The Vast and Boundless Sky

I have now been lucky enough to have written numerous works for Robyn Lana and the inspired voices of the Cincinnati Youth Choir. So it is simple to say that when Robyn approached me again hoping for a new work for the 2023 ACDA National Conference—to be performed in collaboration with the CCM Chamber Choir and Joe Miller—I jumped at the chance to craft a new work for them again!

The Vast and Boundless Sky is a work about possibility. Using lightly adapted excerpts of poems by Ohio native Paul Laurence Dunbar, I crafted a text that speaks to the limitless power of creative inspiration. After a time when so many of us were ‘bound’ by the still-lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, I wrote this work to embody a spirit of unbridled energy and courageous, tenacious hope. The instrumental setting adds to the feeling of momentum and expectation, with two trumpets, tubular bells, timpani, and piano creating a bright and metallic timbral environment.

I dedicate this work fondly to Robyn Lana, Joe Miller, and the no-longer-stifled voices of their choruses, emerging after our long COVID winter into a sunshine of song.

-- Dominick DiOrio July 2022

As the passions in our soul Swell into torrents as we roll, Break our bounds, and let us fly Across the vast and boundless sky!

At the golden gate of song we stood knocking all day long, But our muse, still calm and cold, Refused and whispered to us, “Hold.”

And yet, a breath of soft perfume, A soft, still light within the gloom; We sang together, side-by-side, The golden gate flew open wide.

As the passions in our soul Swell into torrents as we roll, Break our bounds, and let us fly Across the vast and boundless sky!

No matter what you call it, Whether genius, talent, art, We sing as one the simple song, The very beating of our heart.

-- On an original text fashioned by the composer and inspired by and adapted from excerpts of poems by Paul Laurence Dunbar from The Complete Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar (1913).

I have now been lucky enough to have written numerous works for Robyn Lana and the inspired voices of the Cincinnati Youth Choir. So it is simple to say that when Robyn approached me again hoping for a new work for the 2023 ACDA National Conference—to be performed in collaboration with the CCM Chamber Choir and Joe Miller—I jumped at the chance to craft a new work for them again!

The Vast and Boundless Sky is a work about possibility. Using lightly adapted excerpts of poems by Ohio native Paul Laurence Dunbar, I crafted a text that speaks to the limitless power of creative inspiration. After a time when so many of us were ‘bound’ by the still-lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, I wrote this work to embody a spirit of unbridled energy and courageous, tenacious hope. The instrumental setting adds to the feeling of momentum and expectation, with two trumpets, tubular bells, timpani, and piano creating a bright and metallic timbral environment.

I dedicate this work fondly to Robyn Lana, Joe Miller, and the no-longer-stifled voices of their choruses, emerging after our long COVID winter into a sunshine of song.

-- Dominick DiOrio July 2022

As the passions in our soul Swell into torrents as we roll, Break our bounds, and let us fly Across the vast and boundless sky!

At the golden gate of song we stood knocking all day long, But our muse, still calm and cold, Refused and whispered to us, “Hold.”

And yet, a breath of soft perfume, A soft, still light within the gloom; We sang together, side-by-side, The golden gate flew open wide.

As the passions in our soul Swell into torrents as we roll, Break our bounds, and let us fly Across the vast and boundless sky!

No matter what you call it, Whether genius, talent, art, We sing as one the simple song, The very beating of our heart.

-- On an original text fashioned by the composer and inspired by and adapted from excerpts of poems by Paul Laurence Dunbar from The Complete Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar (1913).