Hold Fast to Dreams

This piece was written in response to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I have a Dream" speech. The text dialogues between two Langston Hughes poems, Harlem and Dreams. One poem summarizes the pain of broken promises and the other encourages faith that things will get better, because the alternative is absolute despair. Both contain essential truths still evident in today's turbulent times. Although the text expresses sentiments that might be the stuff of childhood and naïveté, the music is turbulent, perhaps hinting at the cynicism of today's world. Dramatic and moving, with convincing choral writing and a virtuosic piano accompaniment, this piece is an experience not soon forgotten.