S2 E03: Catching up with Mari Esabel Valverde, composer and dear friend of IOCSF
Today we chat with composer and long-time friend of IOC Mari Esabel Valverde about her recent and upcoming choral works, the importance of quality translations, how her work is inspired by everything from nature to social change, and the importance of representation in choral music, especially for intersectional musicians and composers.
Music Excerpts
Patterns on the Snow, by Mari Esabel Valverde, performed by the St. Olaf Choir
Cloths of Heaven, by Mari Esabel Valverde, performed by the Dallas Chamber Choir
I Flow...I Am, by Mari Esabel Valverde, performed by South Salem High School Symphonic Choir
L’heure Exquise, by Reynaldo Hahn, performed by Ben Bliss
Oracle of Spring, by Mari Esabel Valverde, performed by IOCSF
When Thunder Comes, by Mari Esabel Valverde, performed by St. Olaf Choir
Our Phoenix, by Mari Esabel Valverde, performed by One Voice Mixed Chorus
Border Lines, by Mari Esabel Valverde, performed by Adams State University Chamber Choir
United in Song, by Mari Esabel Valverde, performed by Lawrence University Viking Chorale
Wondrous Glow, by Mari Esabel Valverde, performed by Ensemble Companio
References
Amir Rabiyah, poet
Lady Dane Figueroa Edidi, performance artist
Angelica Ross, actor
Anton Armstrong, professor of music, St. Olaf College
Theme Song: Mr. Puffy by Avi Bortnik, arr. by Paul Kim. Performed by Dynamic
Episode Transcript
Intro [00:00:07] Hello and welcome to In Unison, the podcast for choral conductors, composers and choristers, where we interview members of our choral community to talk about new music, new and upcoming performances, and discuss the interpersonal and social dynamics of choral organizations in the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond beyond. We are your hosts. I am Zane Fiala, Artistic Director of the International Orange Chorale of San Francisco. And I'm Giacomo DiGrigoli, a tenor in IOCSF, the Golden Gate Men's Chorus and the San Francisco Symphony Chorus. And this is in unison.
Zane [00:00:44] Today we chat with composer and longtime friend of IOC Mari Esabel Valverde about her recent and upcoming choral works, the importance of quality translations, how her work is inspired by everything from nature to social change, and the importance of representation in choral music, especially for intersectional musicians and composers.
Zane [00:01:09] All right, well, joining us today on In Unison, we have award winning composer and singer Mari Esabel Valverde and Mari has been commissioned by the American Choral Directors Association, by the Texas Music Educators Association, the Seattle Men's and Women's Choruses, the Boston Choral Ensemble and many others, and has even appeared with the Dallas Chamber Choir, Vox Humana and Exigence out of Detroit. Mari was a featured composer at the 2016 Gay and Lesbian Association of Choruses festival, where her piece, Our Phoenix, was premiered by six collective ensembles from the United States and Canada. Her works are published by Earth Songs and Walton music, but she also does some self publishing as well. Mari is fluent in Spanish and French and is actively studying Brazilian Portuguese and Swedish. In fact, she has translated numerous vocal works and documents, including a phonetic guide of Ravel's Opera, L'Enfant et les sortileges. Based out of North Texas, mari taught voice at the high school level for over six years, and her former students have participated in all state choirs and state solo competitions. She's currently teaching singing and transgender voice training with TruVoice Lessons. Mari holds degrees from St. Olaf College, the European American Musical Alliance in Paris and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. She's a member of the American Composers Forum and the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers. Welcome to the show Mari, so glad to have you.
Mari [00:02:46] Thank you.
Giacomo [00:02:47] Hooray! Welcome. I mean, that was quite a lengthy bio and incredibly remarkable, but I actually would love to start today with something a little bit—and that doesn't necessarily appear on your bio—but that is near and dear to Zane and my heart, which is your relationship with IOCSF, our little choir here in San Francisco. Can you maybe tell the folks who are listening a little bit about your your past with IOC?
Mari [00:03:13] Well, I, I think I said this right before I left San Francisco, but I still mean this. Being in IOC, aside from like, getting my hormone therapy squared away and aside from getting my name legally changed just to, like, match my life so I could get my career moving, like I see was the thing that was most worthwhile. And my two years in San Francisco. And I miss you all so much and I always will have a part in my heart. So I auditioned for your choir and I sang Alto and I assisted some. And yeah, it was like a family. And I'm sure you all have the same camaraderie and, you know, just that nurturing energy in your rehearsals that, you know, I don't know. It's just a powerful thing when you get a bunch of passionate people who just want to be together and sing and like create something. And I know a lot of care and and thought behind each program that you put on. So I'm very proud to have been a part of that for two years. And I guess going in terms of being a composer.
Giacomo [00:04:42] Well, I can tell you that the camaraderie continues because I was chatting with Fausto today, who's a member, and he said to mention that he says hello and that he misses you terribly. So the camaraderie and the love is still there and it's always there. And as part of that, too, you know, it sort of spurred this thought for me about for many of us watching your progress and seeing you over the years, you've become a little bit of a hero for for many of us in terms of your works and your trajectory of your career. And it's really incredible. But I want to turn the tables around a little bit and ask you, who are some of the folks who are choral heroes for you? I mean, when you think of your past, people who maybe were formative for you or people who inspire you, like, who are some of your choral heroes?
Mari [00:05:30] That's a complicated question. Just because I feel like as I've grown up, my opinions of people have kind of shifted in one direction or another. But I mean, the easy answer to that question is Dr. Armstrong, the conductor of the St. Olaf Choir.
[00:05:56] [Music excerpt: "Patterns on the Snow," by Mari Valverde, performed by the St. Olaf Choir. Music description: A flurry of piano chords are played as we hear treble voices singing the text: “Lose the pain / In the snow / Where all footsteps melt / And the magic trance / Bids you rise and follow / Forgetting all you felt / Except the dance]
Mari [00:05:57] He recognized my talent and... You read part of my bio where I studied in Paris, that program that I studied at, I applied to using a recording that the St. Olaf Choir made of a piece that I composed during high school. It was in French and it took me like two or three years to compose because I was a baby. I didn't know I was doing. And if you go listen to it, it's called "Après un rêve," with the same text by Fauré, um, the art song by Fauré. That's a really, really popular melody. You can YouTube it and find all kinds of renditions for solo cello and whatnot, but it translates to "after a dream" and it's like a passionate, you know, sexy daydream type situation. And so I set it for SSAATTBB, and like I said, I didn't know what I was doing. I feel like that's not even really representative of, like, my choral style anymore. But it was a piece of music that I finished and we recorded and I mean, it's pretty epic. It's a very difficult piece of music. And, yeah, he just turned to me on the bus on tour when we were sitting towards the front of the bus. And he asked me what I was working on, on my computer. And I was engraving music and he wanted to see some of my scores.
