PROGRAMME NOTE

"Oh Me! Oh Life!" was commissioned by Auckland Youth Choir under the directorship of David Squire as a part of their 2024 Development and Mentoring Project. Thank you to David Squire, Sam Nicholson, Claire Caldwell, and the full Auckland Youth Choir team for their support and mentorship. Thank you to Creative New Zealand for your support.

This piece is a celebration of life. Life is complicated, full of both internal and external conflict, and can be difficult. However, it is beautiful because of both the good and the bad. The piece asks what good one person is amidst the wide range of human emotions and experiences, and argues that the answer is simply that one is here and that life itself exists. The core of humanity is the connections that we have with others. Our vulnerability is what allows us to experience life fully, but that requires us to experience both the good and the bad. "Oh Me! Oh Life!" celebrates all aspects of life, and asks the listener to acknowledge that they do not have to be anything to be worthy of experiencing life. You are here, life exists, and that is enough.

The text for this piece comes from the poem "O Me! O Life!" by Walt Whitman. This text is in the public domain and has been accessed through Poetry Foundation.