About the Work

The idea of Through the Door emerged from a mother’s personal nightmare. Vox Grata Founder and Artistic Director Jeanette MacCallum was living that nightmare and searching for a way to cope with the agony of her daughter’s addiction. “Because my impulse is to lean on the collective power of choral singing for solace and comfort, I found myself looking for a way to sing about this very particular pain. I couldn’t find a choral work on the subject and decided to commission one.”

On Jeanette’s recommendation, the Vox Grata Board of Directors commissioned Linda Tutas Haugen for this groundbreaking composition. Vox Grata was already well acquainted with Haugen’s style, having twice performed her powerful work, Anne Frank, A Living Voice. Haugen’s most successful works address deeply emotional subjects. Her use of delicate prosaic texts requires a depth and nuance of the highest caliber. Her Transformations of Darkness and Light portrays the experience of organ donation and transplantation with accuracy and sensitivity. Through the Door rejects the casting aside of persons with substance use disorder as “the others,” when they in fact surround us all.

Key to the success of this project was the selection of poetry and prose on the subject. Haugen and MacCallum spent several years collecting text, carefully considering how each might contribute to the goals of the composition. Of particular interest were texts born out of a mother’s lived experience. Given that Through the Door is scored for treble voices, it seemed particularly important that the piece gives voice to a mother’s perspective.

The end result is a multi-movement composition of approximately 45 minutes for treble voices and mezzo-soprano soloist, accompanied by a small orchestra. The world premiere will take place on Friday, May 21, 2027, at 7:30 PM at Belmont University’s McAfee Concert Hall.

Choral works of this depth and magnitude can galvanize a choir, even a whole community. In this way, the choir possesses a shared purpose – to confront this epidemic honestly, with the utmost sensitivity, transforming hearts and minds.

This project is made possible, in part, by support from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Tennessee Arts Commission, Metro Arts Nashville and AJ Advisors.