Songs

Songs for Theater

In love with the beauty of the Sonoran Desert, our move to that place inspired us to write songs together. In November of that year, Manuel Jesús Córdoba Soberanes, a migrant crossing from Magdalena, Mexico, into Arizona saved the life of a young boy, knowing that he would be sent back to Mexico. In autumn of 2008, I left for studies at a Quaker seminary in Indiana. If no one wrote the story or play in the next year, I knew that I needed to write it. The summer of 2009, Mary Lou and I wrote the songs and I wrote the libretto..

In the mornings, I walked to my studio with a window that looked out to Baboquívari, the holy mountain of the Tohono O'odham people. The libretto emerged on yellow legal-sized sheets of paper. Each day, the play took shape, the story of a man who became an angel and saved the life of a young boy.

Back in Mary Lou's studio that looks out to the Santa Rita Mountains, we wrote songs. We envisioned Manuel's wife singing to him as she looked up at the moon rising. Mira la Luna!

From January, 2010, I have been active performing this work: Man from Magdalena. In June, 2012, we performed Man from Magdalena at the UU General Assembly in Phoenix. Through our performances, we have funded over $190,000 in micro-loans to Mexico and Central America.

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“…the tale takes hold of your heart and mind…the music stays with you. An extraordinary piece of art, theater born in their own backyard that is worthy of being seen and heard by millions.” Carol St. John, Tubac Villager
“…perfectly harmonized cellist and chorus, reminiscent of the ancient Mexican storytellers. The original music so perfectly complemented the moving story that, at times, I forgot to breathe.” Diane Meyer, published in the Green Valley News and Sun

“Arizona electricity hovered in the air at the premiere showing of "Man From Magdalena". The audience was stunned. Original, moving, completely professional, amazing…” Cathy Anderson, published in the Green Valley News and Sun.

This photograph shows a visit to Magdalena, Mexico, to meet and talk with Manuel Jesús Córdoba Soberanes.

Choral Works

From December of 2007 to 2012: Mary Lou Prince (music) and I (lyrics) have written over fifty songs for choir and solo voice. These songs have been featured at the UU national musicians Network conferences and are being sung by more and more church choirs around the United States. In 2008, Mary Lou Prince and I gave a workshop about our storytelling/music ministry at the national meeting of the Unitarian Universalist Musicians Network. We wrote a Christmas Cantata of Wonder: Who Was Born that Night? Through performances of the Santa Rita Chorale, the choir of the UU Congregation of Green Valley, our cantatas have been performed to raise money for various relief efforts such as tsunami relief efforts in Japan (April, 2011), and homeless veterans (December, 2011), Colorado River Project, Save the Canyons and many others. I consider my creative work to be an important part of my ministry and at the heart of my outreach into the community.

In the fall of 2015, Mary Lou Prince and I were asked to create the theme song for the opening of the World Parliament of Religions. I performed the theme song and Mary Lou Prince conducted the Parliament Choir made up of 150 singers of many faiths singing “Songs of the Earth.” In 2017, we began writing songs about women that became the song cycle "Women of Courage." In that cycle, we celebrate Eleanor Roosevelt, Etty Hillesum, Recy Taylor, Harriet Tubman, and Helen Keller, among others. We performed at choral festivals and to raise money for "Women of the World," an organization that supports immigrant women.