The Gift to Sing

for SATB (with divisions) unaccompanied
The Gift to Sing is an unaccompanied part-song with a text by American writer and civil rights activist James Weldon Johnson that speaks to the way the power of song can help to overcome dark times. Geter paints the text 'I pierce the darkness with a note' with sustained pitches, and the piece's prevailing triple metre gives momentum to the lilting melodies that weave through the voices.

Damien Geter is a composer and vocalist based in Chicago, Illinois. As a bass-baritone, he has sung with the Metropolitan Opera and the Seattle Opera, and he has served as Artistic Advisor and interim Music Director for Portland Opera. He has written for choir, orchestra, opera, solo voice, organ, and chamber ensembles, with commissions from Washington National Opera and the University of Michigan. Larger works such as An African American Requiem and Cantata for a More Hopeful Tomorrow represent his desire to use music for social justice.