If I Shall Ever Return Home: Seven Chinese Poems

If I Shall Ever Return Home is a song cycle for tenor voice and piano featuring seven poems from classical Chinese poetry. Most of the poems are from the golden age of poetry, the Tang Dynasty, though one is more recent and one is far, far older. Together, the poems comprise a journey that is both physical and metaphysical. As the harmonies progress and develop throughout the cycle, so too do the poems turn more and more into the internal self. The poems are all translated by acclaimed scholars and writers (used with permission), and their beautiful approach to these works is reflected by my own approach.

You can hear samples from this cycle in the audio player on the home page.

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