Winter Goddess, Give Me Your Hands (2026)
text by Kendra Preston Leonard
( s a t b + semi-chorus + piano )
Commissioned by NEXT Ensemble.
Premiered by NEXT Ensemble and Lehi New Works Chorale; J.P. Kentros, conductor / 29 May, 2026 at Eccles Conference Center; Ogden, UT.
Purchase at Sheet Music Direct
Winter Goddess, Give Me Your Hands was created from a deeply personal concern: the disappearance of winter. Having lived in Utah most of my life, I have watched our winters get shorter, summers get hotter, and water become an increasingly scarce and fragile resource. That awareness brings to me a sense of responsibility and more importantly an acknowledgment that the climate crisis is urgent and immediate. Recent developments close to home have intensified my urgency behind this piece. The proposed construction of a massive data center in Box Elder County, with a larger proposed footprint than Bryce Canyon National Park, will directly impact our air quality, water, and landscape in this place we call our home.
By truly remarkable happenstance, I connected with the brilliant poet Kendra Preston Leonard, and through her this concern took on a mythic dimension. Drawing from Slavic and Celtic traditions, she created a text that mourns a fading winter goddess. Kendra's poetry beautifully holds tension between regret, hope, grief and resolve. It does not simply wish for restoration, but instead offers this collective vow: “we commit to repair this world that is our home.” The recurring line, “Winter Goddess, give me your hands,” becomes both a plea for guidance and an act of accountability.
In the piece, the piano utilizes a technique developed by Ukrainian composer Lubomyr Melnyk called "continuous music". The piano sustains a constant, flowing texture of rapidly repeated notes, creating a shimmering, resonant soundscape where harmonies emerge gradually rather than through distinct gestures. This uninterrupted motion creates a sense of suspension and timelessness, hopefully giving the listener and singers alike time to dwell within the text and its message.
As the piece unfolds, the structured texture changes to something more communal and spontaneous. During the central chant, individual singers move at their own pace, creating a layered, incantatory effect. In performance, the audience is invited to join this chant and help to transform it from a passive listening experience into a shared act of reflection and intention.
Winter Goddess, Give Me Your Hands is a meditation and a lament. It is a call to action for us to consider our role in the fragile systems that sustain us, and to imagine what it means to repair them.
Language: English
Lyrics: Kendra Preston Leonard
Duration: 12'