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Joan Szymko

"Joan Szymko has earned a reputation for setting interesting texts with skill and finesse..."
[CHORAL JOURNAL]

Mixed Voices     Treble Voices     Men's Voices



Choral Works for Mixed Voices

All Works of Love
The 2010 ACDA Raymond W. Brock Memorial Commission
text: Mother Teresa of Calcutta
SATB/piano
duration: 5'30"
Santa Barbara Music Publishing (SBMP) SBMP942

The Call
commisioned by Opus 7, Seattle WA
text: George Herbert
double choir: SATB/SSA a cappella
duration: 4'40”
SBMP 455

Carpe Diem
commissioned by Northwest Chamber Choir, Seattle WA
text: Horace, Odes 1.11 (in Latin; English text by the composer)
SSAATBB/tambourine
duration: 4'45”
SBMP 862

Ein grosser Gesang
text: poems by Rainer Maria Rilke
SATB(tenor, soprano, mezzo soloists)/2bassoons(2)composer's manuscript
   1. Ich lebe mein Leben duration: 5'30”
   2. Herbst duration: 5'
available directly

Entro en la vida
commissioned by First Unitarian Church, Portland, Oregon
text: by Teresa of Avila (in Spanish and English)
SATB/brass quintet/timpani/piano
duration: 3'50”
available directly

Eternal Winter
text: "Holy Thursday" by William Blake
SATB, soprano solo/piano/cello
duration:4'
available directly

The Freshness
text: Rumi (translated by C. Barks)
SATB/harp (or piano)
duration: 5'
available directly

Hear Me! We Are One
text: Omaha Indian
SATB/piano
duration: 3'15”
available directly

Herbst
text: Ranier M Rilke (in German)
SATB, alto solo, piano
duration: 5'
available directly

How Did the Rose
text: Hafiz, translated by D.Ladinski
SATB/piano
duration: 4'30"
SBMP 548

I Lift My Eyes
text: Psalm 121 & Thich Nhat Hanh
SATB/piano
duration: 3'30”
SBMP 691

I Dream a World
text: poem by Langston Hughes
SATB/piano
duration: 3'
SBMP 613

Illumina la tenebre
text: St Francis of Assisi (Italian dialect)
SATB a cappella
duration: 4'30”
SBMP 861

It Takes a Village
text: West African adage adapted by the composer
SATB/soloist/hand percussion
duration: 3'50”
SBMP 331

Let the Children Come
text: an adaptation by the composer of Mark 10: 13-16
SATB/piano
duration: 3'15”
available through the composer

My Soul Magnifies the Lord
text: adapted from the Magnificat (in English)
SATB a cappella
duration: 2'20”
available directly

Nada te turbe
text: Teresa of Avila (in Spanish and English)
SATB/cello
duration: 4'15”
SBMP 399

The Peace of Wild Things
commissioned as SSAA by Bella Voce Women's Choir of Reno, Nevada
text: poem by Wendell Berry
SATB/piano
duration: 4'50”
SBMP 692

Songs of Experience
text: 3 poems by William Blake
SATB/double bass/alto & bass solos/kazoos
duration:
   1. The Fly dur: 3'30”
   2. The Garden of Love dur: 2'40”
   3. Holy Thursday dur: 3'45”
available directly

Thirst for Love (Peace Window)
commissioned by Do Jump! Movement Theater
text: adaptation of Marc Chagall by Robin Lane
SATB/soprano/tenor/ violin/cello/piano
duration: 9'10”
available directly

To the Holy Spirit
commissioned by the American Guild of Organists
text: poem by Wendell Berry
SATB/piano
duration: 3'30”
SBMP 838

Ubi Caritas
commisisoned by the Concord Community of Choirs
text: ubi critas et amor, deus ibi est
SAATTB a cappella
duration: 4'30”
SBMP 291

We Are Clay
text: Isaiah 64:8
SAB/piano./flute(opt)
duration: 2'
available directly

Ye Jaliya-o
commissioned by Central Bucks High School-West Choir
text: tradition west African (Mandika language) an dCatherine deVink
SATB/percussion
duration: 4'15”
SBMP 726

Choral Works for Treble Voices

“Szymko... continue[s] to provide opportunities for women’s choruses
to stretch beyond the ordinary and the expected to the refreshing and powerful."
[Choral Journal]

A la Media Noche (arrangement)
text: in Spanish, a traditional Puerto Rican carol
SSAA/piano,/flute/percussion
duration: 4'30”
SBMP 304

Adama (arrangement)
traditional Israeli song
SSAA/ a cappella
duration: 2'30”
Yelton Rhodes Music YR7204

African Lullaby (arrangement)
text: traditional African and African American tunes/words
SSA/piano
duration: 2'
SBMP 809

All Winter Long
text: Native American
SSA/flute/frame drum
duration: 1'15”
available directly

Always Coming Home
text: poem by Ursula K. LeGuin
SSAA/cello/piano
duration: 5'45”
Roger Dean Publishing Company: 15/2447R

Amazing Grace (arrangement)
text: John Newton
SSAA/a cappella
duration: 2'20”
SBMP 437

