Hold the Vision to Our Hearts

“Hold the Vision to Our Hearts” was commissioned for Keller High School Varsity Treble Choir, conducted by Chi-Chi King, for their performance at the 2014 Texas Music Educators Association convention, in loving memory of King’s mother Nora Wong. Once a music student at the Shanghai Conservatory, Wong fled China for the United States during wartime, forfeiting her aspirations to develop into a professional musician. Since losing her to cancer, King has attributed her success to her mother who encouraged her to study cello and voice and to pursue a career in music.

This uplifting work strives to evoke vivid images from memories of the departed. It prominently features a violin solo, which weaves in and out of melodic lines, as a spiritual companion to the journey. Singing the words of Helen Keller, the choir offers a generous reminder that, when we honor the memory of “our beloved ones,” we carry their beauty, and they continue to live through us. It is with a sense of victory, from beginning to end, that this joy in remembrance resounds as one learns to grow around one’s grief.

-Mari Esabel Valverde