Mari [00:07:52] And, you know, at that time, a personal note is I had just began my transition and, yeah, so that came off of a near-death experience and so there's a lot to unfold there. But the point is, Dr Armstrong, I got to share my music with him. And while I was a student at St. Olaf College, he recorded... The St. Olaf Choir recorded two of my pieces. The other one was "The Cloths of Heaven," which eventually became my first formally published, traditionally published piece of music with EarthSongs.
[00:09:12] [Music excerpt: "Cloths of Heaven," by Mari Valverde, performed by the Dallas Chamber Choir. Music description: A piano accompaniment introduces an a cappella segment of the piece singing the text from the WB Yeats poem of the same name: Of night and light and the half-light / I would spread the cloths under your feet. / But I, being poor, have only my dreams / I have spread my dreams under your feet / Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.”: ].
Giacomo [00:09:12] That's tremendous. I imagine that's not something he would do for every student, he must have seen something in you.
Mari [00:09:17] Well, he did it for some other students, too. There's just a tremendous kindness.
Giacomo [00:09:22] I imagine you must, as an educator yourself now, probably see yourself putting that same energy.
Mari [00:09:29] I'm going to try not to be shady, but he noticed me. I was not, I don't think I was his favorite by any means, but he's been very good to me. And actually, I think I'm doing a podcast with him later this month. So I still have a relationship with him and he's shown up for me time and time again. And I cannot tell you like that without that relationship, I don't know that I would be where I am today. So he's the most obvious answer to that question. Of course, when I moved to San Francisco, I worked with David Conte, and David's a good friend. I learned a lot from him and I just, you know, he's there when I need him. So I also appreciate David, I get the impression that David has always kind of been looking out for the LGBTQ composers, not saying that everybody that he's taught has been a member of the community, but he certainly, he certainly cares. And he sees that and recognizes that and values that. So, yeah, those are I mean, those are maybe two predictable choices, but I know David from when I was in high school because we did his music and one of the Austin choirs I was in.
Giacomo [00:11:12] Oh wow.
Mari [00:11:12] He actually signed my score. Because I told him, I said, "hey, dude I want to be a composer someday.
Giacomo [00:11:21] We love David as well. He's been instrumental in helping us get our podcast up and running, as well as was our first official guest, I think.
Zane [00:11:30] Yeah, he was our first official guest here.
Mari [00:11:33] He's such an important person in our community.
Giacomo [00:11:37] He really is. He really, really is. I wanted to shift gears a little bit. IOC has actually been working on a recording of an upcoming project of a piece of yours. "I Flow... I Am," which is from Bohemian Poet Rilke's Sonnets to Orpheus number 29. Is that, is it actually fair to say that he is Bohemian? He's Austro-Hungarian, so I don't know what does that period of time, like, that place, or space... Borders are silly, you know, anyway, but.
Zane [00:12:06] Well, technically, Bohemia was a place.Now it's just part of the Czech Republic, but there was a place called Bohemia. I know, because that's where my family is from. I'm a real Bohemian...
Mari [00:12:18] Oh, you better check yourself.
All [00:12:20] [Laughing].
Zane [00:12:20] Come on, Giacomo.
Giacomo [00:12:24] Well, exactly, I ought to be careful. But that piece there's a little bit about, I'll give the audience a little piece for those who don't know it, but "I Flow... I Am" from your your notes is a setting of Anita Barrows and Joanna Macey's translation of Rilke's 29th and ultimate sonnet to Orpheus. It's a spiritual commentary on the courage it takes to be present in darkness, breathing, speaking, living and loving through pain and uncertainty. As Macy suggests, we may only survive on this planet by flowing with the turbulence of the earth, taking refuge in its beautiful chaos.
[00:13:08] [Music excerpt: "I Flow... I Am," by Mari Valverde, performed by South Salem High School Symphonic Choir. Music description: An SATB choir sings a cappella; the text is: “Quiet friend who has come so far / Feel how your breathing makes more space around you. Let this darkness be a bell tower, and you the bell.”]
Giacomo [00:13:28] Before we talk specifically about this piece, for those who don't know who are listening, Mari is a bit of a polyglot herself. Would you use the term? I feel like I would...
Mari [00:13:38] Don't test me.
Giacomo [00:13:39] You're well, you're proficient in quite a few languages, as Zane mentioned, French, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, of course, IPA. And lately, in addition to being called upon for your extraordinary composition skills, you're also more and more offering translations of untranslated texts as well. Before we jump into that piece specifically, where did your fascination with language come from? Like what was it that drove you to want to think about learning multiple languages?
Mari [00:14:07] Um. Well, I'm Mexican-American and I wanted to take French and my parents said no, that I had to take Spanish and then when I was in high school, I think my language study kind of coincides with my music study because I certainly got introduced to singing in different languages when I was in high school, I had started studying German lieder and French melodie.
[00:14:50] [Music excerpt: "L'heure Exquise," by Reynaldo Hahn, performed by Ben Bliss. Music description: A piano accompaniment plays dreamlike chords as tenor Ben Bliss sings the French text: “La lune blanche / Luit dans les bois / De chaque branche/ Part une voix/ Sous la ramée.../ Ô bien aimée!”]
Mari [00:14:50] You know, just continued studying choral music and, you know, I just I, I was always fascinated by not just the musical aspect, but like the poetry.
[00:15:12] [Music excerpt fades back in]
Mari [00:15:13] I just wanted to understand. And whenever I went to college, I started listening to Brazilian folk and pop music.
[00:15:31] [Music excerpt: "Obssesão," by KLB. Music description: A funky guitar riff opens on a Brazilian boy band speak-singing lyrics in Brazilian portuguese “E a vida tá parada
Só penso em como posso te fazer minha mulher”].
Mari [00:15:32] And I just loved it so much and I wished I could understand some of it because I had studied Spanish, but I wanted to be able to understand, like sing along. So I taught myself using books and podcasts. And I also participated in a little student group that we built to do Portuguese. And yeah, it's there when I need it. [laughs]
Giacomo [00:16:05] You mentioned, you know, getting it right as a singer, or wanting to understand that. How important is I mean, this is sort of silly for those of us who are a bit naive in the translation arts. How important is getting it right? I mean, are there examples that you can think of off the top of your head where you're like, oh, my God, let me tell you this bit that's constantly mistranslated or what do you lose when you you get a translation that's a little off?
