SSATB unaccompanied (c. 4:00)

This piece was selected as the winner of the 2025 Cambridge Chamber Singers International Composition Competition.

Quis amat valeat includes excerpted texts sourced from Ancient Pompeiian graffiti and the Roman poet, Virgil. Both texts speak to the importance of love in its various iterations and caution against those who oppose it. A playful yet alluring melody represents the whimsy of newfound love, a whirling and unsettled aleatoric section warns us of those who stand against it, and a triumphant musical arrival on the text “Omnia vincit amor” (Love conquers all) reminds us that love always wins in the end. These texts are a testament to the fact that good people of all times and in all places have understood that LOVE is LOVE - it takes many forms and means something different to each one of us.

“When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace.” - Jimi Hendrix