Happy New Year!

(photo: normal happy newt, not newtus gingrichus)

Happy New Year to all!

Here is what is going on in my little corner of the music world:

Since I last wrote you in June 2011 I have had some great experiences and met so many wonderful people. Here's a quick recap (often with links to the blogs I wrote regarding them):

June and July was my regular gig teaching the amazingly gifted choral students at the North Carolina Governor's School in Raleigh. This year's students, a women's choir of 24 voices, was beyond spectacular. I have never led a choir so committed to deep probing rehearsal, to an impeccable level of performance quality, to each other, and to having so much fun all along the way. We learned and performed repertoire far beyond the HS realm- one piece in particular was a premiere which was written in response to the tsunami in Japan and the piece was quite difficult-certainly a professional level score. These kids just rolled up their sleeves and worked like crazy to learn this score. Yes we struggled at times, but no one ever suggested we give up. It was truly a memorable summer for us. By the way, we memorized every score for the summer except for the premiere piece. I would also like to thank my assistant for the summer, Beth Philemon.

In September I visited the Portland, OR/Vancouver WA area for the Chor Anno premiere of my double choir piece "When Jesus Wept" (a modernization of the Billings' tune). Everyone there was so friendly and committed to learning this piece of mine, which is also not terribly easy.

(Chor Anno)

Special thanks to Howard Meharg, Reg Unterseher, April and Greg Duvic, Margaret Green and a slew of other folks. I still have to finish blogging about this experience and tell you about Tim Sharp's "Come Away to the Skies", which was performed as well and with Tim there on banjo. So look for that blog soon.

October marked the release of the latest Atlanta Sacred Chorale CD "Awake the Dawn" (da Chiesa DCSR 119). The chorale, led by Eric Nelson, did a wonderful job on my piece "Morning Person", (published by Roger Dean) with a text by New Orleans poet Vassar Miller, retelling Creation in a new, highly imaginative way. I channelled Canadian dude Healy Willan and Sondheim while writing this (yeah you'll have to hear it to figure that out- go buy the CD!). Other composers on the CD include Rutter, Chilcott, Bernstein, J. Hairston, some guy named Lauridsen, Lee Dengler and more. Visit www.atlantasacredchorale.org for more info.

In November I attended the National Collegiate Choral Organization conference in Ft. Collins, CO (multiple blogs starting here). This was a blast and hearing Robert Taylor's University of Charleston Choir and Graeme Langager's University of British Columbia Singers were big discoveries for me. Everyone had a great time at NCCO and the future looks very bright for this organization. Congrats to Buddy James, Lisa Graham, Mitos Andaya, Bill Bausano, Bill Dehning, Sarah Graham, and James Kim for putting on such a great program.

December held a slew of performances and premieres of my music- thank you to all who performed my holiday music- and I am proud to have written quality pieces that do fall out of the realm of strictly Christmas, such as "Winter Solstice" (SSA/harp or piano which was performed a lot) and "Unending Flame" (a non-dorky Hanukkah piece which got multiple performances by Ethan Sperry's Oregon Repertory Singers-- thanks Ethan!).

What's up for the next few months? Plenty!

Roger Dean is releasing in a week or two these new titles (too bad there is not an SATB title there):

"Rain" SSA/piano Uptempo, jazzy and very fun (commissioned by the Cincinnati Children's Choir, directed by Robyn Lana). This piece would be for HS and up women's choirs.

"May I be Happy" SA/piano In two parts, the first is a slow-ish Eastern Orthodox benediction of sorts, and the piece then becomes more lively to the text of a Buddhist chant. This piece was commissioned by a great young choir in Hong Kong last year. This piece would be for grade 6 and up treble choirs. Both titles will be in place for ACDA conferences in Feb. and March.

Roger Dean is currently my main publisher- they have been so supportive. If you would like a free perusal copy of these new releases, or single copies of all of my Roger Dean scores (treble and mixed titles), let me know. They are happy to mail out scores. I can also sign you up to be on their mailing list to receive all the new releases by all their composers. In an age when most publishers are very stingy about supplying free scores, Roger Dean is a breath of fresh air.

In February I will be presenting an interest session at the North Central ACDA conference in Madison, WI. This will be my first time at a NC ACDA conference and I expect it will be great. My session will be on ways to enable your choir to take more initiative and allow you, as teacher, to do less heavy lifting. It's influenced by teaching theories at NC Governor's School and by ideas from Rick Bjella (now at Texas Tech) and Sandra Snow. In April I will be presenting the same session at the Tennessee MEA conference in Chattanooga.

