Cantus’s new album new album examines stories of forbidden love discovered in passionate letters spanning millennia. Music by composers including Abbie Betinis, Mohammed Fairouz, Leoš Janáček, Libby Larsen, Francis Poulenc, Steven Sametz, Mari Esabel Valverde, and Consuelito Velázquez woven together with excerpts from letters by Marcus Aurelius, Oscar Wilde, Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, and others whose stories bear witness and celebrate queer love that has always existed. “This program aims to shed light on the resilience and courage of those who dared to love boldly, despite the risks and obstacles they faced,” says Cantus baritone Rod Kelly Hines. “From Canto a Eleggua by the Afro-Cuban group Sexto Sentido that we’ve included because of its themes of unity and social justice, to Saunder Choi’s new work Light Years to Lebanon that tells the story of lovers forcefully separated by war and exile, The Secret Letter celebrates the indomitable spirit and timeless allure of love.”