Emerson Eads’ cantata, “…from which your laughter rises.” has just been named a national semi-finalist in The American Prize in Composition – choral music (professional division), 2023. A companion to his Mass for the Oppressed, this cantata, inspired by Kahil Gibran’s poem “On Joy and Sorrow”, was written for the mothers of the Fairbanks Four– four Alaskan native men who spent 18 years in prison for a murder they did not commit. “…from which your laughter rises.” is a 20-minute cantata for mezzo-soprano, oboe, mixed choir, and orchestra, with text from the bible and poetry by the composer’s brother, Evan Eads. The recording was released in the Fall of 2022 on the one-year anniversary of the sudden deaths of his conducting mentor, Carmen-Helena Téllez, and friend, oboist and producer, Thomas Moore.