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On The Tower and the Garden, the multi-GRAMMY winning choir The Crossing and conductor Donald Nally ponder the fragility of the earth, the awe of nature, and the power of language to unite, or divide, society. True to their mission as a collaborative ensemble, The Crossing commissioned Gregory Spears, Joel Puckett, and Toivo Tulev for this widely varied collection that draws on words and poetry of Keith Garebian, Denise Levertov, Thomas Merton, the Botswanan shaman Kxao =Oah, and Walt Whitman. The results: in Tulev’s hands, a churning, haunting rumination on death; in Spears’, a sometimes hymnlike, at other exuberant study on the collision of religion, technology, and conservation; and in Puckett’s, a mesmerizing mediation on transformation and the coming together of body and spirit into oneness. The Crossing has firmly established itself as a fixture of the choral and new-music worlds, holding a unique position at the intersection, indeed apex, of both, with recordings that have garnered two GRAMMY Awards and six additional nominations, collaborations with the major orchestras and museums of the United States, and sold-out performances in Europe. The artful dedication and sheer emotional power behind their performances place them at the forefront of the genre, and draws a seemingly bottomless interest from collaborators and listeners alike.