I am deeply honored to receive the Vermont Arts Council’s Creation Grant award for FY2023 for the composition of a large choral work. “Body” is a song cycle, with poetry illustrating the life and death of biodiversity, impermanence and liminal spaces, rooted in the reverence of the human relationship with the ever-changing landscape. Thank you to both Vermont Arts Council and The National Endowment for the Arts for supporting me in the creation of this work. Words alone can not express how thrilled I am to spend this next year writing and editing this music. Follow this blog section of my website for updates and snapshots of the process.

In the first two months of the Creation Grant cycle, I have been lucky to work primarily in my garage studio. It’s undergoing some beautiful transformations to continue the winter work. Given my unpredictable physical condition with severe Long Covid, it would be difficult for me to work farther from my home. I am very grateful for the beloveds who are helping me winterize my studio! “Body” is as much about the earth, climates and creatures that surround us as it is about our beautiful humanity being situated in human bodies. I love writing and playing while listening to the birds, humans, and other wildlife in our Old North End (Burlington, VT, USA) neighborhood ecosystem.

The portrait you see above and the photograph below were captured by the artist, Sage Horsey, in a warm September twilight, just before solstice and the Jewish High Holidays. Sage is a photographer, dancer, visual art designer, movement/performance artist; located in Vermont. Sage also teaches dance classes at Lines Vermont https://www.linesvt.com/master-class.