My friends and I often despair about the “stuff” that crowds our closets, bookcases, file cabinets and storage units. We dread the thought of going through it, making decisions about what to keep and what to toss. But occasionally we come across a forgotten gem that makes the effort more than worthwhile. That happened to me a few months back when I rediscovered a poem written some years ago by my daughter, Theresa Squires Collins. “Her Memory Is Liquid” is a loving reflection on my mother’s passage through dementia. When I came upon it earlier this year I wanted to share it with a larger audience, especially with friends and family members who are traveling what some of us call the “dementia highway.” I decided that the best way to share the poem was through music. I am pleased to announce that “Her Memory Is Liquid” will be presented in concert on Tuesday, July 15, by the Wurtz-Berger duo. Yes, that’s Amy Wurtz—pianist, conductor and composer who has been with the Sounds Good and Good Memories choirs since our first season. She has written a piece for piano and cello that evokes the images captured in Theresa’s poem. The July 15 concert takes place at 7:30 p.m. at Experimental Sound Studio in Chicago. It will also be live-streamed (details below). I’m delighted to have fostered this creative partnership. Here’s how it came about.
The Poet
As an undergraduate at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, Theresa—who is named for my mother—had the good fortune to spend occasional weekends with her grandparents, who lived in a small town about 70 miles north of Oxford. Those years,1988–1992, coincided with Mom exhibiting signs of memory loss.
Theresa Squires Collins: “During my visits Grandma and I would often sit on the couch looking at an album of black-and-white photos from the days before digital photography, when you had to get pictures developed. The memory of looking at those photos, combined with a poem by Nikki Finney in which she writes that the body does remember, inspired this poem. I was thinking about the way that memory emerges in phases, kind of like a photograph coming up out of the fixing liquid. Memory can be like a flood or fog, or little drips and drops. I like to think that, as we looked at that album, my grandmother’s memory continued to ‘rise like a photograph from its dark liquid,’ as I wrote in the poem.”
The poet, Theresa Squires Collins, holding out her infant daughter, Maeve, to her grandmother and Maeve’s great-grandmother, Theresa Goettemoeller Gagel.
The Composer
Amy Wurtz: “The idea of writing a piece based on Theresa’s poem about her grandmother ties together so many aspects of my life, so it was a perfect commission for me. Being also a mother and daughter, having many people experiencing memory loss in my own life, having already musically explored the mother-daughter relationships in my 2024 Sonata for Piano, and having worked with the Good Memories Choir since it began, the concept drew me in from the beginning. Theresa’s poem is evocative, describing memory as a liquid state, from bubbles to droplets, to a fixing solution, to a ‘searing stream.’ These images speak to me, or should I say they sing to me. The music, for cello and piano, attempts to embody this and the larger concepts of memory, care, love, anger, death and relationships addressed in the poem. It has been an honor, a pleasure and an enormous undertaking to write this piece and I am excited to premiere it with my duo partner, Alyson Berger.”
Amy Wurtz (right), a Chicago-based composer, pianist, and teacher who is a Sounds Good Choir conductor and accompanist, composed a piece for piano and cello that evokes the images captured in Theresa’s poem. She and her duo partner, Alyson Berger (left), will perform it for the first time on July 15 at 7:30 p.m. at Experimental Sound Studio in Chicago. The concert will also be livestreamed.
The Commissioner
Helen Gagel: Having never before commissioned a piece of music, this was new territory for me. It has been a delightful and heartwarming experience. To date, about 30 family members and friends (including several Sounds Good and Good Memories singers) have contributed to the commission. I am thrilled to support the artistry of Amy and Theresa while also raising awareness of what music can mean to people with dementia and their families. Even after my mother had lost her ability to speak, she always responded to music. When I’m singing with the Good Memories Choir, I often say to myself, “Mom would love this!”
I can’t wait to hear Amy’s musical interpretation of Theresa’s poem. Here’s how you can join the audience:
Wurtz-Berger Duo: New Memories, Lost Memories
July 15, 2025 – 7:30 pm at Experimental Sound Studios, 5925 N. Ravenswood, Chicago
The concert will be streamed live via: https://www.newmusicchicago.org/new-music-chicago-presents/
Absolutely stunning. I have read and re-read this moving piece, Helen. Thank you so much for sharing.