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I have always been a fan of the "let's try it in a new and different way" philosophy. I love "new wine in old wine skins" as much as I love "old wine in new wine skins." And I love David Duvall’s contemporary settings of Shakespeare Sonnets. Old genius can exist on its own. There is no need to redo Shakespeare. However, like many pieces of genius, a wider audience is secured by packaging it in new and fresh forms. That's what he has done with his settings of the Sonnets. I hear them differently in his music, and for that fact alone, his efforts are to be applauded.

The educational potential for Duvall’s works are enormous. I can picture, for example, a high school literature teacher playing those songs to a class so that the Sonnets come to life in the performed word just as Shakespeare's plays come to life when they are acted out.

As a 62 year old professional singer/composer/teacher/writer, I am especially moved by his settings of Sonnets for older people. "This Thou Perceiv'st," "By Lies We Flattered Be," and "Where All Thy Beauty Lies," all speak to me in my autumn years. I do want to sing them!