Sun-Dogs

Five-movement work for mixed chorus a cappella with mutiple divisi and semi-chorus.
A setting of a poem by Michael Symmons Roberts (English) with Latin text from the mass and an English traditional rhyme. Co-commissioned in 2006 by the Indiana University Contemporary Vocal Ensemble, ZaterdagMatinee, the Three Choirs Festival and Soundstreams Canada. 
Recording: BIS SACD 1719, by Netherlands Radio Choir, conducted by Celso Antunes. 

“The music itself was a revelation: a mesmeric blending of traditional and contemporary elements … a choral array of chanting and whispering, of shouting and speaking, of whistling and controlling disparate lines so that they wondrously merged … The co-creator of Sun-Dogs was British poet Michael Symmons Roberts who addresses theological and mythical symbolisms. Dogs, beggars, suns and stars turn into metaphors … The whole settled upon the ears like magic …” 
Indiana Herald-Times. 

Suitable for advanced standard choirs.