Place: The Harlem School for the Arts (The Herb Alpert Center) 645 Saint Nicholas Avenue
New York, NY 10030

“The Impossible Will Take a Little While” is a song cycle for Mezzo-Soprano, three ensemble voices (Soprano, Tenor, Bass/Baritone), and a chamber orchestra comprised of traditional acoustic and electronic instruments by Eric Lemmon. The work will be written for Highline Chamber Ensemble, Kate Maroney, and three voices to be premiered in Fall 2015. The work is based on poetry from the collection of essays of the same title compiled and edited by Paul Rogat Loeb.

Text for the piece includes poetry from the likes of W.H. Auden, Marge Piercy, Jalal al-Din Rumi and Adrienne Rich. The full scope of the musical work encompasses a broad range of characters representing the poet’s intended context and their personal voices. In between sections of poetry there will be orchestral interludes that take inspiration from essays featured in the collection. The use of the text will vary, with some poems being performed as art song, and others as dramatic, spoken text. The goal of the work is to demonstrate the impact that ordinary people can achieve from small political acts. These acts mobilize and give hope to others, which is the ultimate tale of political power through democratic principles.