Performance score available for purchase. Please direct inquiries to Nell Shaw Cohen at nell@nellshawcohen.com.
Program Note
Painting by Nell Shaw Cohen
Having spent decades as a wife and mother, a woman redefines herself by thru-hiking a long distance trail alone.
“Just Because” is a selection from Sauntering Songs: a concert-length cantata on the theme of walking, commissioned by Skylark Vocal Ensemble. The life of Emma Gatewood, who in 1955 became the first solo female thru-hiker of the Appalachian Trail at the age of 67, (very) loosely inspired my lyrics.
This song is dedicated to those who venture down new paths late in life.
Performance score available for purchase. Please direct inquiries to Nell Shaw Cohen at nell@nellshawcohen.com.
Program Note
Painting by Nell Shaw Cohen
A young woman walks in a lush garden growing within high walls. Confined at home, she awaits a future that has been planned for her.
“First Footsteps” is a selection from Sauntering Songs: a concert-length cantata on the theme of walking, commissioned by Skylark Vocal Ensemble.
My lyrics for this song were sparked in part by Rebecca Solnit’s writing in Wanderlust: A History of Walking on the ways in which women have historically been confined to domestic environments, and how past literary depictions of women walking take place in private gardens rather than public spaces.
This song is dedicated to women and girls who walk beyond the boundaries they are given.
Performance score available for purchase. Please direct inquiries to Nell Shaw Cohen at nell@nellshawcohen.com.
Program Note
Painting by Nell Shaw Cohen
A disabled hiker and their service dog, named Stickeen, are out on a mountain trail.
“Best Friend” is a selection from Sauntering Songs: a concert-length cantata on the theme of walking, commissioned by Skylark Vocal Ensemble.
My lyrics were informed by the work of writers and advocates in the disability community, notably Coast Guard veteran Tenley Lozano’s essay “Submerged” (Crab Orchard Review) and interview “Hiking with a Service Dog”, Cascade Hiker podcast; Syren Nagakyrie’s work with DisabledHikers.com; and Bill Irwin’s hiking memoir Blind Courage.
This song is dedicated to walkers who are tough in ways others don’t always understand.
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):
BEST FRIEND – Tenor, acoustic steel-string guitar, and cello. 3 ½ mins.
RARE BIRD – Tenor, baritone, electric guitar, and piano. 4 ½ mins.
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)
Skylark Vocal EnsembleJuventas New Music EnsembleJames 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.
The first version of Fallen Star was written in 2017 during the New Dramatists Composer-Librettist Studio, an intensive laboratory for music-theater collaborations directed by Nautilus Music-Theater.
Mashuq Mushtaq Deen and I created Fallen Star in response to a prompt from baritone Joshua Hinck to write a song with themes from Classical mythology. In doing so, Deen also incorporated our shared love of the American West, and the transcendent night skies of Northern New Mexico, into his brilliant lyric.
Fallen Star was later arranged and incorporated into Sauntering Songs: a concert-length cantata on the theme of walking, commissioned by Skylark Vocal Ensemble.
Nashua Pride Festival, Melina Jaharis, mezzo-soprano. Nashua Community Music School, Nashua, NH, 6/25/22.
New Dramatists, version for three voices presented as part of music-theater workshop. Blake Friedman, Nicole Mitchell, and Camille Harris, vocalists, with Charity Wicks, piano. New York NY, 4/19/18.
New Dramatists, version for three voices presented as part of public working session at culmination of the New Dramatists Composer-Librettist Studio. Joshua Hinck, Mallory Hawks, and Lucia Rodrique, vocalists, with Roger Ames, piano. New York NY, 02/03/17.
Soprano and piano. 5 mins. Also arranged for piano and cello, and for mezzo-soprano.
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.
A version for piano, cello, and piano (a combination of the above) is also available.
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.
