"Esa Eynai" was written for the Vassar Repertory Dance Theatre's 2005 performance at the Bardavon Opera House in Poughkeepsie.  Choreographed by Paul Mosley, it served as the company finale for both performances.  You can hear a sample of the piece by clicking on the title. To hear the full version, click here.

The compositional process of this piece was unusual for me.  Paul started choreographing to a piece by Moby, and I started by writing a "Cantorial" setting of Psalm 121, "I lift my eyes unto the mountain".  Then, to a videotape of his rehearsal, I wrote my own "techno" piece and started to weave the vocal line into the music.  The last third of the piece was finished before the choreography.  And so, there was a tremendous amount of give and take in crafting this piece.

The actual recording is entirely synthesized except for the vocal line - that's me chanting.  In performance, we used a mix of the track without the voice, and I performed 'live' to the track. For the press release about the performance, click here.

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