Mari [00:16:31] Oh, that's a good question, I think about "a boy and a girl," by Eric Whitacre, because I feel like it doesn't hover, it doesn't try to soothe or... It sounds very abstract, but it's an abstract topic, like the way the words sound and the meaning of what they're saying is so much more sensual and unapologetic. And I feel like the translation from Spanish to English that he set is very Anglican, it's very apologetic and there's a lot of dairy, it's too much dairy...in the music.
Giacomo [00:17:16] Dairy! As in... It's cheesy?
Mari [00:17:19] No, no, no. It's just like soft around the edges the whole time. And like, when I think Octavio Paz, I think like, ou know, like cactus and thunderstorms and you know, long strips of land where it's just sand and, you know, creatures under the ground and like flores, then, you know, sex and all of that, you know, and I just I don't, I just feel like it's a little whitewashed.
Giacomo [00:17:57] It's like the... I forget who set the maybe it's the Lauridsen piece of the Neruda, but he talks about "la suavidad de sus manos," and it's like it's not quite the softness. I think I feel what you're saying, which is like there are words like that, like suavidad, which are not just a physical thing, but an emotional.
Mari [00:18:20] "It's cool."
Giacomo [00:18:21] Yeah.
Mari [00:18:20] So like when you say "suave,' I think it's "cool.".
Giacomo [00:18:23] Yeah.
Mari [00:18:24] It almost has a healing connotation.
Giacomo [00:18:27] Yeah.
Mari [00:18:28] And when you say, what was it, smooth?
Giacomo [00:18:32] Softness or smoothness.
Mari [00:18:33] Yeah, soft don't necessarily have that content. So there are limitations with the translations. And it's interesting because we're talking about "I Flow... I Am," which was originally in German.
Giacomo [00:18:44] Yes.
Mari [00:18:44] And you know, I'm pretty confident in some other languages, but I can pronounce German. I'll sing in German, but don't ask me to translate it. And we're also talking about, well, another one with the "Oracle of Spring." It was also originally in German. It's Goethe, so, that's why I guess they just did them in English, so maybe some German scholar somewhere is throwing shade at my settings of English versions of German texts, which is fine.
Giacomo [00:19:20] What do you look for then when you look for a translator or translations? I mean, how do you know when you feel like you've got it right?
Mari [00:19:27] Usually it's because I've encountered the poem in English. I wasn't even aware that it was German first, which was the case in both circumstances but I think it's important to note Anita Burrows and Joanna Macy, because those are their words.
[00:19:51] [Music excerpt: "Oracle of Spring," by Mari Valverde, performed by IOCSF. Music description: An SATB choir sings an up-tempo, jaunty melody, with Goethe’s translated text: Cuckoo, thou prophetic bird, Blossom-songster! hear the word
Of a youthful loving pair, In the sweetest time of year, Do, thou charming warbler, thou,
May they hope? sing to them now, Thy cuckoo, thy cuckoo, And again cuckoo, cuckoo.
Hear! a loving pair demand At the altar soon to stand;They are in the bloom of youth,
Full of love, and full of truth. Say, will it be soon or late?How long will they have to wait?
Hark! cuckoo! hark! cuckoo! Silent now? ’tis only two!]
Mari [00:20:03] It's their interpretation of them and their lens. And, you know, on the inside cover, I give a little bit of a background on, you know, who these women have been for their lives. And I think that's an important consideration because those poems could be translated probably in a number of different ways. And when I've translated things, it's sometimes really hard to, like at some point you just kind of have to settle to where it's like you're never going to get quite the flavor, quite the texture of the original language.
Giacomo [00:20:46] Talking a little bit more about "I Flow... I Am," which, by the way, it's very interesting for me being a part of IOC, which we began rehearsing this piece actually in person and and then moved it to a virtual choir project once we realized we sort of couldn't get back together. And it's interesting because I remember standing with Fausto at rehearsal because we stand next to each other in the back row and we just, I mean, the text alone and you're setting of the text just shook us. I mean, when you read the text of this piece, of "I Flow... I Am" and Fausto is lucky because he actually can read German. So he gets the extra flavor in the actual text of it. It just was so incredibly moving. And it was interesting to be part of both of these worlds, like to rehearse it in person with others, with people physically around you, almost reverberating with each other, very much like the text and then trying to do it as a virtual choir setting. Does it surprise you at all that we're using it as a virtual choir setting? I mean, what are your thoughts about also the timeliness of this piece, it just feels like it's... Talk about a time to be singing about it.
Mari [00:21:55] I mean, I really think about the work of the English translators and how focused they've been on environmental justice type things. I mean, that's at least the impression I got when I read into who they are and, you know, the wisdom that they've gotten from their years. And they're not young, but, that's really what I think about. I also think about I don't know if there are many fans in IOCSF of Avatar The Last Airbender series, but if you've seen it, it's like, I don't know, four or five episodes from the end of the series where there's a character named Guru Pathic and he goes to to meet him to learn how to get in Avatar state. And there's all of these really little... They're like a vignette... [inaudible] individually unlock every single chakra and yeah, that scene is my favorite scene from the whole series. It's really good just to go watch it if you have it. But that's kind of how I that was, kind of what it made me think of whenever I read this text, because there's a message saying that you kind of, at the end of the day, have no choice but to be one with nature in order to weather the storm. And I think that that is such a profound metaphor for all the kinds of bullshit that we have to go through in life, you know? And I think that given a lot of different things, but, the poetry lends particular images, like water, you know and, yeah, that's basically it's like they tell you in your martial arts, you have to be like water, you know, in order to flow and be able to keep on fighting, you know? Sometimes...
Giacomo [00:24:35] A lot of your pieces, actually, do you have this beautiful sort of natural theme or this inspiration that comes from nature in addition to, like your incredible work that you're doing now on social justice and all these pieces. When I look at some of your pieces that we've done with IOC between this piece and "Oracle of Spring" as well, has that same appreciation for the beauty of nature and in that same weird duality. It's interesting because IOC s new album just came out and it features your piece, "Oracle of Spring," which we're really excited about. And it's sort of a little bit weird to be in our second covid spring. Like it's just odd to think about the fact that we have all these songs and these musics that exhort spring and yet are we fully able to enjoy them? How do you feel about those pieces now? I mean, when you think about them in the context of what's going on, could you imagine them being programed now? Could you relate to those same feelings?
Mari [00:25:37] Definitely. It definitely benefits if people are performing my music.
Giacomo [00:25:44] Sure.
