Composer: Chris HutchingsDetailsFormat: Mixed Choir - 5 voices or moreVoicing: SSATBIncidental Divisi: S, A, T, BSolo Requirements: SAccompaniment: optionalInstrumentation: pianoNotation: standard & non-standard elementsNon-standard Notational Elements: Boxed notation with each singer independentPerformance Length: 5:00 Study Scores & Audio FilesStudy Score & Audio Order Printed ScoresOrder site / Alternate source of score: ChoirsAgainstRacism.com Texts & TranslationsLanguage(s): EnglishText Source: Mohamed AssafText: Once, I lived in a beautiful town; Once, I owned a beautiful house, with a grand garden full of flowers, and I was prince of it all. Once, I lived in a house with a name; And now, I am just a number. Nations talked to nations and robbed me of myself. They made me a number among millions. But my rights have no number. My home had no number. I could not count the petals of the flowers. My childhood in the garden had no limits on it. Take me back to my country and I can show you the numbers. The numbers who suffer. The quantities of beauty. The fallen flowers. Mohamed Assaf (12) The poem is used by permission of the author and appears in ‘England, Poems from a School’ ed. Kate Clanchy (Picador) Programming AidsPerformance Difficulty: moderately easyDescriptive Terms: refugeesracismbeautyflowersimmigrationAllow Excerpts: Composition is a single movementComposer’s Notes: The words are by Mohamed Assaf, a Syrian refugee who now lives in England, and were written soon after his arrival in England at the age of 12. They are also published in England: Poems from a School (published by Picador; edited by Kate Clanchy, Mohamed’s teacher). Winner of Wicker Park Singers Call for Scores 2019 and Murau International Music Festival Composition Competition 2019. For moderate to advanced SATB choir with some divisi (could be done with 2 people per part, would work better with 4 or more). The piece includes several key changes. The piano reduction may be used freely to accompany performance. Demo recordings are available from the composer to help with learning notes. Additional InformationDate of Completion: February, 2019Date of First Performance: Friday, April 12, 2019Premier Performance Data: Wicker Park Singers, Chicago (Mark Tomasino, cond), ChicagoAdditional Performances: Murau International Music Festival Chorus, April 2019 choirsagainstracism volunteer choir, London, August 2019 Harlequin Chamber Choir, London, November 2019