Angels Singing Out of Tune
text: Lord Byron
SSAA a cappella/soprano solo
duration: 3'20”
Treble Clef Music Press: TC-175

Arise My Love
commissioned by members of the Renaissance City Women's and Men's Choirs & the Indianapolis Women's and Men's Choruses as a gift to GALA Choruses Festival VIIe International, Montrιal
text: Song of Solomon & “At the River” adapted by the composer
SA w/ div. /
duration: 3'50”
piano SBMP 552

As a Woman
text: Virginia Woolf
SSA a cappella
duration: 2'10”
available directly

Ave Maria
selected as a compulsory piece for the Japanese Choral Association's 2006 National Choral Competition
text: traditional Marian prayer
SSAA a cappella
duration: 4'00”
SBMP 292

The Beauty of Your Dreams
commissioned by the Indinapolis Women's Chorus
text: quotes of Eleanor Roosevelt adapted by the composer
SSAA/piano
duration: 5'00”
SBMP 564

Benedizione
text: Francis of Assisi (in Italian)
SSAA/piano
duration: 3'30”
SBMP 799

Blow, Thou Winter Wind
text: William Shakespeare
SSAA/piano
duration: 2'00”
SBMP 428

Braided Light
commissioned by Do Jump! Movement Theater
SSAA a cappella
text: wordless song
duration: 4'00”
available directly

Bright Morning Star (arrangement)
text: traditional
SSAA a cappella
duration: 4”
Yelton Rhodes Music: YR4321

Call
text: poem by Alla Bozarth
SSAA, 2 frame drums (or Taiko Drums)
duration: 4'45”
available directly

The Call
commissioned by Opus 7, Seattle WA
text: George Herbert
double choir: SSA/SATB a cappella
duration: 4'40”
SBMP 455

Circle
text: Hadewijch, trans. Jane Hirshfield
SSAA w/divisi
duration: 2'30”
Treble Clef Music Press: TC-192

Come Dance and Sing (arrangement)
traditional Shaker song
SSA a cappella
available directly

Come Pretty Love (arrangement)
traditional Shaker song
SSA a cappella
duration: 2'20”
SBMP 492

Eli, Eli
text: poem by Hannah Senesh (in Hebrew and English)
SA/cello
duration: 2' 50”
available directly

Et in terra pax
text: Hymnus Angelicus (Gloria) from the Ordinary of the Mass
SSAA a cappella
duration: 3'20"
SBMP 493

Eternal Winter
text: "Holy Thursday" by William Blake
SSAA, soprano solo/piano/cello
duration: 4'
available directly

Everything She Touches
text: traditional Wiccan
SSAA/piano
duration: 4'40”
SBMP 738

Finding Her Here
commissioned by Anna Crusis Women's Choir, Philadelphia
text: poem by Jayne Relaford Brown
SSAA a cappella
duration: 5'
available directly

Fire Burn Bright
revision created for Milwaukee Choral Arts
text: "Oaken Logs" (trad. Form British Isles)
SSA/piano
duration: 2'30"
SBMP 966 (available Fall 2010)

The Freshness
text: Rumi (trans C. Barks)
SSAA/harp (or piano)
duration: 5'
available directly

The Giver of Stars
commissioned by Namastι Women 's Choir
text: Amy Lowell
SSAA/piano
duration: 4'30"
SBMP956 (available Fall 2010)

Here
text: poem by Wendell Berry
SSAA/violin/piano
duration: 5'15”
Roger Dean Publishing Company :15/2446R

Hodie
text: vespers antiphon for Christmas Day
SSAA a cappella
duration: 3'
SBMP 336

I AM
text: “The Womanly Song of God” by Catherine DeVink
SSA/violin/cello/flute
duration: 5'20”
available directly

I Dream a World
text: poem by Langston Hughes
SSA/piano
duration: 3'
SBMP 613

I Lift My Eyes
text: Psalm 121 & Thich Nhat Hanh
SSAA/piano
duration: 3'30”
SBMP 658

Illumina la tenebre
SSAA version created for the Northwestern College Women's Chorale
text: St Francis of Assisi (Italian dialect)
SSAA a cappella
duration: 4'30"
SBMP 955 (available Fall 2010)

It Is Happiness
text: poetry by Mary Oliver
SSAA/vn/vc/ fl/ob/cl/bsn/piano (also available for vn/vc/fl/pno)
   1. The Summer Day
   2. Sunrise
   3. Wild Geese
duration: 20'
available directly

It Takes a Village
text: West African adage adapted by the composer
SSAA/soloist/hand percussion
duration: 3'50”
SBMP 328

Like a Mountain (arrangement)
by Naomi Littlebear Martinez
SSAA/piano
duration: 4'
available directly

Listen Closely (arrangement)
by Steven Walters
SSAA/solo/piano
duration: 4'10”
available directly

Lorica
text: Celtic in origin, attributed to St Patrick
SSAA/piano/fl
duration: 2'20”
SBMP 800

maggie and milly and molly and may
commissioned by VIVA VOCE!
text: poem by E.E. Cummings
SSAA/piano
duration: 3'20”
SBMP 588

