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About the Score

SATB

Marybeth Kurnat · I, Lover (SATB choir) - True Concord; Eric Holtan, director

SSAA

Elsa Gidlow (1898-1986) was one of the first openly gay journalists and poets in North America. Throughout the 20th century, she published several collections of LGBTQ prose and poetry. Her ranch in Muir Woods, CA, was a safe haven for artists, feminists and LGBTQ people from 1954 until her death. In a period of time when LGBTQ people were either largely ignored or aggressively persecuted, Gidlow’s persistence and strong sense of identity throughout her long life brought visibility, safety and humanity for her community. I wrote this setting of "I, Lover" to submit to True Concord’s Stephen Paulus Emerging Composer’s Competition, and it was the winning work. It was programmed in a concert cycle featuring poetry and music by under-represented voices. Gidlow’s words seem to serve as both a meditation and a battle cry. Paired with lush and tense harmonies, moments of declaration and stillness, and intense dynamic changes, one can experience all of the beautiful and painful stages of being in love.

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