The New Colossus

Written for conductor Judith Clurman, David Ludwig sets the poem found on The Statue of Liberty in a moving and passionate style. The sentiment of “welcome” that poet Lazarus – herself an immigrant – conveys is sensitive and at the same time powerful and David has skillfully captured this emotion. Beginning in a somber, chant-like unison, it opens to harmony at the most famous line “I lift my lamp, beside the Golden Door” repeating this line in a crescendo to the end. It was performed at the 2013 Inauguration Prayer Service at St. John's Church in Washington, D.C.