New Hope
Instrumentation: Bass/baritone voice and piano
Duration: ca. 5 minutes
Text: New Hope by Tom Ewing
Year composed: 2008
Place composed: Redlands, California
Published: Published by Kallisti Music Press, 2009
Program Notes: Described by Andrew Stiller as “a provocative song,” New Hope is based on a poem by AJ’s uncle, Tom Ewing. Ewing composed the poem after living in the town of New Hope, Pennsylvania; his thoughts on the poem can be found in his blog post “New Hope Revisited.” The text explores the ironies of the town’s name and the craziness of life there, and the concept of hope itself. The music complements the text by an unusual juxtaposition of musical styles including an ironic piano rag, and by an evolving repetition of the musical setting of the phrase “New Hope, New Hope.”