Stellified for Soprano and Chamber Orchestra (Score & Parts)

Stellified

• Setting of the poem "Stellified" by Nicole M. Coonradt
• Soprano + 1.1(ca).1.1 | 2.2.2.0 | timp.2perc | harp | strings
• Duration: ca. 7:15

Composer’s Note
I frequently refer to my musical compositions as “appreciations,” which is to say that when I encounter something—a book, a poem, a story, an idea—that I really love, I tend to show my appreciation by responding in music.

Nicole Coonradt’s poem “Stellified” (text below) feels like music on the page already, which means my job is mostly getting out of the way. With the gentleness of Jane Yolen’s Owl Moon, the humane attachment of Wendell Berry, or the plain speech of Robert Frost, the poet pulls me into contact with something divine, which is to say an artist is doing her job splendidly and I’m grateful for it.

In my “appreciation,” I try to imagine the narrator’s intimate encounter with the Aurora Borealis and her resulting sense of awe and humility. This is a text for a soloist, not a choir, and the orchestra follows suit, attempting to evoke a quiet night, full of silvers and whispers, and a stunning, though silent, heavenly display of color.

I offer this piece in celebration and gratitude for Maestro Jim Holleman as he passes through retirement from one good chapter to the next. —Andrew Maxfield, 2026

STELLIFIED
By Nicole M. Coonradt
Awakened by the Paschal Moon I rose
And bundled in a blanket left repose.
At midnight's chime, I stole into the bright
Where birch boles glow silver in the moonlight.
Ghostly against the shadowy hillside,
Their branches rustle faintly beside
Susurrations of the neighboring pines,
And just below the wandering creek shines.
Then, flames on the horizon! More vibrant
Than precious jewels, the shimmering designs
Of the Northern Lights further humble me:
One small soul in the Cosmos (this moment
But a blip in the long sweep of eternity)—
Yet stellified into the firmament.