Seattle based choral group The Esoterics recently debuted a new work that uses the poetry of former KOMO radio and TV anchor Eric Slocum.
The anchor for the Seattle ABC Affiliate, who was described as a friend of The Esoterics on the choral group’s website, had planned to work with a composer to set his words to music. After Slocum’s suicide in February 2012, composer Eric Banks got permission to make Slocum’s work “into a 20-minute stream-of-consciousness meditation – on life, its struggles, and the hereafter.”
According to The Esoterics, “Banks then gave this piece a title that borrows from the final image of Slocum’s poetry – from within a symphony of butterflies – I am among them.”
The group marked “Suicide Prevention Month” by asking each composer who wrote for this most recent series of concerts to use verses written by poets who have committed suicide.
[KOMO]