To the heart that knows fire

“To the heart that knows fire” is a collection of 12 choral works by Drew Swatosh, Carolyn Quick and Lisa Neher which explore finding beauty and hope amid darkness. The collection’s title is drawn from Emily Pauline Johnson’s poem Fire-Flowers, set by Carolyn in her piece To the heart that knows fire:

And only where the forest fires have sped,/Scorching relentlessly the cool north lands,/A sweet wild flower lifts its purple head,/And, like some gentle spirit sorrow-fed,/It hides the scars with almost human hands.

And only to the heart that knows of grief,/Of desolating fire, of human pain,/There comes some purifying sweet belief,/Some fellow-feeling beautiful, if brief./And life revives, and blossoms once again.

This poem captures the potential for life, growth, and hope that can emerge out of difficult experiences. The works in this collection recognize that our lives are often filled with struggles: physical, societal, and spiritual. At the same time, the music and texts affirm that we each have the resilience to move through these challenges, to find comfort, connections, and to become something new on the other side. As Carolyn writes in her program note: “Though we get to know these desolating fires intimately – to the point that we are nearly engulfed in flames – we persist. Out of scorched earth springs new growth and with it hope and renewal.”

To the heart that knows fire

To the heart that knows fire

Ave Maria

Catch at Hope

Finding the Light

I Shall Not Care from Secular Requiem

In Flanders Fields

Interim

Make Me an Instrument

Shadow Song

The Open Road

Three Basho Haiku

To the heart that knows fire

While I was Fearing It