“The Lady of the Broom” (La Dama de la Escoba) is a setting of the poetry of Jennifer Clement for soprano, flute/alto flute, viola and cello. “The Lady of the Broom” is a collection of 48 poems, of which eleven have been chosen for this musical setting. Clement is an internationally recognized poet who has received the “Sistema Nacional de Creadores” and the Canongate Prize for New Writing. “The Lady of the Broom” is based on the following excerpt from James Boswell’s The Life of Samuel Johnson.

“There is a circumstance in his life somewhat romantik... A young woman conceived a violent passion for him; and though it met with no favorable return, followed him to Litchfield, where she took lodgings opposite to the house in which he lived, and indulged in her hopeless flame. When he was informed that it so preyed upon her mind that her life was in danger, he with a generous humanity offered to marry her, but it was then too late...and she exhibited one of the rare instances of dying for love.”

The American Composers Alliance Festival premieres this work on tonight's concert. Subsequent performances are in San Miguel and Mexico City.