Mado Kara Mieru

Performance History: First performed at Waterford Union High School, Wisconsin, by the Waterford Union Chorus and Orchestra, conducted by Derek Machan, January 9, 2011. Subsequent performances at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, NY by the Distinguished Concerts Orchestra and Chorus.

Program Notes: Within every traditional Japanese haiku is a 'kigo'--a word associating the poem with a particular season. Madokara Mieru is an adaptation of five such haiku in rondo form; corresponding to spring, summer, autumn, winter and the return of spring. Each refrain is sung by a vocalist in a different stage of life--a child for spring, a young woman for summer, a middle-aged man for autumn, and an elderly man for winter. Following an extended instrumental 'transfiguration,' the return of the child's voice at the end signifies the return of spring, thus completing the cycle of life, death and rebirth as reflected through the changing of the seasons.