Description
When Choirs of America commissioned me to write a new work for a premiere at Carnegie Hall, I was inspired to write a piece that truly honors the people of the United States. The media wants us to believe that the American people are made up of two sides, polar opposites to each other, only interested in fighting. I don’t believe that to be true. As an artist, collaboration is a huge part of my life. Every performance is a collaboration! And there is nothing like standing next to one another and singing. (We all have to agree to sing the right notes and the right rhythms, and stay together!) I commissioned this poem from my friend Julia Klatt Singer, who brought together all the beauty of the flowers across the United States into one bouquet, rich in color and diversity. This diversity should be celebrated, and we should honor the differences in each other. I believe that most Americans also believe this to be true. Singing this song will remind us of that truth.
~ Jocelyn Hagen, 2024
Listen to American Dream
Text
Magnolias and bitterroot. Mountain laurel and wild prairie rose.
Deep rooted, our first thoughts of light and land, we travel by wind and by sea.
Follow rivers through banks and prairies, forests where trees
live 300, 400 years. We are so young compared to these.
Sunflower, Saguaro cactus blossom, California poppy, Camellia.
We love independence, sing of freedom, respect hard work, civility.
We believe in equality. We have hope for each other, have hope
for the future, have hope for you and for me.
Colorado blue columbine, orange blossom, Cherokee rose.
This land is our mother,
the bison and deer, rabbit, possum, bee and crow
our sisters and brothers.
Northern flicker, wild turkey, willow ptarmigan, hummingbird and loon.
Our differences,
not our similarities,
make us beautiful and strong.
We share our borders and our water, our love and our air.
So we start somewhere in the middle, work our way out,
Work it out. For we are all neighbors, pioneers,
for and of change.
Goldenrod, black-eyed Susan. Sego lily, lady slipper.
We are rich, every color
of the sunrise, tender petals, hard and cool
as the moon.
I bring you a bouquet of Dogwood, peony, violets and forget-me-nots.
It is our similarities, not our differences we have walked arm in arm with,
dreaming this American dream, all along.
~ Julia Klatt Singer (2023)