THE WORLD WILL OPEN

A SONG CYCLE FOR SOPRANO AND ORCHESTRA

Music by Sam Lipman · Texts by Carrie Fountain
Approx 25–30 minutes · Written for Soprano Hila Plitmann

All videos courtesy of Cradled By Grace the Documentary – PBS

Three songs.
A mother decorating a tree while her child sleeps.
A plea to be known.
A meditation on what hands can hold—and what they can’t.

The music is intimate, volatile, reverent.
It stretches between silence and eruption, restraint and exposure.
The text, by poet Carrie Fountain, speaks plainly—without ornament or explanation.
Together, voice and orchestra shape a sound-world that listens more than it insists.

The Songs

1. The End
A mother decorates a Christmas tree. Her baby sleeps beneath a sheet of white noise.
As Christ’s mouth searches for the nipple, the sacred and the domestic collapse into one.
The mother’s body becomes a site of miracle, burden, and time.

2. Try Me
A voice pleads: see me, try me, touch me, prove I exist.
Both raw and expansive, this movement hovers on the edge of rupture—
music pushed to its emotional limits without losing its poise.

3. The Hands
Hands that touch, feed, carry, erase.
This final song lives in aftermath: quiet, haunted, and tender.
A meditation on human agency—its weight, its beauty, its danger.

Read full poems as PDF

Contact / Commissioning Info

To program or support this cycle's completion, contact:

Owen Summers at Summers Artist Services:
owen@summersartistservices.com

Materials and score available upon request

About the Artists

Hila Plitmann
Soprano: Hila Plitmann
Grammy-winning soprano known for her crystalline tone and emotional fearlessness, Hila Plitmann brings rare intimacy and depth to The World Will Open.
Librettist: Carrie Fountain
Former Texas Poet Laureate, Carrie Fountain's poems blend clarity and tenderness. Her words in this cycle are quiet invitations—honest and resonant.
Carrie Fountain
Sam Lipman
Composer: Sam Lipman
Sam Lipman’s music is shaped by memory, stillness, and emotional clarity. Known for expressive restraint, his work resonates across tradition and innovation.