Bad At Newsletters
Kurt Erickson’s Composer Newsletter
July 2026 Edition
Summer = Time
With summer comes time to think, space to breath, and for those of us in the arts, the opportunity to wholeheartedly lose ourselves in our craft.
Teaching is wonderful but by definition it’s an outwardly directed endeavor where you spend the bulk of your time focused on the progress of others. It’s deeply meaningful but it stifles inquiry.
Summer, particularly these languid mid-July days and nights in Northern California, invites renewal.
Which leads me to this newsletter.
In this issue:
1. Turning An Art Song Collaboration Into A Veteran Outreach
2. Composer Showcase Concerts (US, Australia)
3. Here, Bullet And Some Additional Scores For Your Consideration
Here, Bullet leads to FINDING VOICE & VISION
From Poem to Art Song to Short Film to Veteran Art Therapy Program
The most unlikeliest of beginnings.
Composer Kurt Erickson, poet/Iraq War Veteran Brian Turner, actor/director Will Chase
Some 10 years ago, I had the harebrained idea to create a commissioning consortium for myself out of thin air, setting the poetic firsthand impressions of the Iraq War into a 16-minute song set for voice and piano. It could have been a catastrophe and it probably should have been a catastrophe - it premiered during Covid after all.
It started simply enough, with my wife (soprano/voice scientist Heidi Moss Erickson) hearing poet/Iraq War veteran Brian Turner interviewed by Terry Gross on NPR’s Fresh Air during her afternoon commute. Upon arriving home later that night she excitedly told me: “I’m buying you this book and you’re setting it to music!!”
A lot has happened since then.
Brian Turner and I (a kindred spirit, he’s like a brother) started off on a collaborative path, expanding our work with the song set and starting new projects with Syracuse University and friends in Lockerbie, Scotland (subject for a separate newsletter). Along the way we were joined by Tony-nominated actor/director Will Chase (also like a brother) who reached out with the equally harebrained idea to turn Here, Bullet into a short film.
Considering the heaviness of the subject matter we engage with, we’re all embarrassingly close and playful in our interactions. Brian and Will are both amazing artists - there’s not much I wouldn’t do for either of them.
So now this poem written on a battlefield in the Middle East is turned into a song set, which then starts the transformation into a short film, which then transforms into something none of us anticipated: an arts team helping veterans battle PTSD and trauma.
To be fair, Brian Turner had been leading expressive writing workshops with veterans for years, even helping former NEA Chair Dana Gioia create a program to serve as a nationwide template. I have my own dog in the fight courtesy of catastrophic personal loss (a story for another day), so moving in this direction just kind of made sense based on our skill sets and shared interests.
Funding support from the California Arts Council in the Fall of 2025 helped start a partnership with the San Francisco VA Medical Center. We needed a new name - Finding Voice & Vision was born to represent the therapeutic outreach component of what we do.
Here’s how the sessions worked: on Fridays I’d drive in to San Francisco, prep for the session, check in with Program Director Dan Evenhouse, meet with veteran participants for our hour-and-a-half workshop, debrief with our team after the session, then grab a bite to eat while waiting for the evening commute to die down.
The Team provided weekly creative prompts, advice, support, and camaraderie. Everyone got an opportunity to contribute - it was all very democratic. At the end of the three month session, we hosted a public presentation of veteran works at the San Francisco Veteran Building. The event was live-streamed and some participants flew in with their families from across the country - it was a celebration and it was very meaningful.
I wish I could articulate how personally moving these workshops were to me. Each session was a deeply, deeply moving experience that left me in a daze. It was connection, it was catharsis - like I’d tapped into something that was bigger than myself.
Dreamlike, transcendent even.
It felt like a calling, and it still does.
“There are so many non-profit groups working in the veterans space, many of which seem more exploitive than impactful. In the aftermath of the post 9/11 wars, veteran focused non profits seemed to morph into commercial opportunities for nonprofit directors, rather than real and helpful programs for veterans. Finding Voice and Vision is NOT like those “paper tiger” organizations. They mean what they say and offer the “come as you are” approach, which really encourages veterans to come forward with their struggles and the art they can draw from them.”
—San Francisco VA Medical Center Participant
Should I tell you about my buddy Moe, an 80-something year old Vietnam War Vet now residing in Connecticut, battling multiple cancers fighting off the scourge of Agent Orange after all these years, yet still finding time to tell his story through poetry, songwriting, and puppetry? Or how about Gil, another Vietnam War Vet - wheelchair bound, living in San Francisco with family, and just the biggest sweetheart of a guy you could imagine as he wrote and shared the most glowing, optimistic poems about his life and wife? Or Aaron, the young go-getter retired Marine working on an MFA all while hustling his first book, a work of historical fiction based on minor characters from the Civil War?
We all know from experience that making art “feels good”, but decades of research proves that art making practice helps the brain process trauma and difficult experiences.
We’ll be starting again in the Fall, can’t wait to share more details soon.
COMPOSER SHOWCASE CONCERTS
How often does a composer get a chance to experience an entire concert dedicated to their music?
Not young, but I don’t feel old. In my world concerts dedicated to the works of a single composer usually present themselves post-mortem or at the very least when you find yourself deep, deep into an AARP membership.
Last season took me to Chicago; Hartford (Connecticut); even Melbourne, Australia for evening length concerts showcasing my vocal works. (I’ve had the good fortune to hold a 12 year composer residency with the art song organization Lieder Alive! in San Francisco – that coupled with marrying a working soprano puts you in a pretty good space to hone your craft.)
Soprano Lisbeth Miller, Cincinnati Song Initiative Founder Sam Martin, and composer Kurt Erickson
Heidi and I started things off in February with a weeklong residency at Northwestern University, braving winter in The Windy City as we gave a lecture/recital of my works bookended with Strauss and a couple of show stoppers from the standard repertoire. Shout out to the wonderful Stephen Smith and Carol for hosting us in Evansville.
Hartt School of Music and the Cincinnati Song Initiative was next up in April 2025 with a lecture/recital of my music by performers from Connecticut, New York, and Philadelphia. Shout out to Sam Martin and the incredible performers from the Hartt School of Music, including Blythe Gaissert Levitt and Rachael Kobernick who were flown in for the event.
Australia was next - Heidi gave a keynote talk at the Australian National Association of Teachers Conference and the two of us gave a lecture/recital on our Wedding Anniversary (July 4th, a not-so-subtle inside joke between us). Shout out to Linda Barcan for hosting and introducing us to the exquisite city of Melbourne and all it has to offer.
Kurt & Heidi performing July 4, 2025 at the Melbourne Conservatory of Music