Iâd love for you to check out my comments on my experience so far with @officialnats Mentoring Program for Composers in their most recent newsletter. The article, âBuilding the Future of Art Song Through Mentorshipâ, is so timely because Iâve been reflecting on just how many people have formally and informally helped me create my music. Go to /cgi/page.cgi/_article.html/What_s_New/Building_the_future_of_art_song_through_mentorship to check it out.
Iâm happy to announce I am one of 15 artistsâ5 poets, 5 composers, and 5 singersâto be chosen as the fourth season of FUSE: Collaboration in Song. FUSE assembles five teams of artists to explore themes of mutual interest and, over the period of several months, develop a brand new song cycle together. Iâm so fortunate to work with poet @dekinesoul and mezzo soprano @feliciagavilanes and canât wait to create some people music. FUSE 2026 will take place on September 18th @ 7:00 pm at Multicultural Arts Center in East Cambridge, MA.
Introducing Team 12 for the 2026 NYC songSLAM!
â˘
Team 12:
âRomanceâ with text by Claude McKay
Team Members: Margaret Tigue, soprano, Jarod Yap, pianist & Steven A. Ward, composer
Season 17 highlight:
We look forward to featuring songs composed by @stevenward83 based on poems by Paul Dunbar sung by mezzo-soprano @claraosowski đś
Save the dates June 20-27, 2026!
The @sourcesongfestival MNSong year two composers each arranged a spiritual as a part of the festivalâs theme. They were not able to be premiered, but we were able to partner with MNDuo singers and pianists and have them recorded. I arranged âWe Are Climbing Jacobâs Ladderâ and am fortunate to have had baritone @ryan.m.alexander and collaborative pianist Hyunmin Gina Lee sign on the perform it. Thanks to them both.
Ventured down to Virginia this afternoon to support my line brother @lequanhylton with an Omega service for a departed family member that was Alpha brother, and on the way back to DC made a brief stop to see my favorite girl (my 99 year old grandmother) before heading to a reception for opera singing sensation John Holiday in Arlington (go see him in WNOâs production of âThe Marriage of Figaroâ). Today was a good dayâŚ
Countertenor @gusmercante sang his face off, and @victoria_h_kirsch played with such fervor and grace (what a combo, eh?) in my arrangement of I Been in the Storm. Each time Gus sang it, I noticed something new and he brought energy to it with his unique voice that I hadnât even conceived when I arranged it. Thanks to the both of them for performing it at @sourcesongfestival this year! It was perfect!
The Source Song Festival also premiered a few of my spiritual arrangements. Soprano @ashleystewart_soprano snatched my non-existent edges with her rendition of this arrangement of Swing Low, Sweet Chariot. She honored the tradition while making this her own. So honored she chose to do it, and you should look out for when you have the opportunity to hear her live. Her voice is amazing. Collaborative pianist @james.monson2000 blessed the keys and made the piano sing, too!
The arrangement of City Called Heaven was actually premiered a couple years ago by a student at my alma mater @officialvsutrojans under the direction of @musicteacher06 , but I was so pleased I could hear it again, this time with baritone @ryan.m.alexander and collaborative pianist Hyunmin Gina Lee. This spiritual always gets me because itâs a whole story, a personal plea. Ryanâs voice captured that with Ginaâs sensitivity in the accompaniment.
My first song cycle, Invitation to Love, was truly a labor of love. Have the time I didnât feel confident in what I was doing or what I had written, but in the end I did my best and was thrilled with how it turned out. As a composer, you can commit the notes to paper and even hear a playback of it if you use a software program, but it takes true artist to make music come alive. @claraosowski and @caseyrafn will never know how much it meant to me they brought this piece to life and just how much I appreciate their feedback and encouragement. The cycle uses texts by Paul Laurence DunbarââDawnâ, âMorningâ, âA Golden Dayâ, âTwilightâ, âEveningâ, and âNightââthat speak to loveâs journey over time. Hope you enjoy!
