Hold out your hands and listen to the rain - for soprano and string quartet; or for soprano and piano.
Version for soprano and piano commissioned by the Aspen Opera Theatre and Vocal Arts program and premiered by Melanie Spector (soprano) and Andrew Chen (piano) in August 2025.
Version for soprano and string quartet commissioned by the Ear Taxi Festival and premiered by Hayley Fox (soprano) and KAIA String Quartet in October 2025.
The text for Hold out your hands and listen to the rain draws on two passages from Robin Wall Kimmerer’s book, Braiding Sweetgrass, and explores the many topics on nature about which she writes: the varied temporal frameworks of nature, the interconnectedness of humans, animals, plants, and mushrooms, and the role that nature plays in our memory, whether that is individually, collectively, or across generations. I found Kimmerer’s writing incredibly captivating as she brings her experience as an indigenous scientist to create deeply lyrical, vivid, and empathetic descriptions of many environmental worlds and our relationships to it. The sound worlds of Hold out your hands and listen to the rain feature passages of lush, yet delicate, heterophonic lines, warm chords, and shimmering lyricism passed throughout the ensemble and textures of various rhythmic energies to create an array of shades of time that we experience. Hold out your hands and listen to the rain is written with admiration and gratitude to Robin Wall Kimmerer and the Ear Taxi Festival
Recording Forthcoming.