Up/Rising Into

Dedicated to transgender and non-binary youth everywhere, “Up/Rising Into” was commissioned in 2024 by Seattle Pro Musica as part of their New American Composer Series. With an original text by trans poet Amir Rabiyah, this work responds to a continuous barrage of attacks on the rights of trans and gender expansive children with love and hope.

“Brimming with compassion,” the piece begins with a message of consolation as voices assemble, each creating ostinati in waves of caressing gestures, gently as a lullaby. The melody, sung by the deepest voices, rises and speaks of shattered innocence, abandonment, and exhaustion. Each cadence returns to a somber G# minor until a willful statement is declared three times in succession: “You are beloved,” With a pronounced shift to a faster tempo gradually into major mode, the song is delivered from meditation to movement.

When, at last, it is time to “take flight,” the voices separate as two wings, alternating as two oars wading the sky, gliding towards a new time and place where trans joy abounds. The singing concludes in a half cadence, for the work is not complete. Though the path is uncertain, with our hearts renewed, there is hope.

May this song resound as a movement through our lives.

-Mari Esabel Valverde