Mari [00:25:44] But I just you know, it's like when people ask me about what style my compositions are and I have a lot of trouble with that. I've started to realize some things that I keep on doing and that I like to do. And I won't tell you what that is, because I don't want you to be like, aha, you did it again, you know? But I guess to me, each piece is its own universe and yeah, they're just... Honestly your I'm handing you like, you know, a score of music and you're reading it and making it into air. And it's like your casting spells or summoning creatures, right? Basically I'm over here doing recipes for y'all. That's kind of how I see. It depends what kind of monster you want to summon.
Giacomo [00:26:46] One of your most performed pieces is "When Thunder Comes," which is the text that comes from When Thunder Comes, poem for Civil Rights Leaders by Jay Patrick Lewis.
[00:27:05] [Music excerpt: "When Thunder Comes," by Mari Valverde, performed by St. Olaf Choir. Music description: An earnest, moderate tempo piano introduction is followed by treble voices, and a thundering drum singing the text: “The poor and dispossessed take up the drums For civil rights--freedoms to think and speak, Petition, pray, and vote. When thunder comes, The civil righteous are finished being meek.”].
Giacomo [00:27:05] Tell us a little bit about how that piece came to be performed so frequently, like, what do you think it was that suddenly made people sit up and take a look at this piece?
[00:27:29] [Music excerpt continues].
Mari [00:27:30] Well, it's a big piece. It's not like "Sing Me to Heaven," you know what I mean? Like, you can do that with a small group. You can do it with a large group. You can do that, you know, in a church, you can do it in a school. You know, this piece... the piano part isn't very easy. I don't think it is. I'm not really a pianist. So and it takes some vocal skills, and there's a percussion part. So, I mean, it's a piece that probably requires a lot of rehearsal. I think that people perform it so much just because it's very timely. And, specifically, the text, which I can't take any credit for, it, is pointing to certain civil rights happenings. That is a part of American history that often gets overlooked or maybe has gotten forgotten and...
Zane [00:28:40] Mm hmm.
Mari [00:28:42] Yeah, I think it's the karma of where we are in our journey as a country and our journey as a democracy. You know, like the karma right now is very similar to 1960s like or French Revolution. If you're into astrology, you can find people talking about, oh, the stars are like this again, right? Which, you know, whatever. I just think that it's very obvious to me that there are certain, uh, how do you say, loose ends. And so it's really important that all of us know our history in order to be able to mend those loose ends and, you know, make informed decisions about how to run this country. And, you know what we're going to put up with and what we're not going to put up with. Yeah, it can be taken a lot of different ways, but the specific civil rights heroes talk about segregation in schools and in California at the time, it was like Mexican versus white people and, off course, Harvey Milk, which everybody in San Francisco knows, Harvey Milk.
Giacomo [00:30:14] Of course.
Mari [00:30:15] But, you know, to ignore like gay or trans, American history is basically going to ensure that we're going to have problems, you know, because we're going to repeat certain problems because of things that weren't fixed back then. And then there's the racial... Mississippi getting people to register to vote and people acting in solidarity, going to Mississippi to register black voters and encountering violence along the way and being arrested. And that's still a thing now, you know, people have a hard time, just even registering to vote. And I feel like there's another one. It was Helen Zia who is a...several things. I believe she's a journalist, but she's been like an anti-war advocate, very visible lesbian, Shanghainese-American, and, you know, just like an advocate through and through. And I don't think that people necessarily know who she is. And it's just understanding... I feel like it's a very California piece when you analyze it deeply. But to me, it's like, that's when I think of what being American is, that's what I think of. You know, it's not a margin for me to think that American identity is black or gay or, you know, anti-war, those things are not political. Those things are what it means to be an American fighting for democracy.
Giacomo [00:32:25] I would love to step sideways into something you had just said earlier, which is that it sparked a thought from me. You in 2016 premiered a new piece called "Our Phenix" where your piece was premiered by a cluster of six U.S. and Canadian choirs in 2016 at the Gay and Lesbian Association of Choirs in Denver who have for those who don't know, we have there's a GALA conference every four years and choirs from the US, predominately the U.S. and Canada, and recently some some folks from around the world, like the Beijing Queer Chorus, also joined in 2016, which was pretty amazing and all got together, sang the text by the brilliant Amir Rabiyeh.
[00:33:07] [Music excerpt (in backgroung): "Our Phoenix," by Mari Valverde, performed by One Voice Mixed Chorus. Music description: A solo trumpet introduces us to a quiet piano and SATB choir, softly singing the opening text by Amir Rabiyah: “MY DEAR Beautiful People, each time you are broken, I break, I break, I break a little more, then un-break.
I am piecing myself back together with the care of a potter’s hands. I clay phoenix. I feel the heat of our resurrections burning to glaze our skin into glow; my fire and my kiln are these words, this space, the intimate threads of our connection.I envision us going on to eclipse, building, bigger, bigger, bigger, more luminous!So bright!”].
Giacomo [00:33:08] And what I wanted to ask was, it's very interesting, when we go to GALA, when we have these conversations, it's sometimes a conversation some folks have, especially folks who come from bigger cities like L.A. or San Francisco or New York. You know, there's a little bit of this mood that's like, you know, why are we going to GALA? And, you know, are we really going like, where we going? And I wanted to toss that question to you, which is, why is GALA so important now? What do you say to the folks who wonder about the importance of GALA even within our own community?
Mari [00:33:36] Well, I will say I think the organization is dynamic, like it's, obviously, it's not just gay men's choruses, you know? I think maybe the impression is that it started that way. And even now, like the gay men's choruses, to my knowledge, are mostly white and so there's even a criticism from, you know, people of color that they feel like they are not as welcome and that's prevalent. So at the same time, there's people working for change. I'm not just here to criticize. I'm just saying that, like, it's dynamic and there's a lot of people in that organization. What unites them, and I didn't really even know about GALA until I was commissioned in 2015 to do this piece, "Our Phoenix," and it was performed at their festival that happens every four years. It didn't happen last year because of covid but didn't know who they were, but they define themselves as being part of the LGBTQ choral movement. And that just sounds like right up my alley, you know? So a lot of those members, the organizations that are part of GALA choruses, such as the Seattle Men's and Women's Choruses and, many others. The one who commissioned "When Thunder Comes" is the One Voice Mixed Chorus in the Twin Cities, which is one of the biggest, highest member SATB GALA choruses. And their director, Jane Ramseyer Miller is also the Artistic Director of GALA choruses. And I mean, just like Anton Armstrong, she's opened so many doors for me and, come to me time and time again to write new music. I've actually sung for her, participated in festivals and workshops and, you know, includes me to an extent and specifically like transgender voice advocacy and all of those things. So. I mean, I work closely with GALA choruses, of course, and I don't know, I'm kind of an outsider, but at the same time, I definitely see them as my colleagues.
