of strength. 

Two years ago my wife was diagnosed with lung cancer. Though the diagnosis was wrong, for a few weeks we lived with the belief that she was facing a serious, life threatening illness. I posted on social media asking for thoughts and prayers. One response came from someone who wrote that, though he was agnostic, he would pray. I began conversations with this random contact, who turned out to be librettist Ben Kaye. I learned of the death of Ben’s son from cancer. His empathy for us was based in deep, personal pain. A friendship grew from our conversations. Ben introduced me to the George Watts’ paintings on Hope. Having learned of each other’s work in music and words we embarked on the task of creating a musical work based on Ben’s poetic exegesis of one of the Hope paintings.

It is my hope that we have not distracted from Watts’ powerful painting but have instead brought other forms of art to its profound expression.

Dawn by Paul Frucht

Dawn Hochsprung was an incredible person I had the fortune of meeting when I was a student at Roger’s Park Middle School from 2000 to 2003, where she was an assistant principal. I worked with both her and her husband, George, as a member of National Junior Honor Society. When the tragic events occurred at Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14th, 2012, I, like everyone else in the Danbury area, was shocked and deeply saddened. The Hochsprungs had always stuck out in my mind as not just outstanding teachers, but some of the most caring, genuine, and positive people that I had come across during my time growing up in Danbury. I felt immediately compelled to write something for Dawn's family and also for the other families who lost loved ones.

I titled the piece Dawn not simply because it is dedicated to her, but because the nature of Dawn’s actions on the day of shooting are the inspiration for the character of this piece. When she became aware that her school was in danger, her immediate response was to protect the children of the school. She put herself in harm’s way in an entirely selfless act in an effort to save the lives of her students. She leaves behind a legacy of selflessness, positivity, and extraordinary courage. This piece celebrates that legacy.

Croquis Parisien by Martin Loridan

As a composer and Parisian citizen, I am delighted that my work will be part of an homage to Boston and its people, and hope and resilience in (and beyond) our two cities.
 
Short and dense, Paul Verlaine’s Croquis parisien (Parisian sketch) is a masterpiece.
 
The “musical” and rhythmical use of the French language is particularly rich, as the three verses of the poem contain a great diversity of ideas, places and atmospheres - from the geometrical description of the moonlight’s reflection on smoke-filled Parisian roofs to the author’s dreamy evocation of Plato as he wanders the streets of Paris.
 
I hope to celebrate universal hope and resilience through this musical setting. The light of Paris as per Verlaine’s poem will always shine, and so will its people despite horrors and pains… resilience.

Dance of the Manakin by Wei-Chieh "Henry" Hu

Dance of the Manakin is a piece I composed inspired by Manakin birds. They are a type of bird that inhabits in Central and South America. When mating, the male birds do a dance to impress the ladies. There are a lot of big leaps in the part that imitate the movement of the birds.

I started the first movement with a joyful theme, and the second movement with a minor texture. While I was trying to capture the slow dances of the birds, it also represented the feeling of loss, or perhaps a deep sigh. The third movement started with ideas from the second movement, but faster in tempo. As if one was trying to escape from sorrow feelings. It slowly moves its way back to the idea in the first movement. To me it represented that no matter how difficult life is, there will always be a silver lining. We should always keep positive, and face the challenges in life with thankfulness and joy.

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