Category: music with own poetry

come sempre (2025) for soprano and coloratura
2025, calendar, chamber, multidisciplinary, music with own poetry, musical works, news, vocal

come sempre (2025) for soprano and coloratura

Come sempre is a new duo for soprano and coloratura soprano by Rozalie Hirs, commissioned by Susan Narucki and dedicated to its first performers, Susan Narucki (soprano) and Kirsten Ashley Wiest (coloratura soprano). The text is taken from the opening poem of Hirs’ eighth collection, ecologica (Uitgeverij Vleugels, 2023), here sung in the Italian translation by Patrizia Filia, to be published in the Italian edition of ecologica (Nous Editrice, Catania, 2026; forthcoming).

At the heart of come sempre lies the joy of singing — and of singing together. Hirs deliberately writes clear, singable melodic lines that move around broadly conceived, flexible tonal centres, which shift gradually to create a transparent, responsive harmonic landscape. The two voices engage in multiple forms of interaction: dialogue and responsorial exchange, completing each other’s melody or text, shaping a single line together, or moving in parallel melody and functional harmony. Vocal roles alternate throughout, without a fixed hierarchy.

hand in hand (2020) for string quartet and soprano
2020, calendar, chamber, ensemble, multidisciplinary, music with own poetry, musical works, string quartet, vocal

hand in hand (2020) for string quartet and soprano

Rozalie Hirs composed hand in hand (2020) for soprano and string quartet, based on her own poetry. This commission from Kulturkreis für Neue Musik Heilbronn is inspired on the life and ideas of the German poet Hölderlin. The world premiere takes place on his two-hundred-and-fiftieth birthday, a day later followed by a performance next to his birthhouse in Lauffen am Neckar, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.