Nay's News July 2025
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Summer is in full swing and I am savoring the long days. Every morning, as soon as I wake up, I’m out on my porch with coffee and my face in the bright morning light. Most evenings, I’m there again as the sky glows with sunset colors and gradually gets dark. I hope you are well and finding ways to enjoy the season. Some fun things to share with you...
New songs to stream TODAY, July 11, 2025:
“Mount Hood Sunset” by Lucente Skye (my artist profile for solo piano) - the 10th song release of Oregon Landscapes. Accompanied with beautiful artwork by Lindsay Gilmore, this song floats gently between surprising key changes and major/minor shifts. Much like the shifting play of colors on a mountain during a sunset. Check out this Patreon post to listen and download a high-resolution wav file of the track.
“Mount Hood Sunrise” - painted by Lindsay Gilmore
“can i?” by Lucia LaViolette (my daughter!). This is Luci's second single from her debut record, which I am helping her to produce. She is an old soul, with songs from an already deep wellspring of creativity and emotion. She did all the vocals and the main guitar part. Much thanks to Tim Karplus for engineering, Ji Tanzer for playing drums, and Jeanot Lewis-Rolland for mixing and mastering.
“can i?” song artwork (photo by Luci)
Publishing News!
I’m so happy to share that my choral piece Racing the Moon will be published by Graphite Publishing in January 2026, as part of the Compose Like a Girl series created by Jocelyn Hagen.
This setting—available for SATB, SSA, and SAB with piano—features text adapted from My Honest Poem by Lucia LaViolette, whose words inspired the heart of this piece. The work is especially suited for high school and collegiate choirs, with the SAB version designed with middle school singers in mind.
I'm incredibly grateful to Jocelyn Hagen and the Graphite team for their support and belief in this piece. I’m excited to see how many more choirs might discover Racing the Moon once it joins the Graphite catalog next year.
Repertoire Spotlight
Wait, what? Thinking about Christmas music in July? If you're a choral director, you’re probably right there with me.
Years before my choral piece Noel was published by Santa Barbara Music Publishing, it began as an arrangement I performed and recorded as a soloist, with violin, piano, and choir:
Interested in commissioning a new piece or new arrangement? I'd love to hear from you... let's collaborate!
Recent Highlights
I had a great time at the Chorus America Conference in St. Louis last month! I met so many wonderful folks from community and professional choruses, made meaningful connections, and gathered lots of new ideas. I also had the chance to host my own composer table, which sparked some great conversations. I’m so grateful for the choral community!
And what’s a conference without a little sightseeing fun? I joined my pals from the Oregon Repertory Singers staff to check out the Gateway Arch and catch a Cardinals game - we even saw Shohei Ohtani at bat, since they were playing the Dodgers!
Upcoming Shows
July 31, 2025 - August 31, 2025
The Cider Janes
My just-for-fun harmony-singing trio is touring Oregon this summer in celebration of our album release, Happy Enough. Join us in a town near you for some friendship, fun and songs.
September 25, 2025 - SAVE THE DATE
Song Suffragettes PNW
A celebration of women singer-songwriters on National Daughter’s Day.
McMenamin’s Kennedy School in Portland, OR
Thank you for your interest and support in my musical work! May we take good care of ourselves and each other and celebrate moments of joy large and small.
Wishing you a July full of sunshine and music!
Warmly,
Naomi (Nay)
P.S. Trees, waterfalls and wildlife… I’m all about the hikes these days. Nature walking always feeds my creativity! Since I’m not posting on social media right now, I’ve started a little “secret” blog on my website called “50 hikes” to share directly with folks who might be interested in following along—or who are just looking for new hike ideas themselves!
