Choral and Vocal Works
(The) Cherry Tree Carol for SATB (2011)
A lovely, haunting melody, this setting of The Cherry Tree Carol is for SATB and piano. A Wonderful song for the Christmas Season, this version is not difficult and could be sung by high school and college choirs as well as community and professional choirs. "The Cherry Tree Carol" is one of the most popular of English religious folk ballads. During Medieval times, it was frequently dramatized in folk plays and pageants. This is a wonderful ballad for the season.
A Choral Quilt of Hope Preamble (2010)
"A Choral Quilt of Hope" is a beautiful adaptation by Susan Suntree of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights document which was adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1948, on 10 December - forever after Human Rights Day around the world.; a document so powerful in its meaning and intent, it should be known in every language, in every village, town, and country. Our hope is to have this work performed in a multitude of languages and places throughout the world. The work may be sung in unison or in parts with piano or ogan accompaniment.
Et In Terra Pax (2008)
Commissioned by The Gregg Smith Singers for the 34th Annual Choral Music Festival in Saranac Lake, NY in the summer of 2007, the work was premiered by them in a beautiful church close to the river. I have melded the Latin text with English words to create a song about lasting peace and love in the world. A relatively easy piece with a high soprano part for high school, college, community and professional choirs.
Malala (2015)
Malala, commissioned and Premiered by the Cornell University Chorus, Robert Isaacs, conductor, is inspired by the extraordinary Malala Yousafzai, (born 12 July 1997). Malala was given its World Premiere by the Cornell University Chorus in Bailey Hall at Cornell University on October 31st, 2015.
Recent Performances: 02.29.2020 New York, NY; 03/01/2020, Orange, NJ
Ember Ensemble, Deborah Simpkin King, Artistic Director & Founder
Malala is the young Pakistani activist for female education and the youngest-ever Nobel Prize laureate. At the time of the premiere of this work at Cornell University, she is 18 years old. Malala is known mainly for her human rights advocacy for education for women in her native Swat Valley in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of northwest Pakistan. At the time, many girls' schools were being destroyed by militants in the Swat Valley. Malala was shot by the Taliban in 2012 in retaliation for her advocacy, After she was shot, Yousafzai was rushed to the United Kingdom for medical treatment. Following her recovery, she and her family resettled in Birmingham, England. Malala Yousafzai's advocacy has since grown into an international movement.
This work weaves several of Malala's words spoken in public along with the inspirational vowel sounds of her name.