Our Season

This piece, by Joan Szymko, is a compassionate exploration of the lives of those touched by Alzheimer’s dementia. The libretto is a carefully ordered collection of poems and texts from various sources, including scripture, contemporary poets, the composer’s own writing, and poems by caregivers. Three major segments provide the structure for a “universal” story of Alzheimer’s.

Part I / The Cloud of Forgetting is told from the perspective of a person diagnosed with dementia, and features a mezzo-soprano soloist.

Part II / Uncontainable Night focuses on the experience of the loved one/caregiver, (Soprano and Tenor).

Part III / I and Thou maintains that the person with dementia has not ‘disappeared.’ They are not ‘the disease’ — but a person still capable of feeling love, beauty, music and who remains capable of connection. Throughout, the chorus performs the role of storyteller, care partner— witness.