Born
1957

Instrumentation
two flutes, two oboes (2nd doubling English Horn), two clarinets, two horns, two trumpets, two trombones, timpani, bass drum, snare drum, glockenspiel, vibraphone, crotales, harp , violins, violas, four string bass

Duration
18 minutes

Program Notes
Written by the composer

A New Country is a cycle of five songs about immigrants arriving in America through New York.  Following the precedent of my American historical compositions (The Blizzard Voices, Sanctuary Road, Songs of Love and War, A Nation of Others), the opening song sets to music the words of an actual immigrant, Anna Vacek, who arrived at Ellis Island in 1901.  The second, forth and fifth songs set texts by native long Islander, Walt Whitman.  The third song is a setting of part of "The New Colossus," Emma Lazarus' iconic poem about the Statue of Liberty.