Geter | Declaration

PERUSALSCORE

Declaration for mezzo-soprano and string orchestra

PERUSALSCORE

Music by Damien Geter Text by Aaron Dworkin

Text

I. Life "to belong and be"

My fellow citizens... We breathe.

We begin.

To have life here is to stand where names were spoken rivers teaching out mouths to speak cities sewing brick to dream.

Life is not bestowed it is chosen, defended, it asks a hand I sign with my pulse.

To be part of America is to inherit a weather of clearings and storms shadows and cornelds the hush before an anthem the work after the music ends.

I am not a single story I am the margin turning into text.

We breathe.

We begin. We soar.

II. Liberty "the door and the knocking"

ey wrote of liberty while iron spoke louder in the elds trails forced into tears votes tallied in the absence of voices.

Yet lanterns were lifted in the dark.

Liberty is the presence of all. Liberty is the plural of courage.

PERUSALSCORE

I hear the hush at Seneca the hymn at the lunch counter.

We open to gather. We open to belong. We open until the threshold forgets it was ever a wall.

Text (cont.)

III. Pursuit "toward"

e promise of happiness left us in pursuit.

Democracy is not a noun we frame it is music we conjugate daily a more perfect union is not perfection it is closer, truer.

Toward work with dignity stitched into my wages care where illness does not choose the poor.

We move our nation with ordinary hands. We will repair what we inherit and what we break.

is is our work to breathe and begin to keep opening keep pursuing until democracy is ordinary as morning until justice is the shortest distance between two lives.

To be part of America is to inherit a weather of clearings and storms shadows and cornelds the hush before an anthem the work after the music ends.

We breathe. We begin. We soar.

PERUSALSCORE

Program Note

Declaration is a work born of two commemorations: the 30th anniversary of the Sphinx Organization and the 250th anniversary of the United States of America — two milestones that, in their convergence, makes the same declaration: The work continues.

The piece does not oﬀer a simple response. Instead, it dwells in the pursuit itself — the restless, generational, deeply human quest for liberty that has driven ordinary people to extraordinary acts across this nation's history. The Declaration of Independence gave us a vocabulary for that longing. But the work of living up to it belongs to us. It has always been ours — the people in the room, in the streets, in the pews and the practice rooms, in every community that dares to imagine something better.

The text is by Aaron Dworkin, founder of the Sphinx Organization, an institution that has understood from its founding that to open the doors of classical music is itself a declaration - an act of liberty.

Declaration moves through struggle and searching. It is a reminder that the more perfect union is not a destination but a direction.

The first movement of the song cycle introduces several of the main motifs that drive the piece. At its core is a unison theme, which serves as the musical embodiment of the “declaration.” This theme is first heard in the second violin in measure three. The second movement expands upon the declaration theme, this time harmonizing it. At the end of this movement, members of the orchestra intone the theme beneath the mezzo-soprano. In contrast, the last movement’s energetic rhythms symbolize the relentless pursuit of liberty. The chromatic ending propels the listener higher as the singer concludes her final powerful words, “we soar.”

Instrumentation

Solo Mezzo Soprano

PERUSALSCORE

This work was co-commissioned by Sphinx Virtuosi, Carnegie Hall, and New World Symphony.

The World Premiere was given by Sphinx Virtuosi and J’Nai Bridges in the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center, Notre Dame, IN on October 14, 2026.

Duration: c. 9 minutes

First printing of this edition, April 2026

Strings (minimum 4.4.4.4.2) JAT-112-039-SP

Aaron Dworkin

Co-commissioned by Sphinx Virtuosi, Carnegie Hall, and New World Symphony

“My fellow citizens, we breathe…” spoken Rich and Vibrant

= 80

1. Life

“to belong, and be”

con sord.

con sord., div. a4

con sord.

senza sord. senza sord., unis.

senza sord., unis.

senza sord., div. a2 pizz. arco, div.

Vln II

Vla Vc.

D. B.

slowly sing, as long or short and in any comfortable octave fade after singer sings, ”…it was ever a wall.”

PERUSALSCORE

slowly sing, as long or short and in any comfortable octave fade after singer sings, ”…it was ever a wall.”

ooh

slowly sing, as long or short and in any comfortable octave fade after singer sings, ”…it was ever a wall.”

ooh

slowly sing, as long or short and in any comfortable octave fade after singer sings, ”…it was ever a wall.”

ooh

solo

slowly sing, as long or short and in any comfortable octave fade after singer sings, ”…it was ever a wall.” ooh

- Care where

Vla

M-S.

- - work af ter the mu sic ends. “We breathe. We begin…” spoken We unis. unis.

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