Giacomo [00:36:22] Yeah, I'm a bit biased as well, because the GGMC was a founding member way back in whatever it was...1980-something, I think when GALA choruses was formed or shortly after the GGMC was formed. But yeah, I mean we, we adore GALA. It's an anchor part of what we do every four years. I think that there's work that's still left to be done there for sure, and it's great to have colleagues and folks who are willing to have the conversations and who open those conversations up and those spaces up, which I think is pretty important and pretty spectacular.
Mari [00:37:02] I will add, "Our Phenix" comes from a text by a queer, trans, mixed race, disabled poet. Who I've collaborated now with four times...four or five times?
Giacomo [00:37:20] Oh, Amir, yeah, they're incredible.
Mari [00:37:23] Yes.
Giacomo [00:37:23] Their works are just beautiful.
Mari [00:37:24] Yes. And I mean, I owe them a lot in terms of what I've managed to create since 2015. Yeah, and myself, like I identify as a trans Mexican-American woman who happens to compose for choirs and, I don't know, I think that what that means when you talk about identity, which maybe because you live in California, you're tired of talking about, which I understand. It's just that there are certain... This is the other thing about choir and singing that is so important is just that it helps people to understand truth. And whenever you have a piece of my music, that it's come from me and it's come from my lens and my perspective, there's certain things, there's certain truths that are central to who I am or what I'm trying to accomplish. And then there are other things that I certainly am fighting against, you know? I'm fighting for and I'm fighting against. And, I don't know, I just feel like each each piece of music that I'm bringing, it's like a puzzle piece to fill in the whole truth so that we can understand each other more deeply. Because with the music, it's like the glue, like we're singing together. We're connected. And we understand each other. But bringing the ingredients to that situation is a really important job and there are just certain things that as a Mexican-American trans woman, there are certain truth I'm not willing to ignore when I create my art.
Giacomo [00:39:40] One of those pieces you mentioned just now, being a Mexican-American composer—Mexican-American, trans female composer—one of the pieces which you are working on right now, which is unpublished, but I think probably hits the nail right on the head, is a piece that you've written called "Border Lines" that came out in 2017.
[00:40:08] [Music excerpt: "Border Lines," by Mari Valverde, performed by Adams State University Chamber Choir. Music description: A solo guitar strums a latin-inspired tune, as an SATB choir sings the text of the poem ‘Maps” by Yesenia Mantilla: “Some maps have blue borders like the blue of your name or the tributary lacing of veins running through your
father’s hands. & how the last time I saw you, you heldme for so long I saw whole
lifetimes flooding by me small tentacles reaching for both our faces. I wish maps would be without borders & that we belonged to no one & to everyone at once, what a world that
would be.].
Giacomo [00:41:02] Beautiful piece, as I understand it, it is about the idea of boundaries and borders. I think the text actually speaks a lot about mirroring, or juxtaposing the lines on a map against the lines in the human hand and the veins of a body. It's very beautiful. It's very corporeal as a lot of your music is sensual, as many of your pieces are, which I love. But what made you choose this particular text to set? Was it in English originally? I'm not sure, actually. But can you tell us a little about the piece?
Mari [00:41:37] Yeah, actually, it's originally in English and like a lot of my commissions, the text was not selected by me. It was selected by my collaborator. So my brother is a university voice professor at Adams University, which is in south central Colorado. It's a Hispanic serving institution and their music program is pretty small. And they did a concert series over several years called Ethos. It's basically music that strives to honor immigrant experiences. And so she found this poem titled Maps, by Yesenia Montilla, which is a new piece of poetry, and she wanted to know if we could use this text. And, you know, I got permission. And I think what I asked her was, can we use guitar? And she said, yes, so, this is really the only piece of choral music I've written that has a guitar. But it's such an important part to build the universe around the song. But yeah, it's quite sad, it's about separation and isolation and I mean, if you hear from the beginning, it's SA and then once SA is done singing, it's TB and only for the repeated chorus section do they overlap. And then that section, it's "I wish maps would be without borders" and "that we belong to no one and to everyone at once." And it's really beautiful, but it is very sad, there's a lot of river and water references and, yeah, and there's another spot where it's, "if everyone you came from had disappeared," that's a line that stands out to me, and I set it as a solo. And after that, you get the soprano line only and then the alto line only; tenor line only, and then the bass line only. And then again they come together. But it's like, "I would weep with you. I would weep with you," and everybody "pouring their portion of tears into the well until it finally overflows" type of thing, um, yeah.
Giacomo [00:44:28] They say that the the personal is political, right, and vice versa. This piece strikes me as being quite timely also and being quite political, perhaps, and personal in its nature. What's been the responses from groups and audiences to the piece? Have you heard back from the folks who have performed it?
Mari [00:44:49] Well, borderlines hasn't been performed that much. I think it's performed maybe three times and I don't recall much of a reaction. Yeah. You know, this is one of the things I was thinking about, because usually when people are commissioning me to write new music, they are usually asking for a piano part, if not some type of instrumental addition, and y'all do a cappella music. And so it's a situation where I don't know that y'all would ever do my other music. But at the same time, I think people don't really know my a cappella music. And I direct people to IOC, uh, y'all's recordings. And everybody's like, who is this choir? I', like, I sing with them, you know. So yeah, y'all feel like there's a little bubble over there and some people know about y'all and some people don't. But like. If you all wanted to be a nationwide sensation, we can make that happen.
Giacomo [00:46:03] I mean, I'm feeling that I don't know about Zane, but I'm feelin' that.
Mari [00:46:06] You're a nationwide sensation in my heart.
Giacomo [00:46:07] And I have to say it may not it may have only been performed a couple of times, but this audience of two who happened to listen to it today, it's a stunningly beautiful piece. And I hope the folks who are listening to the podcast will take the time to go over and listen to it as well and program it, because it really is incredibly timely and incredibly beautiful and personal and political and stunning. So check it out, folks. It's really spectacular.
Zane [00:46:34] Yeah, absolutely. I wondered you said this is the first choral piece you wrote with guitar, is that right?
Mari [00:46:40] That's right.
Zane [00:46:41] That's what you said. So, is this the first time you've written anything for guitar?
Mari [00:46:46] That's correct.
Zane [00:46:47] So what was that, just as like a nerdy composition question, how did you go about that? What were the steps involved?
