Jake Runestad – Dreams of the Fallen

– poetry by Brian Turner
 – featuring pianist Yana Reznik

Originally commissioned by acclaimed pianist Jeffrey Biegel and a consortium of five orchestras from around the country, Dreams of the Fallen explores a soldier’s emotional response to the experience of war using powerful texts written by Iraq War veteran and award-winning poet Brian Turner.

Sahba Aminikia – Sound, Only Sound Remains, * orchestral world premiere

Since the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran women are not allowed to sing publicly according to the Islamic code.The piece was produced following my announcement on Facebook inviting Iranian female singers to collaborate with me, Kronos Quartet and Brooklyn Youth Chorus. Numerous sound clips, mostly recorded on handheld devices, were sent to me which enabled me to immerse myself in a world, which as a man, I have never experienced. The opening text which translates to “Sound, only sound remains” in Farsi is by Forough Farrokhzad, arguably one of Iran’s most influential female poets of the twentieth century, a controversial modernist and an iconoclast who died tragically in a car accident at the age of 32. – Sahba Aminikia

Arvo Pärt – Da Pacem Domine

Arvo Pärt wrote the prayer of peace Da pacem Domine to fulfill a commission from Jordi Savall. He began to set this ninth-century Gregorian antiphon two days after the Madrid bombings on 11 March 2004 as his personal tribute to the victims. Since then Da pacem Domine has been performed every year in Spain to commemorate the victims of this terrorist attack. Even while originally composing this four-voice piece, Pärt made allowances for variable scorings. As a result, it exists in several versions, not only for voice but also entirely for instruments.