The New Colossus
Year
2018
Length
7'00"
Category
Voice
ChamberOrchestraBandArrangements
soprano + Piano
soprano + flute, bass, piano
soprano + chamber orchestra
soprano + concert band (arr. Andrew Pease)
Premiere
March 10, 2019
Musical Chairs Chamber Ensemble
Buy Sheet Music
Soprano + Piano
Soprano + Flute, Bass, Piano
Soprano + Chamber Orchestra
Soprano + Concert Band
Program Note
America was founded in 1776, a nation of immigrants. Now, we talk about walls, about here versus there, about fear, about sharing, about keeping, and keeping out. But over a century ago, in 1883, author Emma Lazarus penned a sonnet so powerful it would come to symbolize our nation’s place in the world for generations. “Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp,” she wrote. “Give me your tired, your poor.” What could be more patriotic then this poem inscribed on one of our greatest national icons, the Statue of Liberty? I set Lazarus’s words to music in honor of those who’ve found a home in America and those who wait yet “beside the golden door.”
Poetry by Emma Lazarus
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
Performance History
- June 11, 2026: Juventas New Music Ensemble, Longfellow House-Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site, Cambridge, MA
- April 23, 2026: Keene State Concert Band, Redfern Arts Center, Keene, NH
- Aug. 27, 2025: Juventas New Music Ensemble, New England Botanic Garden, Boylston, MA
- June 5, 2025: Juventas New Music Ensemble, Longfellow House-Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site, Cambridge, MA
- October 5, 2023: Juventas New Music Ensemble, Longfellow House-Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site, Cambridge, MA
- August 16, 2021: Juventas New Music Ensemble, Parker's River Beach, South Yarmouth, MA
- July 1, 2021: Juventas New Music Ensemble, Live Stream Concert, YouTube
- June 27, 2021: Juventas New Music Ensemble, New England Botanic Garden, Boylston, MA
- December 8, 2019: Juventas New Music Ensemble, MIT Media Lab, Cambridge, MA
- November 3, 2019: Calliope's Call, Old North Church, Marblehead, MA
- November 2, 2019: Calliope's Call, Old West Church, Boston, MA
- October 3, 2019: Hartwick College Wind Ensemble, Anderson Theater, Oneonta, NY
- August 18, 2019: Juventas New Music Ensemble, The Cultural Center of Cape Cod, South Yarmouth, MA
- June 9, 2019: Juventas New Music Ensemble, Longfellow House-Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site, Cambridge, MA
- April 13, 2019: Juventas New Music Ensemble, First Church Boston, Boston, MA
- March 10, 2019: Musical Chairs Chamber Ensemble, Staten Island Museum, Staten Island, NY
