A Birthday

A Birthday was composed for Floyd Farmer and the Camerata Singers of West Michigan in commemoration of their 25th Anniversary. The Christina Rosetti poem is about a birthday, and its many references to silver were perfectly suited to a “silver” anniversary. I played with the birds in the poem by weaving bird songs throughout the piece, which begins with the women’s voices chirping “cherry up cherry dee.” The Muskegon Chronicle called the piece “delicate and sprightly with a foundation of dignified solemnity.”