New Works for TDE

Emily Sings is an eleven-movement chamber suite for soprano, flute, cello, and piano by Donald Skoog that explores Dickinson’s poetry through a contemporary musical language. The work unfolds as a sequence of distinct yet interrelated movements, each illuminating a different facet of Dickinson’s poetic voice. The texts function not as fixed settings but as catalysts for a fluid interplay between language, sound, and identity. Emily Sings reflects The Dickinson Ensemble’s broader artistic vision: to reveal Dickinson as urgent, human, and resonant for audiences today.

Fascicles 1–4 is a multi-part cycle of vocal chamber works by Donald Skoog, inspired by the fascicles—hand-bound groupings of poems—created by Emily Dickinson. Rather than presenting the poems as fixed texts, the work treats them as fluid, living material. Through a combination of singers, chamber ensemble, and electronic sound design, each fascicle unfolds as a distinct sonic architecture, exploring themes of identity, solitude, perception, and transformation. The cycle forms a core component of The Dickinson Ensemble’s mission to reimagine Dickinson for contemporary audiences.

Samplings from The War Between the Houses is an evolving presentation of excerpts from the opera-in-progress by Donald Skoog, based on an episode in the life of Emily Dickinson. Designed as a modular performance format, the program features a rotating selection of scenes, arias, and ensemble passages that reflect the current state of the work’s development. As new music is composed and integrated, the repertoire will continue to expand and transform, allowing audiences to engage with the opera as a living, continually unfolding artistic process.