When she made her debut with the Tucson Symphony Orchestra in 2022, soprano Nicole Cabell performed her first ever Samuel Barber βKnoxville: Summer of 1915.β
For her encore two years later, sheβs bringing us another new work in her repertoire, B.E. Boykinβs Maya Angelou-inspired song cycle βMoments in Sonder.β
βThe Boykin is new for me,β Cabell said during a phone call from her Rochester, New York, home last weekend, recalling how she heard it for the first time in a virtual concert during the pandemic. βI thought this is the most gorgeous music.β
Selections from βMoments in Sonderβ are on the second half of her Close-Up recital with True Concord Voices & Orchestra on Tuesday, April 9, at the University of Arizonaβs Holsclaw Hall, 1017 N. Olive Road.
Before she gets there, however, Cabell will join True Concord for a trio of performances this weekend of Poulencβs magnificent βGloria,β the centerpiece of the ensembleβs season finale βGloria & Bernstein.β
Both concerts close out the 2024 Tucson Desert Song Festival.
βGloriaβ has been a staple of Cabellβs repertoire since the early days of her career. Her first performance of it came a year or so after she won the 2005 BBC Singer of the World in Cardiff competition.

Cabell
βItβs such a great piece of music,β she said.
On the surface, βGloriaβ sounds like itβs difficult for the voice because βthe line can be a little bit dissonant, it can be a little strange,β Cabell explained.
βIt sails up into a high part of the voice. The tessitura can be challenging, but, because Iβve sung it so long, I feel really comfy with it,β she said. βWhen I first started singing it, I just loved the music but it was a bit of a technical challenge. Fortunately, along with wrinkles and gray hair, you get more settled in your technique in the years. So for me, at this point, it feels really settled in my voice. I love singing it.β
Cabell said a highlight for her in the Poulenc is hearing the orchestra behind her and the voices of the choir singing the text based on the Gloria of the ordinary mass.
βThe Poulenc is one of my favorite pieces of music, so Iβm very excited,β she said.
In the concertβs second half, True Concord Music Director Eric Holtan programmed Leonard Bernsteinβs Overture and βMake Our Garden Growβ from his musical βCandideβ and βChichester Psalms,β featuring the professional solo debut of Holtanβs 12-year-old son Kristian.
Kristian, who has been studying piano since he was 5 and sang for four years with the Tucson Arizona Boys Chorus touring ensemble, will sing the boy soprano role in the second movement.
βSince he was really little he could match pitch and he had a good sense of rhythm,β Holtan said of his son, who also plays club basketball. βHeβs kind of a natural musician.β

Kristian Holtan
The 20-minute work is sung in Hebrew; Bernstein used the original Hebrew texts from the Book of Psalms, drawing on Psalms 100 and 108, 2 and 23 and 131 and 133.
For Tuesdayβs 7 p.m. recital, Cabell put together a diverse program that includes works by Spanish composer Fernando Obradors, Frenchman Ravel, Czech composer DvorΓ‘k and a trio of Americans: Leonard Bernstein, Boykin and Ricky Ian Gordon.
βIβve always gravitated toward an all-English language second half,β she said, highlighting Boykinβs βMoments in Sonderβ that was inspired by the works of poet Maya Angelou.
Boykin composed the 14-song cycle in 2020 when the country was dealing with racial strife in the aftermath of George Floydβs murder. Classical music was especially shaken by the realization that it had not done enough to support and empower Black classical artists and composers.
She also included Bernsteinβs βI Hate Music,β a song cycle sung from the perspective of a 10-year old girl, that he wrote in 1942, and works influenced by folk music including Ravelβs βFive Greek Folk Songsβ and DvorΓ‘kβs βGypsy Songs.β
βI always have gravitated towards the accessibility of this kind of (folk) melody,β she said. βThey work well with my voice and they are interesting for the audience. The audience seems to respond well to those sets.β
The DvorΓ‘k includes the composerβs popular βSongs My Mother Taught Me.β
True Concord Voices & Orchestra Music Director Eric Holtan gives a pre-concert talk about Poulenc's 'Gloria' featuring soprano Nicole Cabell and Bernstein's "Chichester Psalms."