Programme Notes

Carol Burdick's poem Angeline on Ossabaw depicts, for me, a perfect moment of innocence. Young Angeline dances on the beach, without a care in the world. The older women who watch her have danced in their own earlier time, and they know from their own experience that Angeline's innocence will not last forever -- for pain, sadness, and shadow will always be waiting for her.

This setting for choir and cello seeks to capture that perfect moment. The choir itself ebbs and flows like the tide against the sand, while the solo cello represents Angeline herself, dancing in her own perfect world, exploring and inquisitive, untouched by the shadow ahead of her.