All through the spring there will be a number of performances of various pieces, including premieres. One I am very excited about is a performance of "When Jesus Wept" (the piece I mentioned up above) by the University of North Texas choir directed by DMA candidate Patrick Dill. Richard Sparks suggested that Patrick look at this piece and he has decided to do it- so I am thrilled to see another advanced SATB piece getting a performance by an excellent choir. If you would like a free perusal pdf file of this piece let me know.

In May I will be wrapping up my one year stint with Angie Johnson's Young Naperville Singers as their composer in residence. Last night I just finished the fourth piece I have written for them for this season. It has been a blast working with the various choirs in the program and I look forward to even more fun interaction with them between now and May.

Just a few things left to say:

This here blog is fun to do but very time consuming-- I am on the lookout for anyone who would like to guest blog (a few people have, and done great jobs) about anything they would like to share. So if you have ever thought of doing a choral music blog but didn't really want to commit to keeping one going- here's your chance to just jump in and guest blog here. I get about 25-250 readers a day, FYI. Here is a link to a recent guest blog by Kira Rugen about her trip, as a member of Anuna, to sing for and interact with the children in the tsunami/nuclear radiation affected area of Japan. Kira did a great job communicating this story.

I am now taking inquiries and orders for commissions for the 2012-13 concert season. If you would like a new, exciting piece of music for your choir contact me. Commissioning (and also consider doing a consortium commission- it saves you money) is very rewarding for all and I do my best to make each piece special in some way. I am also entertaining inquiries for composer in residence situations- either in the Midwest area or anywhere, as a composer in cyber-residence I guess you could say (hey, with Skype anything is possible). I am also available for short residencies at high schools or colleges here and there around the country since I love to travel. Also, I am happy to work with you and your choir on a piece of mine via Skype (no charge of course). The piece doesn't have to be in perfect shape--this is about the process, yes? Skype is a great tool for us all and it's really great fun to interact and have a realtime relationship with a choir that might be 2,000 miles away from me!

So I hope you all have a great finish to your concert season- best wishes as you continue to make magic with soundwaves! And I'll leave you with this kwazy lil clip which has been going pretty viral this last week (so you may have already seen it):

Richard Sparks on the beauty of earlier tuning systems

Yes dear friends, we need more people blogging about classical music and especially our art of choral music, won't you enter in? Well one brilliant fellow who has been at it quite awhile is Richard Sparks, a most awesome musician with an amazing amount of musical experience all across the globe. Richard's blog is titled "Richard Sparks- Music, Conducting, Choirs". Well that's straight and to the point, no mention of Saint Olaf lutefisk dinners, wookies, or retrograde hemiolas- I say keep it that way, don't distract the readers, eh? You can read Richard's wonderful posts here:

http://richardsparks1.blogspot.com/

What made me want to reference this currently is that Richard blogged a few days ago about the NCCO conference (which my blog dissected completely via 3,122 posts and which I am still recuperating from via really cheap wine from Trader Joe's) and he mentioned something which I totally missed and which I now feel stupid about (especially since I studied under Ben Johnston for awhile- a master of tuning systems)--namely the tuning options in early music, including the Bach which Helmuth Rilling conducted at NCCO. Richard is not critical of Rilling, he simply points out the options available and so on and it is great reading. And just earlier tonight via email he elaborated even more to me- I am hoping he will add those elaborations to his blog soon. So keep an eye out for that as you check back on on his blog.

Richard now teaches at the University of North Texas alongside Jerry McCoy. UNT is a leader in live streaming their choral concerts. The live stream info can be found here:

http://recording.music.unt.edu/index.php/live

Also, Richard's Collegium performances, whose broadcasts are not as restricted (under copyright law), can be found on YouTube here:

http://www.youtube.com/user/untrecserv

It's amazing the amount of resources we have today that us old folks didn't have "back in the day". Hmmm...I still have my eight year old sort of believing I grew up with dinosaurs. And heck, he doesn't even really know what a videocassette tape was/is, or for that matter a vinyl LP, blah blah, blah.

Anyway, here is some of what Richard wrote about Bach and some tuning ideas (yes, my immediate thought was too many choirs rehearsing with a piano present-- with the piano's percussive, uber high major thirds overwhelming the ear!). But to read the entire Sparks blog on this subject please go here

And now excerpts from Richard:

"I was able to attend the NCCO (National Collegiate Choral Organization) conference in Colorado Springs in early November.

It was a marvelous conference with both excellent concerts/choirs and sessions.

Helmuth Rilling was the headliner, working with James Kim's excellent CSU Chamber Choir. Everyone knows Rilling's work, of course, from his Gächinger Kantorei and Bach-Collegium Stuttgart and his work since 1970 with the Oregon Bach Festival.

