Black Wolf: A Passion Cantata Wins Honorable Mention American Prize for Large Choral Works 2026
September 6, 2026
Black Wolf: A Passion Cantata, by Emerson Eads with a libretto by David Hunsaker, was named a Finalist and Honorable Mention in The American Prize for Large Choral Works (2026).
Commissioned by William Todd Hunt and The Orpheus Project, Black Wolf was premiered in Juneau, Alaska, in 2021. The performance featured Vox Borealis and the Amalga Chamber Orchestra, conducted by William Todd Hunt, with Sara Radke Brown serving as Chorus Master and librettist David Hunsaker as narrator.
Set against the landscape of Southeast Alaska, Black Wolf explores suffering, injustice, and human dignity through the dramatic framework of the Passion tradition. At its heart is a meditation on the fragile relationship between human development and the natural world, asking whether people and the wild can learn to inhabit the same landscape—not as opposing forces, but as neighbors seeking a way to coexist.
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