Alchemy, commissioned by Indianola Presbyterian Church, Christopher Dent, Director of Music, to celebrate the generations of children’s music ministry leadership of Carol Winans, Sharon Renkes, and Mary Rebekah Fortman, sets the powerful poem by Libby Weber. The poem and piece are inspired by a real-life charity called Swords to Plowshares (Northeast USA), which collects firearms from the community, melts them into gardening tools, distributes the tools to community gardens, harvests the food grown, and then donates the food to local food banks. This piece features a repeating refrain that traces each step of the alchemical cycle that transforms guns into sustenance. This poem form is called a circular, in which the last item of each stanza becomes the first item of the next stanza, similar to the famous “Where Have All the Flowers Gone” by Peter, Paul, and Mary.

Visit https://www.s2pnortheast.org/ to find out more about the Swords to Plowshares charity, research ways to get involved, and/or make a donation.

This piece is suitable for any Mixed-Voice ensemble and would fit well in any concert about action-based love.