A cycle in five chapters · 2022–2026
Chronicles of Ghosts
Stories of extraordinary women that history nearly forgot, told through narration and song. In each chapter, a storyteller channels a ghost, and the music weaves mythology, quantum physics, mysticism and historical biography into a bridge between past and present.
Chapters I & II · 2022
Chronicles of Ghosts
La Malinche and Agnes Waterhouse
Soprano, violin, cello and piano
Commissioned by Beaver Island Performing Arts for the 2022 Baroque on Beaver Festival
The cycle begins in the 16th century, with storytellers who each have a personal bond to the ghost they channel. Chapter I belongs to La Malinche. In Chapter II, the ghost of Elizabeth Francis tells the story of her sister Agnes Waterhouse, the first woman executed for witchcraft in England, in 1566, whom Elizabeth had incriminated to escape her own death.
Prologue · I. La Malinche · Intermezzo · II. Malleus Maleficarum (Agnes Waterhouse)
Chapter III · 2024
Whispers from the Pirate Queen
Grace O’Malley and Anne Hutchinson
Mezzo-soprano and string quartet
Commissioned by Newport Classical
Through a time-bending connection, the spirit of Grace O’Malley, the fearless Irish pirate queen, reaches out to Anne Hutchinson, the Puritan spiritual leader who challenged religious orthodoxy in colonial America, and passes her a torch of courage across the centuries.
Chapter IV · 2024
Earth and Water
A conversation along the Erie Canal
Soprano, mezzo-soprano and string quartet · 10 minutes
Born from a conversation with Mohawk storyteller Kay Olan, who described Earth as our mother and Water as its lifeblood. Personified Earth and Water speak with each other against the backdrop of the Erie Canal, while the composer, sketching the piece in real time, steps in to wonder what comes next.
Chapter V · 2026
Summerland
Charity Bryant and Sylvia Drake
Soprano, mezzo-soprano and orchestra · 23 minutes
Music and libretto by Clarice Assad · Commissioned by the Vermont Symphony Orchestra
In Summerland, the Spiritualist afterlife, Sylvia Drake finds Charity Bryant, her companion of forty-four years, after searching across a thousand lifetimes. Charity has waited so long that her memories have faded, and Sylvia must help her remember who they were and what they built together.
The chronicles continue