One Walks the Flesh Transparent (2023)

SATB choir. 4 mins.

Selection from Sauntering Songs: a concert-length cantata on the theme of walking, commissioned by Skylark Vocal Ensemble.

“Barra” (1903), Samuel John Peploe.
“Barra” (1903), Samuel John Peploe. National Galleries of Scotland.

Perusal Score

View perusal score.

Performance score available for purchase. Please direct inquiries to Nell Shaw Cohen at nell@nellshawcohen.com.

NEW! Seeking repertoire for your choir or vocal ensemble? Check out my programming guide for choral directors.

Continue reading “One Walks the Flesh Transparent (2023)”

Further Out, Deeper In (2023)

SATB choir. 4 mins.

Selection from Sauntering Songs: a concert-length cantata on the theme of walking, commissioned by Skylark Vocal Ensemble.

Lyrics by Nell Shaw Cohen.

Photograph of dirt path through grassy hills, a figure walking in the distance
“Chimney Rock, Point Reyes National Seashore” by Nell Shaw Cohen.
Perusal Score

View perusal score.

Performance score available for purchase. Please direct inquiries to Nell Shaw Cohen at nell@nellshawcohen.com.

NEW! Seeking repertoire for your choir or vocal ensemble? Check out my programming guide for choral directors.

Continue reading “Further Out, Deeper In (2023)”

Sauntering Songs (2023)

Cantata for 2 sopranos, 2 mezzo-sopranos, 2 tenors, baritone, bass-baritone, and SATB chamber choir, with flute, guitar (electric, acoustic, and classical), piano, and cello. 62 minutes.

Commissioned by Skylark Vocal Ensemble.

Album cover art for "Sauntering Songs," with title and credits. Photograph of a distant figure walking on a dirt path through grassy hills on a sunny day. Bird logo for "Skylark Live" in bottom corner.

Read the liner notes with essays and lyrics.

Skylark Vocal Ensemble’s World Premiere live recording of Sauntering Songs (paired with Transform the World with Beauty) is available NOW on all major streaming music platforms (including Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Music, Pandora, and Tidal). The physical CD is available for purchase from Skylark. Read the liner notes with essays and lyrics.

Watch the trailer:

A love letter to wanderlust, Sauntering Songs weaves together art songs, choral music, and literature into an expansive cantata on the theme of walking.

Influences from rock, folk, and musical theater shine in a lyrical and evocative score by composer/librettist Nell Shaw Cohen, marrying the voices of three-time GRAMMY®-nominee Skylark with an instrumental quartet comprised of guitarist James Moore and musicians from Juventas New Music Ensemble.

From Walt Whitman to the present day, Sauntering Songs celebrates diverse characters who search for freedom and fulfillment through subversive journeys on foot.

Perusal Score

Perusal score available on request. Performance score available for purchase. Please direct inquiries to Nell Shaw Cohen at nell@nellshawcohen.com.

Selections available for standalone performance (click titles for details and perusal scores):

Credits

Music & Libretto by Nell Shaw Cohen
With texts by John Clare, Megan Cohen, Mashuq Mushtaq Deen, John Francis, John Muir, Nan Shepherd, Walt Whitman, and Virginia Woolf

Dramaturg: Megan Cohen (Website)
Sensitivity Consultant for song “Best Friend”: Laura Elliott (Twitter)
Sensitivity Consultant for song “Rare Bird”: Dr. Kassandra Ford (Website)

Photograph of Skylark Vocal Ensemble, wearing black and dark plum concert dress, standing in a semicircle and smiling toward the camera in a grassy outdoor setting
Skylark Vocal Ensemble
Juventas New Music Ensemble in concert dress, standing under a tree and holding their instruments as they face the camera
Juventas New Music Ensemble
Black and white photograph of James Moore, looking towards the camera
James Moore, Guitar
Performance History

Skylark Vocal Ensemble (Matthew Guard, Artistic Director), Juventas New Music Ensemble, and James Moore, guitar; Falmouth Academy, Falmouth, MA, 4/20/23.

Skylark Vocal Ensemble (Matthew Guard, Artistic Director), Juventas New Music Ensemble, and James Moore, guitar; Church of the Redeemer, Chestnut Hill, MA, 4/21/23

Skylark Vocal Ensemble (Matthew Guard, Artistic Director), Juventas New Music Ensemble, and James Moore, guitar; St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Newburyport, MA, 4/22/23.

Breath of the Meadow, Heart of the Woodland (2021)

Flute, clarinet, horn, percussion, violin, viola, and cello. 5 ½ minutes.

Commissioned by American Wild Ensemble, Juventas New Music Ensemble, Landscape Music, and Michigan Technological University Department of Visual and Performing Arts to commemorate the 2022 bicentennial of the birth of Frederick Law Olmsted.

Score

This score will become available for purchase on January 1, 2023. If you’d like to be notified at that time, please inquire with Nell Shaw Cohen at nell@nellshawcohen.com.

Program Note

Landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted described urban parks as “the lungs of the city.” My music responds to Olmsted & Calvert Vaux’s expression of this metaphor through the iconic meadows and woodlands of New York City’s Prospect Park (1867) and Central Park (1858).

A lyrical theme, accompanied by sustained chords held against the flow of undulating triplets, opens and closes the piece. This music evokes the parks’ meadows, where the human body and the body of the landscape are connected through shared “breath.” Stepping off a busy sidewalk into these wide open spaces, the sensation of my lungs filling with fresh air feels like the echo of a gentle breeze blowing through treetops and grasses.

