David Maslanka was born in New Bedford, Massachusetts and attended Oberlin where he studied with Joseph Wood. He spent a year at the Mozarteum in Salzburg and did graduate work in composition with H. Owen Reed at Michigan State University. He has served on the faculties of various universities and colleges and presently resides in Missoula, Montana. He writes: "Song Book is a set of pieces that are song-like - that is, intimate and expressive, though not necessarily quiet. The solo flute feels like a voice to me, a voice which has a complex story to tell, in the form of musical dreams. The 371 Four-Part Chorales by Bach have been a long-time focal point for my study and meditation. These chorales are the models for melodic and harmonic movement used by every beginning music theory student. I had my first encounter with them as a college freshman in 1961. Ten years ago I returned to singing and playing them as a daily warm-up for my composing. I have come to experience the chorales as touchstones for dream space. I have used many of them as the jumping off point for my own compositions. The feeling is one of opening an unmarked door and being suddenly thrust into a different world. The chorales are the doors." Daron Hagen was born in Milwaukee and studied at the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music. He continued his studies at the University of Wisconsin, the Curtis Institute of Music, and the Juilliard School, working with teachers as diverse as Ned Rorem, Joseph Schwantner, David Diamond and Witold Lutoslawski. Mr. Hagen writes: "Excited by the technical challenges that making winds and voices work well together posed, I discussed with conductor Michael Haithcock the possibility of adding to the repertoire for voice and wind ensemble. The result was The Heart of the Stranger, a song cycle for baritone voice and orchestral winds, which was first performed September 20, 1999 at Baylor University by the Baylor Wind Ensemble, Paul Kreider, baritone soloist under the direction of Michael Haithcock."