PROGRAM NOTES:
Meciendo is the winner of the 2007 Sorel Medallion, an international choral competition sponsored by the Sorel Organization.  Named in memory of pianist-prodigy, Claudette Sorel, the organization seeks to offer new opportunities for women musicians.  As a part of the award, Kirchoff’s Meciendo, was performed at an October 9 concert sung by Voices of Ascension, a mixed chorus of 40 professional vocalists directed by Dennis Keene and based in New York City.  The evening concert was held in Zankel Auditorium, one of three performing spaces within renowned Carnegie Hall.
     The text of Meciendo, Spanish for “rocking,” is from a poem by the Chilean poet Gabriela Mistral.  Against a background of flowing, rhythmic chants that evoke fields of wheat waving in the wind, a solo soprano voice raises a lyrical contrast as she reflects on rocking her child in her arms.  Nine separate lines call and answer each other then meld into a single voice at the end.