Young New Yorkers’ Chorus
Treble Ensemble
CT-ACDA Fall Conference
October 28th, 2023
Norwich Technical High School
Greetings from New York City!
On behalf of the Young New Yorkers’ Chorus (YNYC), I want to share my excitement and deep gratitude for hosting us at the Connecticut ACDA 2023 Fall Conference. This is one of two ACDA conferences we’ll be performing at this season, the other being the ACDA Eastern Region Conference with our Mixed Ensemble. ACDA has meant a great deal to me throughout my career, and it’s an absolutely joy to be able to share our music and voices with you.
YNYC’s mission is to foster a vibrant choral community through singing, performance, and collaboration with emerging composers. We work to ensure that New Yorkers have a haven that brings music to those who need it, and amplifies the voices of those who wish to make it. The singers you see before you today are deeply committed to the advocacy and creation of music by emerging composers, as well as those whose voices have historically been under-amplified. Our program today reflects some of the work we’re most proud of.
We couldn’t be more thrilled to be singing for you today. If you’d like to learn more about YNYC, feel free to explore this website. You can also follow us on Facebook and Instagram, or sign up for email updates at the bottom of this page.
Warmly,
Alex Canovas, General & Artistic Director
Singers
Soprano 1
Megan Buiocchi
Sofie Christensen
Ellen Heuer
Allysun Marshall
Francesca Serraino
Grace Tyson
Soprano 2
Kitty Baker
Laura Boyman
Lindsay Brillson
Kelsey Brush
Megan Combs
Ashley Huntington
Kathleen Ritter
Alto 1
Rebecca Delconte
Sonya Gould
Alyssa Keyne
Catherine Moore
Shikha Nayar
Izzy Vargas
Alto 2
Ryann Bieber
Anike Cherry
Soraya Dangor
Sarah Rosenblatt
Megha Sawhney
Emily Crowe Sobotko
Program
Sleep Song - Margaret Bonds (1913 - 1972)
The Lady World
Is sleeping on her white and cloudy bed.
Like petals furled
Her eyelids close. Beside her dream-filled head
Her lover stands in silver cloak and shoon,
The faithful Moon. So Love, my Love,
Sleep on, my Love, my Life, be not afraid.
The Moon above,
Shall guard the World, and I my little maid.
Your life, your love, your dreams are mine to keep,
So sleep, so sleep.
— Joyce Kilmer
Learn more about the Margaret Bonds Signature Series from Hildegard Publishing Company here.
Broken - Dominick DiOrio (b. 1984)
When a compass
is broken
it can be replaced
needle, cork, shallow dish
is all it takes
More difficult
is learning
the compass is broken
That part takes decades
of wandering in the desert
— Megan Levad
Learn more about Dominick & “Broken” here.
Stars like goldfish - Hilary Purrington
(b. 1990)
The stars are like gold-fish in a deep blue bowl,
Swimming round and round the centuries.
Sometimes one dies of the hot summer night:
I watch it falling—
Fading—
And I watch the others,
Floating in their blue bowl,
Eternally golden.
Immortally indifferent.
— Leonora Speyer
Learn more about Hilary here.
The Cardinal - Alex Canovas (b. 1990)
A crimson blur in the heat of the sun
Looks beyond the pines and glances at someone.
From the pale into fading blue,
Far away the cardinal flew.
The last smile in the late summer haze,
The electric city dims its light, and waits:
From the pale into fading blue,
Far away the cardinal flew.
For what is now and is to come
Remains unfinished, yet is done.
From the pale into fading blue,
Far away the cardinal flew.
— Alex Canovas
Learn more about “The Cardinal” here.
A Bell Awakened - Joan Szymko (b. 1957)
"Variations on a Theme by Rilke"
A certain day became a presence to me;
there it was, confronting me—a sky, air, light:
a being. And before it started to descend
from the height of noon, it leaned over
and struck my shoulder as if with
the flat of a sword, granting me
honor and a task. The day's blow
rang out, metallic—or it was I, a bell awakened,
and what I heard was my whole self
saying and singing what it knew: I can.
— Denise Levertov
Learn more about Joan Szymko & “A Bell Awakened” here.