Single Pre-Release

Some pieces take time before revealing what they truly want to become.

When I first collaborated with the extraordinary soprano Shana Farr in 2022, while recording That Star in the Picture for Albany Records, we spoke about writing something especially for her: a vocalise. The idea remained with me for years, quietly waiting until it finally found its own voice in Lullaby.

The score is dedicated to Shana: "Good friend, wonderful artist, with much admiration." Yet, from the very beginning, we both felt this would not be a traditional cradle song.

Having recently shared the stage with the remarkable cellist Igor Zubkovsky at Weill Recital Hall in Carnegie Hall, I knew the cello had to become part of the story. Its opening line seems less to sing than to breathe, echoing the human voice with quiet longing, while the piano's persistent ostinato gently binds the three voices into a single intimate conversation.

Everything changed after hearing Shana perform a song celebrating the tenderness of a mother's love. In that moment I realized that a vocalise was no longer enough. Lullaby needed words.

Although its verses begin with the timeless invitation, "Sleep, my child...", this is not merely music meant to soothe a child. Beneath its quiet surface lies something more profound: a fragile act of hope in a restless world. Like many lullabies throughout history, it speaks as much to adults as to children. It comforts, but it also resists despair. In its own gentle way, it becomes a silent song of protest against fear, violence, and the loss of innocence.

Beginning in the shadowed colors of F-sharp minor before opening into the warmth of D-flat major, the music continually moves between darkness and light. The soprano and cello sometimes answer one another, sometimes walk together, carrying a melody that sighs, questions, and finally finds a quiet sense of peace. The journey remains open to every listener's imagination.

It was with great joy that Shana Farr, Igor Zubkovsky, and I gave the World Premiere of Lullaby at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall on June 30, 2026. We hope that, in listening, you may discover your own meaning within its quiet voice.