Mark Sirett, director of Cantabile Women's Chorus, (Kingston, ON) asked me to compose a new work in Spanish for a 2011 program, "Paths of Miracles." This special concert was an exploration of sacred and secular music of Spain tracing a path along El Camino de Santiago—the Way of St. James, a pilgrim route still traveled by hundreds of thousands each year. I researched camino history, read pilgrim blogs, and created a text using words of the Buddha, Teresa of Avila, and the traditional Pilgrim greeting: "Ultreia! Suseia!" (upward and onward)

The steady footfalls of the camino pilgrim are to be heard in the drum part of "Despertar al Amor." The melody climbs through ascending tonal centers while the tempo never wavers.