Giacomo [00:46:56] Zane also has some nerdy engraving questions he'd like to ask.
Zane [00:46:58] I do. I do.
Mari [00:47:00] You've been saving them...
Zane [00:47:02] Yes.
Mari [00:47:03] I can see it In your eyes.
Zane [00:47:04] I'm just holding out, exactly. What I was wondering as I was reading the score and listening to the music, you know, it's beautifully scored for guitar. But, personally I've written a little bit of music here and there, but I don't know a damn thing about writing for guitar. And so I wonder, like what the steps you went through to get to the point where you felt comfortable to write a piece that had guitar accompaniment.
Mari [00:47:25] It's so easy. So if you want to write for electronics, if you want to write for Taiko, I've done that, if you want to write for bass clarinet... If you want all those things, like if you want to go do it, all you need to do is find a piece of music that has those things that you love and that you can obsess over. And then you find the score if you can, and then just like learn it, you know, learn how it works and what its conventions are and, you know, it's like a meal or a pill, once you've taken it, it's part of you and then you go write whatever piece. You just do a little bit study.
Zane [00:48:08] Yeah.
Mari [00:48:09] For me, that was the... Oh, I love this. It's the DeFalla. Manuel DeFalla, Siete Canciones Populares Españolas. It's a song cycle, and you can find a bunch of renditions of this with like voice/piano or I don't know if, they probably a voice and guitar one. The piano part is probably written for guitar, I don't know which one came first, but it's.. A lot of Spanish art song has guitar-like accompaniment from that era, I guess. But the rendition that I love is cello and guitar, and it's just such a masterpiece. That's what I kind of use as inspiration.
Zane [00:49:13] Beautiful. I had another question about solos. A couple of the pieces that we were looking at in preparation for talking to you, you know, these newer works that you've written that are a little bit more driven by, you know, current events and politics. You've gotten away... you've moved from more natural, more nature-based poetry into things that are more current because that's what's in demand, as you mentioned. And I noticed as we were looking at those scores that a lot of the solo lines are written for either soprano or tenor, or alto or bass, like you give the the director the option—this could be a tenor solo, or it could be a soprano solo. This could be a bass solo, or it could be an alto solo. And I wondered, you know, most composers, they write a solo and it's like this is a soprano solo and they just designate it or a treble voice solo or something to that effect. I wondered, you know, what the motivations were for you to make those designations on the score. It's like this is a choice and these are two options. And I think I might know the answer, but I want to I want to hear your thoughts as well.
Mari [00:50:26] Well, I mean, the blunt answer well it's not completely true, because one of the cases that you all performed called "En La Noche Entraremos," had a soprano solo, and then a tenor solo, but even then, it's like soprano and tenor.
Zane [00:50:40] Right.
Mari [00:50:41] But, I mean, that was specifically for those voice parts, which in that case, it was more of a contrapuntal thing. It just happened that way, OK? [laughs] The other reason is just like, you know, I think people are just too concerned about what's in other people's pants. You know, like gender is not that important as singing the solo with your whole voice and soul, like I just don't really care. I mean, the only reason I would care is contrapuntal things that like a minor second, [Mari plays a minor second on her piano], sounds like that. And a major seventh sounds like this, [Mari plays a major seventh on her piano], you know, and that's the only difference you get by, you know, separating things, tying things in a different octaves, which sometimes that's an important decision, but a lot of times it's just kind of like whatever, you know,.
Giacomo [00:51:43] I think you take that all the way to its logical end with the solo that starts "United in Song."
[00:52:04] [Music excerpt: "United in Song," by Mari Valverde, performed by Lawrence University Viking Chorale. Music description: An a cappella tenor/bass section opens, then soprano/alto voices join in singing the text: THE BLUE, THE RED, the white, the black, the brown, And all the colors in-between, Women and men and everyone who breathes
Can sing along with me: We dream of a land of a world Brave enough, proud enough to be
United in song To fight for justice and peace.”]
Giacomo [00:52:14] In the very beginning in the detail, you say you can have one person sing it or you can hand the baton between vocalists, it doesn't matter. The point of what you're singing is that we are all together. So that I feel like that kind of follows through on your theme, which is like put your heart out there, you know, put...
Mari [00:52:37] That's as aleatoric as I get; I'm not much more exciting than that.
All [00:52:42] [laughter].
Giacomo [00:52:42] I beg to differ.
Mari [00:52:45] I'm a strict bitch in other senses.
All [00:52:48] [laugher].
Zane [00:52:48] So I think, you know something else that Giacomo and I have been talking about as we plan this podcast and we talked about topics that we wanted to talk about was the idea that for a very long time we've had men's courses and women's courses and like this designation of that, and that that's starting to change, right? What's the group, Giacomo, that's now not...
Giacomo [00:53:13] Oh, yeah. So I mean, I sang in college with a cappella groups. I sang with the Whiffenpoofs and a group that used to be known as the Duke's Men of Yale that all decided to become all gender groups. And what's really interesting to me is like, that's great. I you know, I applaud those decisions, especially when it advantages folks who are, you know, get to have the privilege of a group like the the Whiffenpoofs, which has a world tour as a college senior. I think that's really amazing. But it's interesting that that idea hasn't really followed forward. Like, for example, there's a member of IOC who is an alto two, incredible voice, and is like, I would love to sing tenor sometime. And my natural inclination was like, oh, my gosh, everyone's welcome in GGMC, you should come join. And yet the name of the group is "men's," right? Like it's there in every gay men's choir, like, what are your thoughts about that?
Mari [00:54:05] Again, I feel like it's just karma that's not been resolved. You know, like as far as I'm concerned, this is a new issue. You've always had, probably, in the closet trans people in your choirs always, and that's not uncommon, and the other thing I was thinking of is, well, I said earlier, like, people put too much emphasis on what's in other people's pants. Which is like none of your goddamn business anyway, you know. But at the same time, it's like there's this idea of like brotherhood and sisterhood and I just like, I don't know, I never really felt like I had sisterhood, you know, I've never sung in a women's chorus. And I write all the time for SSAA, or SSA. All the time. That's the people who are hiring me the most. And I love it. I absolutely love it. I wouldn't have it any other way. But yeah, I've never had that experience. I have sung in men's courses and, you know, I've always had brothers. Most of my friends have been male and, you know, it is what it is. I don't really, I don't feel like that is better or worse. I think it's really up to, at the end of the day, each individual person about what that means to them and that it can be many different things to many different people, you know? But, I don't know, I think especially with men's ensembles, there is a different flavor, and when you get mostly a group of the same gender, it's a different flavor. And I tell you, I have never felt more powerful than when I got to conduct the Seattle Men's Chorus, because they were just like, I brought my vulnerability to the table with my music and myself, and they brought it too, and it's just like this incredible feeling. Which I'm sure you can get conducting any ensemble regardless of gender. But for me, it was, you know, it was kind of a yin and yang situation. I just felt like we fed off each other and it was like I said, I never felt more powerful than conducting a majority CIS male ensemble. Yeah, because I never thought I would do that, you know. But to say that, it's also important to note that now there are both trans men and trans women in the Seattle Men's Chorus, and that is their name. They've kept it. And it is what it is.
