Songs of Earth and Sky

Details

SongBirds full profile / Soprano + Piano / 2 musicians

Other players: Claire Galloway Weber, soprano + Hui-Chuan Chen, Piano

Full program notes

Inhabiting both earth and sky, birds can access realms that captivate our imagination. Their songs offer a bridge between the earthly and the divine, connecting us to the mysteries of the heavens and to the natural world. Using bird songs as a guide, Baltimore-based composer Erik Franklin presents a collection of new songs where the natural world meets the mythic, exploring profound themes with a unique and compelling voice.

His award-winning Verses for Children invites us into the wondrous world of a child’s imagination, where the boundaries blur between earth and sky, revealing the magic in everyday life when viewed through a child’s eyes. The meditative reflections on nature's quiet sounds in Songs of a Mountain Recluse invites the listener to contemplate the delicate balance between the forces that shape our world.

The program features a brand-new song cycle, Mothers of Ragnarok, where Norse goddesses invoke the powers of the earth and sky to protect their children at all costs.

Soprano Claire Galloway’s exquisite voice and the expert pianist Hui-Chuan Chen bring these themes to life, offering an evening of music that is at once intimate and expansive.

Videos from this ensemble