Dominick DiOrio

Broken

• Instrumentation: SSAA, piano
• Completed: December 2017
• Duration: 3 minutes
• Texts: "When a compass is broken" by Megan Levad
• Video:
  • Broken

    Wheaton College Women's Chorale
    Mary Hopper, director
    Family Weekend Choral Showcase Concert
    Recorded November 9, 2018 at the Wheaton College Conservatory of Music - Wheaton, IL

• Audio:
  • Broken
    
    Miami University Choraliers
    

    William Bausano, conductor; Cloie Dobias, piano
    World premiere recording

• Score Preview:
• Commission and Dedication:

  Commissioned by the Miami University Choraliers, William Bausano, conductor, and supported, in part, by Patty Morrison, Class of 1980 and Choralier member, 1978-1980

• Published:

  Mark Foster (Joni Jensen Choral Series)

• Program Note:

  Broken is simple and repetitive music. My use of repetition is deliberate, as these cyclic patterns of behavior and anxiety are the manifestation of our brokenness. Megan Levad’s poem “When a compass is broken” captures this isolation perfectly. Her words resonate deeply with me, as I hope they will also with those who sing and hear them. Once we recognize our cycles, our awareness expands, and we begin the necessary step of breaking our patterns and being reborn anew.

  This music is humbly dedicated to my dear friend William Bausano and the Miami University Choraliers.

  -- Dominick DiOrio
  December 2017

• Text:

  "When a compass is broken"
  ​by Megan Levad
  from What Have I to Say to You (2017)      

   

  When a compass
  is broken

  it can be replaced

  needle, cork, shallow dish
  is all it takes

  More difficult
  is learning

  the compass is broken

  That part takes decades
  of wandering in the desert

• Performances:
  • May 9, 2018 (premiere)
    Miami University Choraliers
    William Bausano, conductor
    Hall Auditorium - Miami University - Miami, OH
  • November 9, 2018
    Family Weekend Concert
    Wheaton College Women's Chorale
    Mary Hopper, conductor
    College Church - Wheaton, IL
  • March 13, 2019
    UC Choruses Spring Showcase
    UC Women's Chorus
    Molly Getsinger, conductor
    Corbett Auditorium - CCM - Cincinnati, OH
  • April 5, 2019
    Spring Concert
    Wheaton College Women's Chorale
    Mary Hopper, conductor
    College Church - Wheaton, IL
  • October 4, 2019
    IU Choral Collage
    Voces Caelestes
    Dominick DiOrio, conductor
    Auer Concert Hall - IU Jacobs School of Music - Bloomington, IN
  • May 1, 2020 (Cancelled due to coronavirus)
    University of Toledo Rocket Choristers
    Brad Pierson, conductor
    Doermann Theater - University of Toledo - Toledo, OH