"Flight Song" by 2016 All Valley Honor Choir

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"Flight Song" (2015) was composed by Norwegian Kim Andre Arnesen. It was written for Dr. Anton Armstrong and the choir from St. Olaf College in Minnesota, to thank them for their performances of the composer's other songs and to acknowledge "the personal development and safe environment Armstrong has given to so many young singers." Lyrics are by the Welsh-Scottish librettist Euan tait, who says of the piece: "..the idea of flight as a metaphor for the beginning of a young adult life—and as a tribute to a great conductor—came to me first. A human life preparing to take off, and the movements of a conductor’s arm like the beating of a soul’s great wings, are images at the heart of this piece."

The All Valley Honor Choir - in which the BHS Chamber Choir participated - did a lovely job with this melodic piece, especially when considering the high school students from Aspen to Rifle, Colorado, had only one day to rehearse it, while also learning four other songs! The words in "Flight Song" are especially poignant, perhaps, for seniors and their families, as indeed, these young adults are figuratively preparing to fly the nest very soon:

"...for this is music’s inner voice,
saying yes, we hear you,
all you who cry aloud,
and we will fly, answering you:
so our lives sing, sing,
wild we will fly,
wild in spirit we will fly."