Mi Ha-ish (arrangement of trad. Chassidic melody)
text: Psalm 34:13-15 (in Hebrew)
SSAA/piano/flute
duration: 2'15”
available directly

My Soul Magnifies the Lord
text: adapted from the Magnificat (in English)
SSAA a cappella
duration: 2'20”
available directly

Nada te turbe
text: Teresa of Avila (in Spanish and English)
SATB/cello
duration: 4'15”
SBMP 334

On Holding On
collaboration with modern dance choreographer Llory Wilson
text: “Hold on”
SSAA a cappella
duration: 10'
available directly

Only Light, Only Love
commissioned by Wellesley College Choir
text: Martin Luther King Jr. quote
SSAA a cappella
duration: 4'30”
SBMP 840

Open Up and Let Her Through (arrangement)
by Betsy Rose
SSAA/piano/flute
duration: 4'20”
available directly

Peace Like a River (arrangement)
text: traditional
SSAA/piano
duration: 3'50”
SBMP 417

The Peace of Wild Things
commissioned by Bella Voce Women's Choir of Reno, Nevada
text: poem by Wendell Berry
SSAA /piano
duration: 4'50”
SBMP 561

Pendulum
commissioned by Vox Femina Los Angeles
SSAA/piano
duration: 4'
Yelton Rhodes Music :YR7206

The Roses
text: “a rose is a rose”
SSAA/accordion (or opt. piano)
duration: 3'20”
SBMP 293

Shape Note Hymns for Christmas (arrangement)
text: traditional: “Star in the East” and “Wondrous Love”
SSAA/piano
duration: 2'40”
SBMP 176

Sioux Prayer
text: traditional Lakota prayer
SSA a cappella
duration: 1'10”
available directly

Song Coming Toward Us
text: poem by Carolyn Forchι
SSAA/cello/piano
duration: 6'
available directly

The Singing Place
commissioned by the 07-08 ACDA Women's Composition Consortium
poem by Lily A. Long
SSAA/piano
duration: 6'25”
available through earthsongs

This We Know
text: attributed to Chief Seattle
SSAA/oboe/cello
duration: 5'50”
SBMP 333

This Wonderful Feeling
commissioned by Peninsula Women's Chorus
text: poem from children's poetry workshop
SSAA marimba
   1. saboo SBMP 361
   2. In My Quiet Place SBMP 362
   3. Purple SBMP 363
duration: 1'45”/3'20” /3'20”

There Are No Farewells
text: poem by May Sarton
SSAA/piano
duration: 5:35
SBMP 427

To Know the Dark
text: poem by Wendell Berry
SSA/piano
duration: 2'40”
SBMP 754

Under One Sky
commissioned by the Pacific Northwest Women's Choir Festival 1995
text: poem by Judith Barrington
SSAA/alto solo/piano
available directly

Variations on a Theme by Rilke
text: poem by Denise Levertov
SSAA/piano
duration: 3'
SBMP 294

Viriditas
text: Hildegard of Bingen, translated G. Uhlein
SSAA a cappella
duration: 3'30”
SBMP 295

Vivis Voco
commissioned by the San Francisco Girls Chorus
Performed by SFGC Chorissima at the World Symposium on Choral Music 7 in Kyoto, Japan
text: medieval bell inscriptions and Julian of Norwich
SSAA/piano/handbells
duration: 4'
SBMP 615

Waly, Waly (arrangement)
text: traditional Scots ballad
SSAA a cappella
duration: 2'50”
SBMP 364

We Are a Circle (arrangement)
by Richard Humoris
SSA/hand percussion
duration: 3'
available directly

Why Oh Why (arrangement)
by Holly Near
SSAA a cappella
Yelton Rhodes Music YR4321

Wing Away
text: Szymko
SSAA a cappella
duration: 3'
SBMP 332

With the Animals
commissioned by Saly Hersh, mezzo-soprano & Pam Pond, soprano
text: Walt Whitman
SA/piano
duration: 4'20”
available directly

Woman Am I (arrangement)
text: anonymous
SSA a cappella arrangement
duration: 2'30”
Yelton Rhodes Music YR7205

Wynken, Blynken and Nod
commissioned by Christina Hubbard, mezzo-soprano
text: poem by Eugene Field
SSA, piano
duration:
available directly

Yemaya Assesu (arrangement)
text traditional Afro-Cuban
SSA/percussion
available directly

Ye Jaliya-o
commissioned for SATB by Central Bucks High School-West Choir
text: tradition west African (Mandika language) and Catherine deVink
SATB/percussion
duration: 4'15”
SBMP 734

You Are the Music
commissioned by the Miami University Choraliers, 2008
text: poem by Amy Lowell
SSAA/piano
duration: 4'45”
SBMP 804

You Have Struck a Rock
text: South African women's cry of resistance
SSAA/opt. hand drum
duration: 3'
Yelton Rhodes Music YR7207

Choral Works for Men's Voices

Ave Maria
selected as a compulsory piece for the Japanese Choral Association's 2006 National Choral Competition
TTBB a cappella
SBMP 358

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