Zane [00:57:24] Yeah. Yeah, ultimately, it comes down to it being a label, you know, and it's a it's a conversation that we're having about labels, but the core of it is still great music and talented musicians and beautiful people. When it comes down to it, I think.
Mari [00:57:39] You know, there's this idea of safety, like you want to be safe in your choral space. You want to build trust with your choral ensemble, and they want to build trust with you, and that's how you make the best music you possibly can. But. I think that there is this idea that, like, you have to separate women from men because they're all rapists. And what that does when you say that and that's what you live by and basically you're putting trauma into how you define a choral ensemble. It erases men who have experienced sexual assault or sexual violence, you know, so it's just like you can't just do gender-based things because gender is just gray.
Zane [00:58:30] Yeah, great statement. All right. I'm going to nerd out on us for a little bit about engraving, because this is something Mari and I have talked about before. In my experience with your music, which I have a lot of experience with your music, you have had, always had the most pristine engraving that I've ever seen. No other composer has given me a score—and sometimes you give me a score and you're like, well, I'm not done with it yet or something, you give me some excuse about, "oh, it's not perfect yet. I'm not ready to show to the world." And I take a look at it. I'm like, this is more well engraved than some of the published music that I've purchased in the last six months. It's always amazing to me how great it looks. So I wanted to ask you how important—obviously it's important to you—but overall, how important is the way a score looks? Like, when you open it up and look at the music, how important and why is it important?
Mari [00:59:31] Well, I mean, the first thing I can think of is first impressions.
Zane [00:59:35] Hmm.
Mari [00:59:35] Because, if you have a glorious piece of music and it looks like booboo when you open it, like,.
Giacomo [00:59:43] [stifling a laugh].
Mari [00:59:43] I don't know, some people are going to pass on that, even though it's a glorious piece of music that's going to change your life. So there's that. The other part of it is like, especially composing for GALA courses, these are not like all young groups, and I want people to be able to read my music and not be like, I get my cheaters. Maybe that sounds a little ageist—I live with my parents and they have cheaters, so I can say that. You know, it's just like I wanted to be, I want it make sense. And, yeah, some of the music that I've had published does not look that great, and I don't want that ever again.
Zane [01:00:32] Do the publishers make changes to when you submit a score that's engraved the way you want it, do the publishers then say, "well, let's take this off, let's change this"?
Mari [01:00:40] You know what, let's, I'm going to have you and like 10 other conductors write beautifully written letters saying, "hey, reengrave this please" and then maybe they'll do it then. Cause they always tell me, the publishers, it's just like this vicious square or triangle, depending, like composer, publisher, vendor, consumer. And like we're living in a time where that composer-consumer situation is a lot closer and the middlemen are sometimes not necessary. I mean, the middle people. [laughs] But, you know, they always say to me., When they want to tell me no, they say, oh, this won't sell, we can't publish this. It's too esoteric. Which I love saying now because when I was writing music for y'all that y'all did amazingly, like they would reject my stuff. And I mean, I understand that it was hard music and like, you had to rehearse it and stuff. But yeah, it was just now like that I am a somewhat celebrated composer, people are like "why isn't your stuff so easy to get? Like, why aren't you just published? Why haven't people done your music?" I'm just like, you know, I don't I have to have the help that everybody else has to just publish and publish and publish. So that's the whole thing, it's like there's a lot of gatekeeping and I have grown more and more impatient as I've gotten older. But that's why I self published so much. Which is hard to do; it's imperfect.
Zane [01:02:33] Yeah, I also love how specific you are.
Mari [01:02:38] Thank you.
Zane [01:02:40] I do. I love how specific you are with your markings on the score. And that's beyond like obviously there are moments in many scores that you've written where there's a little asterisk. And at the bottom of the page it's like this is exactly what I want you to do right here and that I love that. But even like the difference between your breath marks: you take the time to say, here is a breath and there's a clear breath mark. Over here is a breath, but it's in parentheses. And I've never actually asked you this, like what exactly you mean by that. But what I take it to mean is that the breath mark, this is a breath; the one in parentheses, it's what we would call like a lift or a catch breath. It's something that's a little shorter. It's not a big [inhales deeply] moment, but rather a little [quick, short inhale] moment.
Mari [01:03:31] So...
Zane [01:03:32] Am I right about that?
All [01:03:32] [laugter]
Zane [01:03:32] Maybe I'm wrong and I've been interpreting it wrong the whole time...
All [01:03:32] [laughter].
Giacomo [01:03:32] Zane... People can't see this, but Zane is red as a tomato, it's fantastic.
Zane [01:03:41] The look on Mari's face...she's like, oh you've got it all wrong, you jackass.
All [01:03:50] [laughter].
Mari [01:03:50] What if I never told you? I'll tell you. So it's like, you know, it's like a cookie if you want it. That's what that is like.
Zane [01:04:03] Ahh...
Mari [01:04:03] You're traveling along. You need the breath. The breath is there if you want it.
Zane [01:04:11] Ah, I got it.
Mari [01:04:11] If there's a comma there, though, it's like, it's a breath. But it's up to you at the end of the day as a conductor about what kind of breath that is.
Zane [01:04:22] Right.
Mari [01:04:24] So, I'm not emotionally bound to... If I was emotionally bound to how long, like the duration of that breath, I would write in a rest of some duration.
Zane [01:04:38] Yeah.
Mari [01:04:39] Which sometimes I do. But other times it's like, no, this has to be felt and not stressed over. And I don't want to make that decision because it gives you the ability to interpret how you want. That's the answer to that, and I actually feel like I need to go back to my older scores and make sure that I have those written in because I only started doing that around 2015.
Zane [01:05:12] Oh.
Giacomo [01:05:13] Mari, as a cookie monster myself, I would greatly appreciate that because I'm going to eat every single one of them along the way.
Mari [01:05:21] Well, you better take that breath then.
