GILDA LYONS

I. Cicada
II. Tortuga's Lament
III. Bone Needles III

A set of three movements without words for voices and cello, Cáscaras (husks) is a series of musical snapshots written after my return from a recent visit to Nicaragua. "Cicada" re-imagines the chatter of beetles roosting in the thick of trees near my parents' home in Rio Mar. "Tortuga's Lament" paints a plaintive portrait of the sea-turtles there. "Bone Needles" - which began as a work for two voices commissioned by Amy Pivar Dances in spring 2006 - explores the ways that three lines might mend together; markings within the score ("summoning", "weaving" and "casting off") guide an exchange that I imagined after watching a group of women repairing nets on the beaches of Casares with long needles made from fish bones.