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PROJECT : ENCORE NEWS PROJECT : ENCORE’s

Featured Composer Series

Personal connection to each piece
and to those singing it

Carlos feels that writing music is like a conversation
between the composer, the singers and ultimately the
audience. When he is commissioned for a piece by a
choir, he describes a sense of “sitting down together
and work on this piece. It helps me to write it in a more
personal way. [After all,] we (the composer and the
performers) are the ones who spend the most time with
the piece.”

Carlos most frequently writes his own texts, though he
has also turned to liturgical texts and those of historical
poets, as well. Lately, he and award-winning song-writer
and lyricist, Julie Flanders have been collaborating.
One example of their collaboration is his “Holding Our
Breath,” winner of the 2020 Genesis Prize. They are Carlos Cordero
looking together at a piece Carlos feels he needs to
write . . .

“Sometimes I don’t wait for a commission.”

What is next? Carlos has a passion for working with
autistic children, which is part of what he does when
he is not composing. He is feeling a piece emerge that
brings forward some of the basic language through
which he communicates with these children: “Go and
be kind.” So stay tuned -

• Explore Carlos’s biography and full compositional
activity on his website: thehappychoir.com/

• For immediate access to their style, check
out his eight PROJECT : ENCORE works here:
ProjectEncore.org/carlos-cordero

DEBORAH SIMPKIN KING, PHD.
Conductor
P:E Director and Founder
DeborahSKing.com