Ligament

Anika Kildegaard (voice) and Will Yager (double bass)

Thursday, May 1, 2025 at 7:30p in the Recital Hall

Program

Ligament

Kaija Saariaho: Changing Light
     Light and darkness, night and day.
     We marvel at the mystery of the stars.
     Moon and sky, sand and sea.
     We marvel at the mystery of the sun.
     Twilight, high noon, dusk and dawn.
     Though we are mortal, we are Creation’s crown. Flesh and bone, steel and stone.
     We dwell in fragile, temporary shelters.
     Grant steadfast love, compassion, grace. Sustain us, Lord; our origin is dust.
     Splendor, mercy, majesty, love endure.
     We are but little lower than the angels. Resplendent skies, sunset, sunrise.
     The grandeur of Creation lifts our lives.
     Evening darkness, morning dawn.
     Renew our lives as You renew all time.
     -Rabbi Jules Harlow
     Reprinted from “Siddur Sim Shalom”, page 280, edited by Jules Harlow

Carlos Cotallo Solares: The size of an orange
     Kennst du das Land, wo die Zitronen blühn,
     (...)
     Ein sanfter Wind vom blauen Himmel weht,
     Die Myrte still und hoch der Lorbeer steht?
 

(translation)
     Do you know the land where the lemon trees blossom,
     (...)
     a gentle wind blows from the blue sky,
     the myrtle stands still, the laurel tall?
 

Christine Burke Nocturne
Have you EVER been denied admission to the United States?

     Do you intend to engage in any activity that violates or evades any law relating to espionage (including spying) or sabotage in the United States?
     During the period from March 23, 1933 to May 8, 1945, did you ever order, incite, assist, or otherwise participate in the persecution of any person because of race, religion, national origin, or political opinion, in association with either the Nazi government of Germany or any organization or government associated or allied with the Nazi government of Germany?
---
     How many B flats are there in the melody?
     Do you know the land where lemons grow?
     Lemons are a hybrid of the citron and the sour orange.
     Do you know it?
     Have you EVER worked in the United States without authorization?
     The sweet orange is a cross between a mandarin and a likely extinct mandarin/pomelo hybrid.
     Do you know the house?
     Have you EVER committed a crime of any kind (even if you were not arrested, cited, charged with, or tried for that crime)?
     It is debated whether kumquats are in the Citrus genus.
     Have you EVER induced by force, fraud, or coercion (or otherwise been involved in) the trafficking of persons for commercial sex acts?
     Have you EVER recruited, enlisted, conscripted, or used any person under 15 years of age to serve in or help an armed force or group?
     What have they done to you, poor child?
     The Bizzarria is a graft-chimaera that produces branches of Florentine citron and sour orange, and some with fruits that exhibit characteristics of both the citron and orange.
     The Buddha's hand is a citron variety whose fruit is segmented into finger-like sections.
     Do you know it?
     Have you EVER lied about, concealed, or misrepresented any information on an application or petition to obtain a visa, other documentation required for entry into the United States, admission to the United States, or any other kind of immigration benefit?
     Do you know the mountain and its cloudy path?
     Nearly all commonly available citrus fruits are hybrids derived from the mandarin orange, the pomelo, and the citron.
     Have you ever committed, threatened to commit, attempted to commit, conspired to commit, incited, endorsed, advocated, planned, or prepared any of the following: hijacking, sabotage, kidnapping, political assassination, or use of a weapon or explosive to harm another individual or cause substantial damage to property?
     Do you know it?
     Have you EVER ordered, incited, called for, committed, assisted, helped with, or otherwise participated in any of the following:
     Acts involving torture or genocide?
     Killing any person?
     Intentionally and severely injuring any person?
     Engaging in any kind of sexual contact or relations with any person who did not consent or was unable to consent, or was being forced or threatened?
     Limiting or denying any person's ability to exercise religious beliefs?
     The average orange is around 2 to 3 inches in diameter.
 

Matt Mason: A Promised Story
Do you
Do you
Do you
          No one
          No one
          No
Do you
Understand how it is to be
          What it
How it is to be afraid
To be
          What it is
How it is to be a
          A person
Do you, do you
To be scared of, to be scared of unchecked
To be scared of, to be scared of unchecked threats
Threats of violence
To be afraid friends disappeared in the night
Unchecked threats of violence
Friends will have disappeared in the night.
I sang when I had the chance.
I sang when I,
It came when I sang when you cared.
I sand when you cared more of,
I, At the end.
I sand at the end in the house at the end of the revolution.
Nightmares for my safety running
When I had things
Every night
But I sing when I lack things to be happy for.
Now I sing on the inside

If the last hour calls,
Would you wait for me
At the summer cottage
At the dawn of the purple dreams
And the scent of blooming roses
 

Zac Fick-Cambria: Machina
On February 23, 1994, at approximately 1:00 a.m., Bruce Edwin Callins will be executed by the State of Texas. Intravenous tubes attached to his arms will carry the instrument of death, a toxic fluid designed specifically for the purpose of killing human beings.

The witnesses, standing a few feet away, will behold Callins, no longer a defendant, an appellant, or a petitioner, but a man, strapped to a gurney, and seconds away from extinction.

Within days, or perhaps hours, the memory of Callins will begin to fade. The wheels of justice will churn again, and somewhere, another jury or another judge will have the unenviable task of determining whether some human being is to live or die…

From this day forward, I no longer shall tinker with the machinery of death.
 

Katherine Balch: Vidi l’angelo nel marmo
Vidi l’angelo nel marmo e scolpi fino a liberalo
I saw an angel in the marble and carved until it was set free
—attributed to Michelangelo
 

James Dillon: A Roaring Flame (1982)
Deilm ndega ro thethainn mo chridese;
A roaring flame has dissolved this heart of mine;
-The Lament of Liadan
 

Text:

Invocation (Scots’ Gaelic trad.)
 

Ionnlaime do bhasa
Ann am frasa fiona,
Ann an liu nan lasa,
Ann an seachda siona,
Ann an subh craobh,
Ann am bainne meala,
Is cuirime na naoi buadhean glana caon,
Ann do ghruidean caomha geala,
Buaidh cruth,
Buaidh guth,
Buaidh rath,
Buaidh math,
Buaidh chnoc,
Buaidh bhochd,
Buiadh na rogha finne,
Buaidh na fior eireachdais,
Buaidh am deagh labhraidh.
 

I bathe thy palms,
In showers of wine,
In the lustral fire,
In the seven elements,
In the juice of the rasps,
In the milk of honey,
And I place the nine pure choice graces,
In thy fair fond face,
The grace of form,
The grace of voice,
The grace of fortune,
The grace of goodness,
The grace of wisdom,
The grace of charity,
The grace of choice maidenliness,
The grace of whole souled loveliness,
The grace of goodly speech.
from Carmina Gadelica by Alexander Carmichael

Glossolalia (Provençal)
 

Cel que.m blasma vostr’ amor nl.m defen
non pot en far re mon cor meillor,
ni.l dous dezir qu’ieu ai de vos major
ni l’enveja ni.l dezir ni.l talen.
 

Whoever blames my love for you or bans it,
is powerless to help my heart improve,
or to increase my love for you,
or my longing, or my desire or need.
- Clara d’Anduza