Bernardino Zanetti: My River Runs to Thee (SAT, Piano)

Prize-winning piece — “Nuove Musiche dalla Livenza” Composition Competition 2022

Bernardino Zanetti’s My River Runs to Thee sets Emily Dickinson’s poetry for soprano, alto and tenor voices with piano accompaniment. The text imagines a river addressing the sea, asking whether it will be welcomed and offering to bring it brooks from hidden, “spotted nooks.” The music moves between flowing, lyrical phrases and more dramatic, expressive passages, with changes of meter, dynamics and tempo shaping the dialogue between river and sea. A distinctive choice for youth choirs looking for an English-language work that combines poetic imagery with a varied and expressive musical structure.