LEAH ABRAMSON

SSAA – a cappella – CP 1662 – – 2:35
SATB – a cappella – CP 1688 – – 2:35
Unusual, evocative, innocent, and delightful – these are words people have used to describe this fetching composition. Singers and listeners will enjoy the multiple layers Leah adds over a simple ostinato – which can be played on piano, organ or even xylophone/Orff instruments. Leah’s relatable message is that it’s easy to become stuck in patterns, and that we must do our best to “liftoff” and free ourselves from what weighs us down.

arr. Leah Abramson

SSAA with piano – CP 2120 – duration 3:35
SATB with piano – CP 2121

Blood Red Roses by Leah Abramson is a rewrite of a traditional whaling song with a twist: this version is from the perspective of the whales. Though the original refrain remains, its newly written verses hear a family of whales singing back to the industrial society that nearly hunted them into extinction for their oil and baleen. Abramson’s heartrending chord progression takes Blood Red Roses from traditional folk song to new environmental anthem for the 21st Century.

Blood Red Roses is also part of Songs For a Lost Pod, a multi-disciplinary show by Leah Abramson that combines scientific research, orca vocalizations turned into beats, and the impacts of intergenerational trauma on families. Told from the perspective of various whale species, as well as their human counterparts, Songs For a Lost Pod uses music, storytelling, and shadow puppetry to juxtapose cetacean histories with one family’s experience of surviving the Holocaust.

More about Songs For a Lost Pod – click here

Press for Songs For a Lost Pod

Create a Stir: Articles on “Song for a Lost Pod”

Georgia Straight: Singer-Songwriter, Leah Abramson reconnects with her tragic family roots via “Song for a Lost Pod”

Vancouver Sun: Family trauma surfaces in Leah Abramson’s “Songs for a Lost Pod”

Asparagus Magazine: Leah Abramson explores grief about climate crisis in performance, built around orca song

Radio interview on CBC Radio

by Leah Abramson

SSAA a cappella – CP 2467 – duration 3:25
SATB a cappella – CP 2465

“Skana, Swim By Me” is a small glimpse into the story of Skana, the first orca kept in captivity at the Vancouver Aquarium in 1967. Skana — whose name refers to “Skaana,” the Haida word for orca — was a member of the endangered Southern Resident orca population (K pod) of the Pacific Northwest. Shortly after arriving at the Vancouver aquarium, Skana exhibited signs of depression, and so she was given a companion in her tank — a small pacific white-sided dolphin. “Skana, Swim By Me” explores the friendship between Skana and her dolphin friend, from the point of view of both animals. The lyric lines are simple — an invitation to swim beside another — turning fear into a bonded friendship, despite differences in size and species. By the end of the song, the friends are pretending to be back in the ocean, swimming freely, and ignoring their tank and crowd of onlookers. “Skana, Swim by Me” is also part of Songs For a Lost Pod, a multi-disciplinary show by Leah Abramson that combines scientific research, orca vocalizations turned into beats, and the impacts of intergenerational trauma on families.

Winner of the inaugural biennial VIVA National Choral Competition, 2024. Leah’s piece was selected from entries across Canada by a panel of expert judges including Lydia Adams (CM – Elmer Iseler Singers), Darryl Edwards (University of Toronto, COSA), Jamie Hillman (University of Toronto), Tyler Versluis (VIVA, Canadian League of Composers), and our Founding AD Carol Ratzlaff. The process included a special reading session with the composers and VIVA’s Chamber Singers at the Canadian Music Centre. 

Swift swimmer come swim by me
Swift swimmer come swim by me
Small pool, no vacancy
Low tide, long in the teeth