I am terrified of my own mortality. Like a lot of artists (I think) I spend far too much time thinking about my own death. Will people remember me? Will my work live on without me? What resonates so much with me about Christina Rossetti’s Remember is that she meets us in that feeling. She begins her poem by begging her loved ones over and over to remember her. Gradually, she realizes that what our loved ones need from us as we pass is not desperation. They need consolation. They need permission: permission to move on, permission to be happy, permission – ultimately – to forget.

Over the course of the piece, "remember me" is heard again and again until it fades away to be replaced by "better by far you should forget and smile". This piece was commissioned as part of the Choral Arts Initiative PREMIERE|Project Festival and is part of the CAI ICON series.

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