Chicago a cappella premieres two winning works from its HerVoice competition

Chicago a cappella presented premieres of two works by winners of the ensemble's first HerVoice Emerging Women Composers Competition in February 2022.  Prepared by artistic director John William Trotter, the ensemble performed Sarai Hillman's "Psalm 59:16 C. Safety & Refuge" and Edna Yeh's "I Wandered Lonely As a Cloud."  As winners of the HerVoice project, Hillman received mentoring from composer Zanaida Robles, and Yeh worked with mentor composer Stacy Garrop.  The pieces received workshops in Chicago with Chicago a cappella last fall before the performances at the ensemble's concert, "Coming Out of the Dark."  The Chicago Tribune raved about the pieces, calling Yeh's work "a major — and promising — aesthetic leap... [and an] impressive feat of text painting," and noting Hillman's "much-deserved standing ovation....More from this prodigious talent soon, please."  Two other winning works from the 2021 HerVoice competition, by composers Jessica Rudman and Leah Tracy, will be workshopped and performed next season by the Kansas City Chorale.