We call our 2021 project “Carols after a Plague” because of the ambiguity of those words. 

After? (we had hoped)
A? (just one?)

Plague. 
Which plague? Our pandemic? 
Or the ongoing plagues we endure: racism, poverty, displacement, environmental deterioration, gun violence, homelessness...

Carol. How?
To many, a familiar song, communal, outside, seasonal. 
To others, strange words celebrating what appear to be unlikely persons and events. 
Season, song, company. Carol.

We asked twelve composers – twelve, the divisions of the hour, of the year, of the days of Christmas – to respond to our project title, leaving it to them to address what “Carols after a Plague” meant to them: an exercise in perspective, in experience, in histories that are widely and at times wildly different. 

We received gifts – more than we had hoped. Twelve brief, deeply personal, musical ruminations on our battered, resilient world. What emerged is this collection and a strange logic of relations: the connection of one text to the next, the shared concerns, the empathy of isolation, the opportunity to sing the words of another and perhaps, in doing so, better understand their experience. The invitation to live within the walls of Tyshawn Sorey’s haunting sound world, summarizing the isolation and discontent of our time. The invitation to sing as Nina Shekhar for a few moments, placing familiar Christmas songs in a different context, where they are not a part of one’s story, where they stand as a barrier to a child’s great desire to assimilate. The invitation to join Shara Nova‘s exploration of her whiteness, her attempt to untangle it: to embrace what it means, and to celebrate (in fact, welcome) the discomfort of asking difficult questions. The invitation to join Joe Phillips on his stoop in Brooklyn and find, out of the aloneness, a neighborhood. The gift list goes on, far more imaginative than the wish list, but that’s the beauty and the honor of living in a world of new music.

 Not one of these carols is a carol in the traditional sense. They are, instead, our carols: of our time, dressing and addressing wounds, looking forward, bringing us together, reminding us of our own humanity at the Winter Holiday, for some, a time of renewal, for many others, a time of unanswered questions, here delivered through the filter of composers’ thoughts over a foundation of truth and grace, good will, perhaps even “god with us.”

 Our plagues are many, and we learn to live with them. Maybe, someday, these carols will, like their more conventional predecessors, hold similar purpose in the lives of future generations: songs they will come together and sing to remind them of times past, stories in which their ancestors overcame challenges while they celebrated life and wondered at the mystery of its endings. Songs about community, about enlightenment, and about salvation reached, not from a benevolent deity, but from ourselves.

Carols after a Plague: I. Urgency
Shara Nova
Commissioned for The Crossing by Steven Hyder and Donald Nally.

Requiem for a Plague
Tyshawn Sorey
Commissioned for The Crossing by members of The Board of Directors of The Crossing: Tim Blair, Phil Cooke, Micah Dingler, Shawn Felton, Tuomi Forrest, Mary Hangley, Lisa Husseini, Cynthia Jarvis, Mary Loiselle, Pam Prior, Andrew Quint, James Reese, Carol Shloss, John Slattery, and Beth Van de Water. 

Rising Stars
Edith Canat de Chizy
Commissioned for The Crossing by The Bixby Family and Chris Weidner.

The Undisappeared
Joseph C. Phillips, Jr.
Commissioned for The Crossing by Mark & Rebecca Bernstein, Laura Ward & David Newmann, Laura Madeleine, William Toffey & Kathryn Krantz, Cynthia Jarvis, and Andrew Quint.

a carol called love
LJ White
Commissioned by The Crossing

Everything Passes, Everything is Connected
Samantha Fernando
Commissioned for The Crossing by Kim and Ed Shiley.

Colouring-In Book
Leila Adu-Gilmore
Commissioned for The Crossing by an anonymous donor in memory of Marion Yin Ping Wong.

y-mas
Nina Shekhar 
Commissioned by The Crossing

Carols after a Plague: II. Tone-policing
Nova

Shining Still
Vanessa Lann
Commissioned by The Crossing

Alone Together
Mary Jane Leach
Commissioned by The Crossing

Exodus
Alex Berko
Commissioned by The Crossing

Still So Much to Say
Viet Cuong
Commissioned for The Crossing by Michael and Lise Meloy in honor of Meghan, Grace, and Abigail.

Carols after a Plague: III. Resolve
Nova

Individual program notes can be found in the album booklet.

THE CROSSING
Katy Avery  • Nathaniel Barnett • Kelly Ann Bixby • Karen Blanchard • Steven Bradshaw • Micah Dingler • Ryan Fleming • Joanna Gates • Dimitri German • Steven Hyder • Michael Jones • Lauren Kelly • Anika Kildegaard • Heidi Kurtz • Maren Montalbano • Rebecca Myers • Kyle Sackett • Daniel Schwartz • Rebecca Siler • Tiana Sorenson • Daniel Spratlan • Elisa Sutherland • Daniel Taylor • Jackson Williams

Donald Nally, conductor
Kevin Vondrak, assistant conductor
John Grecia, keyboards
Mark Livshits, guest rehearsal accompanist

Michael Jones, trumpet 
Daniel Schwartz and Ted Babcock, marimba
Karen Blanchard, Micah Dingler, Joanna Gates, and Kyle Sackett, percussion and paper
Kevin Vondrak, mandolin
Donald Nally, interludes composer

Recording Producers: Paul Vazquez, Donald Nally, and Kevin Vondrak
Recording Engineer: Paul Vazquez 
Assistant Recording Engineers: Dante Portella and Henry Koch
Editing, Mixing & Mastering: Paul Vazquez

Artwork: “The New Normal” by Sasan Pix (2021), www.sasanpix.com

Carols after a Plague was recorded August 29 through September 2, 2021, and August 11, 2022, at St. Peter’s Church in the Great Valley, Malvern, Pennsylvania.

This album is made possible through the generous support of Carol Westfall, longtime friend and benefactor of The Crossing.