Portions of a secular cantata I’m working on were recently performed at The National Opera Center as part of a concert produced by Composers Collective (a group of composers that self-produce concerts, of which I’m a member). The cantata, The Red Blaze, is a selection of Emily Dickinson poems loosely connected by references to times of day and night. The selection below, “I had no time to hate,” is an exception — it’s not about the daytime or nighttime — instead Dickinson speaks to the limits that life places upon our ability to love and hate one another, and the choice of love over hate.
This performance features Elise Jablow (soprano) and Mila Henry (piano), as well as Hai-Ting Chinn, Tomas Cruz, and Jeremy Hirsch (who are waiting patiently during Elise’s solo).