All [01:05:25] [laughter]
Giacomo [01:05:25] I most certainly will.
Mari [01:05:27] You know?
Giacomo [01:05:27] As we're as we're kind of wrapping up our time here a little bit—I want to be mindful of your time as well—but looking forward to some of the groups or some of the folks who are out there right now that are inspiring you, or who you think like, wow, folks out there, you should know about these folks and what they're doing.
Mari [01:05:49] OK, so Amir Rabiyah, who I've worked with on five different pieces by now, and another trans poet named Lady Dane Figueroa Edidi. And yeah, like it's a black trans indigenous voice who is very honest about certain things that a lot of people don't, are not comfortable being honest about. And that's kind of... from all these adjectives, is that these people that live at the intersections of marginalized identities are so sensitive. And I don't mean that in the sense that they're oversensitive, but they're just appropriately sensitive and that their capacity for empathy surpasses people that aren't forced to deal with those realities on a day to day basis. So, I mean, the trans community is a large inspiration to me, just, time and time again, so all kinds of trans artists, Angelica Ross, I don't know how common that name is. If anybody's seen Pose on FX, it's like a groundbreaking show.
Giacomo [01:07:07] Yes, of course. Of course. Of course.
Mari [01:07:10] You have to go see it. But it's like probably the first of its kind where it's like a bunch of trans characters being played by trans people, not CIS people. And it's about the ballroom scene in the 1980s in New York City. It's epic. It's such a groundbreaking thing. But, you know, it gives me so much pride and inspiration to see this community doing all these things. So that's a big inspiration to me, and that's really the first thing that comes to my head. You know, I mean, there's there's so many, but that's mostly who I think about, and I'm very lucky to be able to work with some of them on some music. Actually, I don't know if I sent you "Wonderous Glow," but if I did...
Giacomo [01:08:08] You did.
Mari [01:08:10] ...that's also an Amir Rabiyah piece, that IS a cappella. So you could do that one if you want.
Zane [01:08:14] Ahh.
Mari [01:08:15] And it does have a solo that is either alto or bass.
Zane [01:08:18] I know, that's what inspired that question, was that score.
Mari [01:08:19] Oh, OK.
All [01:08:19] [laughter]
Zane [01:08:24] Yeah, Amir, their poetry is just stunning, really stunning.
Giacomo [01:08:29] Mari, in our last few closing closing minutes, for folks it's been a heck of a year past year. We're still not quite out of it yet as far as chronologically the start of covid and all those things. And it's the insanity of this last year. I mean, on so many levels, BLM and social justice movements and everything that's been happening, what are you looking forward to?
Mari [01:08:54] I'm looking forward to comfortable people like stopping being comfortable. Like honestly, that's really how I see a lot of movements and efforts and coordination and solidarity towards progress, is gatekept. And honestly, there's just some very powerful people with lots of money behind them, and they are gatekeeping all the movements that are fighting for our freedom as Americans. And that's basically the long and the short of it. I think that we as a nation will continue to suffer, um, climactic...climate tragedies, tragedies of the climate. And school shootings. We're going to continue to suffer a pandemic until we've had the gall to deal with things in a really serious way, and that's what the movements are fighting for.
Giacomo [01:10:12] So more discomfort. We need more uncomfortable people in positions of power for now.
Mari [01:10:17] Well, it's not a discomfort, I guess so... It's just more that we need people to be more radically honest with themselves and more curious about things that, you know, just people dismissing like, oh, well, that doesn't affect me. So it's not my problem. And that type of attitude is going to ensure more disasters.
Zane [01:10:39] I could not agree more.
Mari [01:10:41] Going back to "I Flow... I Am," is it really just dismisses our connection and what we can accomplish together.
Giacomo [01:10:50] Agreed.
Zane [01:10:51] Yeah, I couldn't I could not agree more. I feel like the everything that we need right now is to connect humanity globally and and find find the common ground.
Giacomo [01:11:03] And ain't that why we sing?
Zane [01:11:04] Yeah.
Mari [01:11:04] And not be shy about talking about difficult things to talk about.
Zane [01:11:10] Exactly.
Giacomo [01:11:11] Or sing about.
Zane [01:11:12] Or sing about them. [laughs] Well, this has been—Giacomo, do you have anything further?
Giacomo [01:11:20] I don't. This has been tremendous Mari. I can't tell you how excited and how much I'd been looking forward to this conversation. Thank you so much.
Zane [01:11:30] Yeah. You know, Mari, I've known you for what, I don't know, 11 years, probably, 12 years or so. And we've had a chance to to forge this relationship between composer and conductor and singer and conductor. And yet when it comes down to it, it's a very personal relationship that I feel like I have with you. And I feel grateful to have spent so many years getting to know you as a composer, but also getting to know you as a person. And so I thank you for taking the time to talk to us today and for opening up and sharing a little bit about yourself as a composer, but also as a person.
Mari [01:12:10] Thank you. That means a lot.
Zane [01:12:13] All right. Well, you have a wonderful evening. Mari, thanks again for joining us, and we will talk to you soon.
Mari [01:12:19] Have a good night, y'all.
Zane [01:12:21] You do the same.
Mari [01:12:23] Bye.
[01:12:23] [Music excerpt: "Wondrous Glow," by Mari Valverde, performed by Ensemble Companio. Music description: A tenor balefully sings a solo line as an a cappella choir sings a forte, triumphant opening, with text by Amir Rabiyah from the poem of the same name: “when everything is lost imagine yourself as more than an earth-quaking body a gift the streaking tail of a comet become that which holds your eye that which makes you gasp.”]
Outro [01:13:43] Thanks for listening to this week's episode of the In Unison podcast. If you've got ideas for our podcast, please send us a message at ideas@inunisonpodcast.com. And who knows, maybe Chorus Dolores will ask us to talk about it during announcements. In Unison is sustained, nourished and fostered by you, our loyal and loving listeners. And don't forget to subscribe to In Unison on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen. You can find us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook @inunisonpod. And hey, if you like what you heard, tell a friend or a section mate. Thanks again for tuning in. See you soon.
Chorus Dolores [01:14:23] Glockenspiel and Torpedo Guero were acquired and tuned by Chorus Dolores, who would like to remind you these are instruments, not toys, people.
Credits [01:14:34] In Unison is produced and recorded by Mission: Orange Studios. Our theme music is Mr. Puffy, written by Avi Bortnick, arranged by Paul Kim, and performed by the Danish vocal jazz ensemble Dynamic on their debut album, This is Dynamic. Special thanks to Paul Kim for permission. Be sure to check them out at dynamicjazz.dk