Voices of Connection: 05/03 Francisco J. Núñez: liminality

Welcome Guest Curator Francisco J. Núñez

Francisco J. Núñez, a MacArthur Fellow and Musical America’s 2018 Educator of the Year, is a composer, conductor, visionary, leading figure in music education, and the artistic director/founder of the Young People’s Chorus of New York City. Since he founded YPC in 1988, he has established an awareness of the ability of children to rise to unforeseen artistic heights, and now, through YPC National, he is expanding the YPC model to children’s choruses beyond New York City. READ MORE

I want to share a video of Liminality, a piece I wrote for the Young People’s Chorus of New York City, most recently performed at our Gala Benefit concert in March 2020, the day before New York City closed its doors. Here is a nine-minute excerpt from Liminality, an 18-minute work originally written for mixed chorus and full orchestra. This version for treble voices, violin, and piano was filmed in summer 2019 in Tokyo, Japan.

Liminality is a meditation on time, transcendence and temporality, fusing various philosophical and religious ideas. Central to these is the idea of “deep splendor,” a state of deepest meditation while being fully aware of your surroundings. In this life of anxiety—about the future, about life and death—the “I” seeks answers to questions—who am I? where am I going? why am I here?

– Francisco J. Núñez, Artistic Director and Founder, Young People's Chorus of New York City

---