World Premiere of “Resurrection” – Composed by Nancy Galbraith, Words by Aurora Levins Morales

Recorded live during worship on May 4, 2025

Maria Schleuning, Violin
Kristin Van Cleve, Violin
Matthew Sinno, Viola
Gayane Manasjan Fullford, Cello
Michael McNicholas, Percusion
First Unitarian Church of Dallas Sanctuary Choir
Alan Dyer, Piano
Grant Wareham, Conductor

We are honored and excited to present the world premiere of Resurrection, a new choral work by composer Nancy Galbraith, based on a poem by Aurora Levins Morales. This piece was commissioned by Grant Wareham, Director of Music at First Unitarian Church of Dallas, for the occasion of Aurora’s visit with us. Scored for choir, piano, and string quartet, Resurrection explores themes of hope, renewal, and spiritual awakening—central to both the text and the musical language of the work.

Nancy Galbraith (b. 1951) has been composing music since the late 1970s, creating instrumental and vocal works praised for their rich harmonic texture, rhythmic vitality, emotional and spiritual depth, and wide range of expression. With major contributions to the repertoires of symphony orchestras, concert choirs, wind ensembles, chamber groups, and soloists, Galbraith plays a leading role in defining the sound of American contemporary classical music. She resides in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where she is Chair of Composition at Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Music and holds the Vira I. Heinz Professorship of Music at the College of Fine Arts. She is published by Subito Music in Verona, New Jersey.

Of Resurrection, Galbraith writes:

“In recent years I have composed a series of songs that celebrate the hope and renewal found in nature by a number of poets, including Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost, William Browning, Pablo Neruda, E. E. Cummings, and Langston Hughes. Most recently, I set a poem written for the Hanukkah season, titled Rededication, by Pittsburgh poet Sara Stock Mayo, that sings of ‘light hidden in the darkness/silently waiting to burst forth.’ Resurrection, by Aurora Levins Morales, speaks to me in that same spirit, and it was a joy for me to add her verses to my list of songs with those uplifting themes.”

We are deeply grateful to Nancy for her collaboration and for bringing such a meaningful new work to life with our community. To learn more about her music, visit nancygalbraith.com.

Resurrection
for Kerry St. Pé, after Katrina

Polypodia, the many-footed fern
stands on the broad limbs of the live oaks like armies,
like breadlines waiting for rain.
Bent, brown, dead-looking,
thirsty at the side of the road,
no-one looks at them.

But when the rain comes,
resurrection fern
springs up in a green mass
of strong backs and arched fronds
making leaf out of water
and the reservoirs of hope
hidden in their wiry roots.

They crowd the riverbanks of the trees
in the moist morning of their unfurling,
holding their revival, lifting their arms.
If you listen you can hear them singing
the gospel of life’s stubborn return.

– Aurora Levins Morales