A middle section of syncopated rhythms and sinuous counterpoint recalls the parks’ winding woodland interiors, which reflect the “heart” of both visitor and landscape. These woodlands are spaces for contemplation and intimate conversation, where dense forest gives cover to an enigmatic network of footpaths.

Even as I cherish these two parks, I find their present-day terrain obfuscates a complex history. Seneca Village (1825-1857) was a vibrant Black community, which New York City’s government forcibly vacated in order to build Central Park. Both parks continue to occupy Lenapehoking: the unceded homeland of the Lenape.

The concept of parks as “lungs” may have come from Olmsted’s work in public health during the Civil War. Yet this idea feels strikingly poignant in our own time of pandemic and climate crisis, and has given inspiration and impetus to my music.

Related Content

Performance History
  • Michigan Technological University, Houghton, MI, 10/09/22.
  • American Wild Ensemble (Emlyn Johnson, flute, Ellen Breakfield-Glick, clarinet, Joel Ockerman, horn, Lauren Cauley, violin, Molly Goldman, viola, Daniel Ketter, cello, Colleen Bernstein, percussion), Highland Park, Rochester, NY, 8/07/22.
  • Juventas New Music Ensemble (Wei Zhao, flute, Wolcott Humphrey, clarinet, Anne Howarth, horn, Jesse MacDonald, violin, Lu Yu, viola, Minjin Chung, cello, Tom Schmidt, percussion), Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site, Brookline, MA, 6/04/22.
  • American Wild Ensemble (Emlyn Johnson, flute, Ellen Breakfield-Glick, clarinet, Joel Ockerman, horn, Lauren Cauley, violin, Molly Goldman, viola, Daniel Ketter, cello, Colleen Bernstein, percussion), CCNY Spitzer School of Architecture, New York, NY, 5/28/22.
  • American Wild Ensemble (Emlyn Johnson, flute, Ellen Breakfield-Glick, clarinet, Joel Ockerman, horn, Lauren Cauley, violin, Molly Goldman, viola, Daniel Ketter, cello, Colleen Bernstein, percussion), Prospect Park, Brooklyn, NY, 5/28/22.
  • Juventas New Music Ensemble (Wei Zhao, flute, Wolcott Humphrey, clarinet, Anne Howarth, horn, Ryan Shannon, violin, Lu Yu, viola, Minjin Chung, cello, Tom Schmidt, percussion), Multicultural Arts Center. East Cambridge, MA, 3/26/22.

It’s a Long Way (2020)

SATB choir. 2 1/2 mins.

Commissioned by Skylark Vocal Ensemble.

Hear Skylark Vocal Ensemble’s studio recording of It’s a Long Way, featured as the title track of their GRAMMY-nominated album! Available for purchase directly from Skylark and streaming on SpotifyApple Music, and Amazon Music.

Watch a concert film of It’s a Long Way performed by Skylark Vocal Ensemble.

Watch a performance by the Massachusetts Music Educators Association Southeastern District (SEMMEA) Senior Festival Choir of 2021:

Perusal Score

View the perusal score.

Performance score is available for purchase. Please direct inquiries to Nell Shaw Cohen at nell@nellshawcohen.com.

NEW! Seeking repertoire for your choir or vocal ensemble? Check out my programming guide for choral directors.

Continue reading “It’s a Long Way (2020)”

Woman Walking (2020/arr. 2023)

Soprano and piano (or mezzo-soprano, cello, and piano). 5 mins.

Watercolor painting of a city street
Painting by Nell Shaw Cohen

Soprano and piano version commissioned by Laura Strickling for The 40@40 Project.

Mezzo-soprano, cello, and piano version excerpted from Sauntering Songs: a concert-length cantata on the theme of walking, commissioned by Skylark Vocal Ensemble.

Lyrics by Megan Cohen.

The World Premiere recording of Woman Walking is featured on 40@40 released by soprano Laura Strickling (Bright Shiny Things). Available for purchase and for streaming on all major platforms. Nominated for a 2024 GRAMMY Award for Best Classical Solo Vocal Album.

Perusal Score

View perusal score for soprano and piano version.

View persual score for mezzo-soprano, cello, and piano version.

Performance scores available for purchase. Please direct inquiries to Nell Shaw Cohen at nell@nellshawcohen.com.

Program Note

A portrait of a solitary woman and present-day flâneuse as she saunters on city streets, taking it all in and going nowhere in particular. Originally commissioned by Laura Strickling in a version for soprano and piano, this song was later arranged and incorporated into Sauntering Songs: a concert-length cantata on the theme of walking, commissioned by Skylark Vocal Ensemble. 

Related Content

Performance History

Soprano and piano version:

  • Laura Strickling, soprano and Daniel Schlosberg, piano; University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, 3/2/22.
  • Laura Strickling, soprano and Daniel Schlosberg, piano; Thirsty Ears Festival, Chicago, IL, 8/14/22.
  • Laura Strickling, soprano and Daniel Schlosberg, piano; Baltimore Lieder Weekend, Baltimore, MD, 10/21/22.
  • Laura Strickling, soprano and Daniel Schlosberg, piano; Bargemusic, Brooklyn, NY, 4/14/2023.

Mezzo-soprano, cello, and piano version:

Visit the Sauntering Songs page for performance history.