Today we chat with composer and long-time friend of IOC Mari Esabel Valverde about her recent and upcoming choral works, the importance of quality translations, how her work is inspired by everything from nature to social change, and the importance of representation in choral music, especially for intersectional musicians and composers.   

Episode Transcript

Music Excerpts

• Patterns on the Snow, by Mari Esabel Valverde, performed by the St. Olaf Choir
• Cloths of Heaven, by Mari Esabel Valverde, performed by the Dallas Chamber Choir
• I Flow...I Am, by Mari Esabel Valverde, performed by South Salem High School Symphonic Choir
• L’heure Exquise, by Reynaldo Hahn, performed by Ben Bliss
• Obssesão, by KLB
• Oracle of Spring, by Mari Esabel Valverde, performed by IOCSF
• When Thunder Comes, by Mari Esabel Valverde, performed by St. Olaf Choir
• Our Phoenix, by Mari Esabel Valverde, performed by One Voice Mixed Chorus
• Border Lines, by Mari Esabel Valverde, performed by Adams State University Chamber Choir
• United in Song, by Mari Esabel Valverde, performed by Lawrence University Viking Chorale
• Wondrous Glow, by Mari Esabel Valverde, performed by Ensemble Companio

References

• Amir Rabiyah, poet
• Lady Dane Figueroa Edidi, performance artist
• Angelica Ross, actor
• Anton Armstrong, professor of music, St. Olaf College

Theme Song: Mr. Puffy by Avi Bortnik, arr. by Paul Kim. Performed by Dynamic