"The system is rigid, strict and hopeless... immeasurably worse than any body torture." These were the words of Charles Dickens, after a nineteenth century visit to Philadelphia's Eastern State Penitentiary. Then, as now, the dark, looming castle-like edifice was a tourist attraction, although these days the prisoners have long gone, at least in corporeal form. In addition to hugely popular tours and Halloween parties, ESP has also hosted cultural events. The latest such event is a musical one, with the scrappy and innovative Chamber Music Now! ensemble settling into cellblock Number 7.

When the group approached ESP program director Sean Kelly about the concert, he readily agreed, but asked that the music be related to the prison in some way. Four vocal works were commissioned, each with a unique perspective of the world of the ESP inmate. The Dickens quote was the inspiration for the work of Richard Brodhead. He concerns himself with the effect of solitary isolation, which was the normal condition for all inmates at the prison. As he puts it, the music attempts to "evoke the ominous forces and pervasive fear prisoners must have felt, isolated in a world of stone."

Philip Maneval takes off from the religious component of ESP rehabilitation. The Bible was the only book allowed in the cells, and Maneval has set four psalms to music that explore the emotional states of the prisoners. The evocative title for the set is "In my thoughts a fire burned," a biblical quote.

Inmate Number 100 was a woman named Ann Hinson, in for manslaughter. There are, according to composer Richard Belcastro, many interesting aspects to her story, including the fact she was one of the few prisoners who did not spend all of her time in solitary confinement. Her release was contingent on paying a fee to the warden, but since she was destitute and without family, she could not do so. The catch 22 is older than you think. It took a pardon from the governor to gain her freedom. Belcastro's music is designed to let Hinson tell her own story.

Of course, a place with the sordid and fascinating history of ESP should be filled with ghosts. This is the conceit of David Laganella, who imagines "the idea of a deceased inmate walking the prison corridors for eternity. The soprano in the work will be playing the role of various apparitions dealing with the hardships of being trapped at the prison. There is no text, the voice will utter syllables and sing in a vocalise style."

All four pieces will be sung by the excellent soprano Rachael Garcia, a Chamber Music Now! regular. The venue within the prison was carefully chosen, as the acoustics in the space can be problematic. Belcastro actually sampled spaces with a clarinetist, going from one section to another and listening, before settling on Cell Block 7, one of the double level wings, which, says Belcastro, has the acoustics of an old stone church. The specific denomination, however, will have to be determined by the listener.