The Stars We Named Together (2024):

for high voice, flute, bass clarinet, violin, and percussion

Program Note:

Alex and I met in the summer of 2016 during a week-long voice intensive at Oberlin Conservatory. We were both bright-eyed high school-aged singers in training, and became fast friends. I was delighted to discover an incredibly kind person with whom to share a mutual love of art song, crunchy-chorded choral music, and every node on the spectrum from the most absurdly silly to the most heartrendingly poignant musical theatre. More so, however, I was immediately struck, fascinated, and touched by Alex’s command of language. The most initially obvious symptom of this prowess was their piquant, unnaturally rapid wit, which induced many diaphragmatically compromising belly-laughs that added a welcome layer of difficulty to the week’s proceedings. Most moving, however, was their directness of expression. In the moments that matter most, they’re able to wield words in a way that cuts right to the pith of what is meant and catch you by surprise. These moments can invite vulnerability, change your lens, and even break your heart (in the best way, of course).

It’s the presence of this very directness that drew me to their beautiful collection of poems “The Stars We Named Together”, after which this song cycle is titled. Espinosa’s poetry serves as a time capsule of sorts; a period of freewheeling love, anxiety, discovery, and fixation frozen in amber. While it’s impossible for me to represent every aspect of the rich world of meaning in this collection, the four poems culled here are my attempt to refract these words through my own experience of loving and being loved through chronic and severe anxiety and depression. To quote one pithy Alex-ism: “It doesn’t have to be real, it just has to be true.” I hope this piece allows you to feel some aspect of your truth represented as Alex’s poems have done for me.

I would like to express my immense gratitude to TAK Ensemble and Blackbox Ensemble for their incredible artistry, generosity, patience, thoughtfulness, and altogether stellar vibes, as well as to Kari Watson and Paul Novak for being at the helms of these two incredibly gratifying performances of a deeply personal piece.