Uploaded June 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
In its sixth year, Cincinnati Song Initiative proudly presents the world premieres by the participants of the 2025-2026 National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) Composer Mentorship Program.
Lauren Biggs — Las Antiguas Arañas
Randell McGee (baritone), Sasha Rasmussen (piano)
“Las Antiguas Arañas” (“The Ancient Spiders”) is an art song based on Juan Ramón Jiménez’s poem “La soledad sonora, XI,” a reflection on memory, time, and the persistence of nature in the presence of human grief and suffering. The poem’s opening image of ancient spiders trembling over withered flowers implies a fragility that endures even as life decays.
This art song, for baritone and piano, sets the poem’s first three, image-rich stanzas, shaping their dreamlike and trembling qualities through fluid melodic writing. A companion choral work will set the final stanza, completing the set and allowing the poem’s closing reflection to unfold collectively — similar to “With Drooping Wings” from Purcell’s opera, Dido and Aeneas.
This piece was written for the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) 2025-26 Composer Mentorship Program. It will be premiered at “Let It Be New”, presented by the Cincinnati Song Initiative, on July 28th.
♬♩♪♩
BUY MY MUSIC: laurenbiggsmusic.com
MY LINKS: solo.to/laureliamadeus
BUY ME A COFFEE:
ko-fi.com/laureliamadeus
♬♩♪♩
In its sixth year, Cincinnati Song Initiative proudly presents the world premieres by the participants of the 2025-2026 National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) Composer Mentorship Program.
Lauren Biggs — Las Antiguas Arañas
Randell McGee (baritone), Sasha Rasmussen (piano)
“Las Antiguas Arañas” (“The Ancient Spiders”) is an art song based on Juan Ramón Jiménez’s poem “La soledad sonora, XI,” a reflection on memory, time, and the persistence of nature in the presence of human grief and suffering. The poem’s opening image of ancient spiders trembling over withered flowers implies a fragility that endures even as life decays.
This art song, for baritone and piano, sets the poem’s first three, image-rich stanzas, shaping their dreamlike and trembling qualities through fluid melodic writing. A companion choral work will set the final stanza, completing the set and allowing the poem’s closing reflection to unfold collectively — similar to “With Drooping Wings” from Purcell’s opera, Dido and Aeneas.
This piece was written for the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) 2025-26 Composer Mentorship Program. It will be premiered at “Let It Be New”, presented by the Cincinnati Song Initiative, on July 28th.
♬♩♪♩
BUY MY MUSIC: laurenbiggsmusic.com
MY LINKS: solo.to/laureliamadeus
BUY ME A COFFEE:
ko-fi.com/laureliamadeus
♬♩♪♩
