Duration: 10 minutes
 

ABOUT THE WORK

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​This five-movement work by Elyse Hart celebrates the 16th-century Hindu mystic poet and Bhakti saint, Mirabai. The composition sets ancient devotional texts to an interplay of voice, flute, handheld percussion, and electronic textures (featured in movements III & V).

The work uses English translations by Jane Hirshfield (used with permission) and other curated sources to explore the ecstatic and steadfast nature of Mirabai’s devotion.

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RECOGNITION & PERFORMANCE

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Five Poems of Mirabai was awarded First Prize and a professional honorarium at the 2021 She Can, We Can Festival composition competition at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG).

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Selected from a highly competitive international field—including applicants from Juilliard and the Rhodes Scholarship program—the work was premiered and toured by the Anima Vox duo.​

 

Closing the program was Elyse Hart‘s Poems of Mirabai, full of both passionate and lighthearted imagery. Coelho brought visions of nature to life in the song “Clouds” with a joyful, flowing flute melody, and Ott Coelho transported emotion through the recitative-style text in “Mira is Steadfast.”

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— Cultural Voice of North Carolina (CVNC)

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SELECTED PERFORMANCES

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• UNCG Auditorium: Premiered by Anima Vox, 2021

• University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA): Featured performance by Anima Vox, 2021.

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ABOUT THE PERFORMERS

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The work was brought to life by Anima Vox, featuring:
 

• Dr. Carole Ott Coelho: GRAMMY-winning soprano and Director of Choral Activities at UNCG.

• Dr. Tadeu Coelho: Renowned flutist and Professor of Flute at UNCG.

MOVEMENTS

1. Unbreakable

2. Clouds

3. The Rainy Season

4. Mira is Steadfast

5. A Limb Just Moved​