Written: 2024
Duration: 8'
for SATB choir (with occasional divisis, SSAATTBB) and handpan (D Kurd 10: D) A, B-flat, C, D, E, F, G, A, C)
Commissioned by Ember Choral Arts, Dr. Deborah Simpkin King, Founding Artistic Director, as Ember's first Composer in Residence
Premiere: Ember, Dr. Deborah Simpkin King, Founding Artistic Director, May 17, 2024, Actors’ Chapel, NYC; May 19, 2024, Unitarian Universalist Congregation at Montclair, Montclair, NJ
Publisher: Bill Holab Music
To purchase sheet music: https://billholabmusic.com/product/kama/
For more information: robertpaterson.com/kama
PROGRAM NOTE
In contemporary literature, ‘kama’ is often used to connote erotic desire and emotional longing, but in ancient Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism, this concept is more expansive and broadly refers to any desire, wish, passion, or pleasure, the enjoyment of art and beauty, and even more broadly, love and connection. Kama focuses on this ancient concept and these feelings, which are so essential to being human, while refl
