The women’s choir Esprit de Choeur commissioned White Field in 2018. The five-movement cycle is a setting of selected poems from the collection Cold Moons by the Icelandic writer Magnús Sigurðsson. The text is sung in the original Icelandic (setting 2 & 4) and in English (setting 1 & 3). Daylilies is in both languages. The original Icelandic was translated by Meg Matich.
White Field/Hvitur Akur (2018)
- Blackbirds/Svartþrestir
- Akuryrkja/Agriculture
- Through the Dark Forest/Um Myrkurskóginn
- Frosið tungl/Icy Moon
- Daylilies/Daglilian
Funding for this commission was provided by the Canada Council for the Arts.
Under the direction of Valdine Anderson, Esprit de Choeur premiered White Field in Iceland during a five-venue tour in August 2018.