The Tree

Dedicated to Richard Hutter, The Tree is a setting for unaccompanied SATB mixed choir of the poem by American transcendental poet Jones Very (1813 – 1880). The full text is below. Composed at the 2003 Oxford Summer Institutes at Lehigh, where it received a reading by the Princeton Singers under the direction of Steven Sametz. Premiered April 2, 2004, by the American University Chamber Singers under the direction of Daniel E. Abraham.

Since its 2004 premiere The Tree has had 31 performances in Washington, DC, Pennsylvania, New York, Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri, Kansas, California, Oregon, Washington State, Canada and Australia.

In July 2010, an international panel of judges named The Tree as a finalist for the Seghizzi International Choral Festival held in Gorizia, Italy. In March 2012, The Tree was named a Silver Platter Repertoire Award Winner by the editor of the ChoralNet Composition Showcase.