Lake of Stars

Program Notes:

Argentinean composer Santiago Veros was inspired to write “Lake of Stars” during the COVID-19 pandemic. The work expresses hope through darkness and uncertainty, a theme described in Charles Anthony Silvestri’s poem.

Conductor Notes:

Scored for women’s choir in 4 parts, soprano soloist, alto flute, string quartet, and bass. The instrumental ensemble provides a dramatic, rhythmically driving accompaniment in contrast to choral parts that are mid-range and largely homophonic. The soloist sings short passages in three spots. We used one of our choristers. Unless you already have a guest soprano in your concert, this would not be the work for which you would bring in a guest artist. I recommend a choir of at least 40 voices – preferably 50 or more to deliver the drama that I believe Veros intended.

Composer / Arranger Notes:

Roads can be winding. One can feel that they are going backwards, but determination will always triumph. If you know where you are going, enlightenment will come and the true self will shine with new colors. This piece begins by narrating an experience: the moment before dawn, floating in the uncertainty of an eternal lake, surrounded by conifers, and accompanied by the wind that drives destiny, whispering our wishes. Everything seems improbable when thoughts torment us, but when our minds become calm, it all starts to make sense.

The stars disappear because they rain down on us, on our faces and everything that surrounds us. The dawn – the dawn of ourselves and of the earth itself – begins. Transformed into light, wisdom and freshness we new colors are revealed around us. The whole environment is transformed and the port into which we once dreamed of arriving is radiant in front of us.

Commissioned and dedicated to
Cantala (Lawrence University Women’s Choir) – Phillip A. Swan, conductor
Canzona Women’s Ensemble – Jill Anderson and Cricket Handler, Artistic Directors,
Elektra Women’s Choir, Morna Edmundson, Artistic Director,
Nazareth College Treble Choir – Brian M. Stevens, Director
Sora Singers (Brock University) – Rachel Rensink-Hoff, conductor,
Howard Dawson, Joy Hewitt and Martha Cathleen Dawson.

Text:

Sailing through this longest of nights
Across dark waters, and darker thoughts,
The distant shore
Only the shadow of long ago,

I reach for the memory of the green of your eyes,
For the smell of spring, the whispering of butterflies;
But wrapped in a cloak of deep forgetting,
I begin to fade away.

From the darkness gather, luminous,
The guardians of past and future;
They surround me, whispering, Rise and remember!
Follow, and we will guide you home!

The voices awaken a shower of stars,
Banishing night, revealing the path
To the once distant shore,
And the promised light of long-awaited dawn.

Poem by Charles Anthony Silvestri