dawn always begins in the bones

In this vocal cycle, I was inspired by the wonderful poetry coming from all over Canada, and the research to find these texts was long and astonishing. This project allowed me to discover unexpected, varied and inspiring poetic worlds: some more than 100 years old, some very new, some traditional, some experimental, some funny, some zen, some short and some already cycles in themselves.

Each text invited me to write distinct music with various distributions, from solo to quartet and with or without the piano. Some texts inspired several versions. The piano itself is treated in different ways, using both familiar accompaniment and extended techniques.

I did not pre-establish an order; different orders could incite different dramatic directions for the cycle.
Happy birthday, Canada!