Premiere 2007: "Some Things I Love"
For Male and Female Soloists, Chorus and String Orchestra
Based on poems of The Thirty-Ninth President of the United States and Nobel Laureate,
Jimmy Carter: Always A Reckoning and Other Poems
Times Books, New York ISBN 0-8129-2434-7
Copyright 1995 Random House

This is music inspired by seven poems of Jimmy Carter. The performing forces are new-Handelian, chosen precisely for the unity and variety that voices and strings offer. President Carter's poems provide further unique views this remarkable man and his rich life experience have offered us. From a purely lovely tribute to his wife, Rosalynn, to the knowledge acquired long ago that everything in life must be in balance - in art, in politics, in friendship, in considering what has been created and why - President Carter's work glows with intense and passionate caring. His poems speak to me as has his lifetime of service to his fellow human beings throughout the world. This inspires, brings extraordinary hope, and sets the bar higher for all of us who contemplate the stewardship and responsibilities the gift of life presents.


Ania's Song: A Pavane for String Orchestra
Premieres November 15, 2006
Kenneth Kiesler, Conductor
Michigan Chamber Orchestra
Hill Auditorium, Ann Arbor Michigan


Aikman Music LLC is created: Summer, 2006