April 22, 2012 – World premiere of Nancy Galbraith's "Four Nature Canticles" in Chatham, NJ
"Four Nature Canticles," by Nancy Galbraith, was premiered by Lyrica Chamber Music and the Kent
Place Singers on Sunday April 22 in Chatham, New Jersey. The new work features musical settings of
poems by Emily Dickinson, Robert Browning, James Joyce, and Robert Frost. Scored for treble chamber
choir and chamber orchestra, "Four Nature Canticles" was commissioned by Lyrica Chamber Music as
part of its 25th anniversary celebration.
The premiere was led by Lyrica's Co-Artistic Director Adam Waite. The female chamber choir, directed
by Dr. Edel Thomas, hails from the Kent Place School, an elite girls' academy in Summit, New Jersey.
Carnegie Mellon University alumnus Alex Weston also composed a work for the concert – his "Piano
Concerto" was performed by pianist David Kaplan. Both Galbraith and Weston were in attendance.
The concert program featured a who's who of Carnegie Mellon University School of Music alumnae,
including Waite and Weston, who both studied composition with Prof. Nancy Galbraith, Luis Casal
(viola), Holland Jancaitis (organ), Michelle Nicklas (soprano), and Leena Waite (violin).
PHOTO: Carnegie Mellon University School of Music alumnae (by Martha Tablewight)
L-R: Jancaitis, Casal, Nicklas, Galbraith, A. Waite, L. Waite, Weston