Certainly, his work had a big impact on me. As an undergraduate I was tremendously interested in baroque music and got to know his recordings and those of Wilhelm Ehmann, among others. In 1971 the University of Washington Chorale, under the direction of Rod Eichenberger, took part in one of the Vienna Symposiums organized by Paul Koutney..."

"Since I've done lots of work with period instruments (it's one of the reasons the job at UNT was intriguing to me, and certainly one of the reasons I got the job)--the Bach Ensemble in Seattle from 1978-80 began using period instruments--my ideas about performance have changed as well.

With that in mind, it was interesting to listen to the concert at the NCCO, which had two motets (Singet dem Herrn and Jesu, meine Freude) plus the Magnificat. I found that there were two things that struck me most strongly: some aspects of phrasing and the tuning of major thirds. As I mentioned, Rilling has certainly changed many things about the way he phrases baroque music (with the example of the Kyrie in the B Minor), but there are other aspects where my way of phrasing has changed.

In addition, I've gotten so used to different tuning systems that my ear now wants a considerably lower/pure major third, particularly at cadences. For me, the thirds I heard in Colorado were far too "jangly," the only way I can describe the difference between the "beats" of a tempered third and the beatless relative calm of a pure third (the purity refers to a major third which matches the third heard in the natural harmonic series.

Since I'd just done Jesu, meine Freude with my Collegium Singers at UNT, that was very fresh in my mind. Given what I've said, it's only fair that I provide a link to what we did, not that I'm claiming anything for it, but it represents in a more concrete way what can only be expressed poorly in writing. You can find that performance here: the Bach begins at 1:04 (that's one hour, four minutes). You'll know it's live, not only because it's on video with no possibility of editing, but also because our organist (the fabulous Christoph Hammer) played a decidedly non-picardy third at the end of one of the movements! We were using Vallotti for tuning the organ, a decent compromise for this program, which was mostly mid-baroque from northern Germany (Buxtehude, particularly). For other repertoire (Monteverdi Vespers, for example) we've used quarter-comma meantone, which has extremely pure thirds (in some keys!)."

NCCO- Introducing the new NCCO Choral Music Series

Paraphrased from the NCCO website:

"At this year's conference the National Collegiate Choral Organization was pleased to announce that four outstanding choral compositions had been chosen as the inaugural selections for the NCCO Choral Music Series. These works were presented in a literature session at the 2011 NCCO Conference, on Sat, Nov. 5 at Fort Collins, CO, at Colorado State University.

The composers and titles of the selected compositions are:

• Dwight Bigler — Miss Mackenzie
• Joseph Gregorio — Love, thricewise
• Brian Holmes — The Cat and the Moon
• Robinson McClellan — Nunc dimittis

These compositions will soon available for purchase from NCCO. An NCCO membership is not be a requirement for purchasing the scores."

PC speaking now- NCCO took this step into publishing and championing of new choral music to fill a vacuum in the world created by the conventional publishers overload on music that is either too simple or too simple-minded. I wholeheartedly love that instead of complaining about the conventional publishers they went the next step and are trying to solve the problem, even if it is just baby steps for the time being. They also chose to break the publishers' mold- and I was happy to be consulted on how to do this- for instance NCCO is not taking ownership of the composers' copyrights, the royalty level is far more favorable for the composers and other new ideas which the conventional publishers ought to sit up and take notice of, in my opinion. My participation in this was informal, but I have to day that I was honored that Buddy James desired my input so much. Buddy, Bill & Bill, Lisa, Sarah, and Mitos- you got this right and I hope it grows and grows. And I would also like to add that the score layout of these pieces is highly professional. Great job there too!

Hopefully more info will be up at http://www.ncco-usa.org/ soon about these pieces.

So to finally wrap up the NCCO conference- it was beyond great. I had so much fun and heard so much inspired singing and met so many wonderful people. And guess what-- on the bus shuttle going south from Ft. Collins down to Denver I actually saw a mountain lion just a hundred yards from the highway- at first I couldn't believe my eyes!

Thanks for reading, folks!

Alice Parker at the 2011 NCCO Conference

Change of Plan- I will blog about Alice Parker's work on Saturday at NCCO- then write a new blog about the rest of Saturday's interest sessions.

Saturday began with Alice Parker recounting how she wrote what are known as the Parker/Shaw arrangements. From her recounting of the process, it was pretty obvious that these arrangements were mostly her work, and that Shaw guided and helped her tweak them. I was not aware of this- the fact that Miss Parker wrote most of the notes and created this music first by herself, with tweaking by Shaw coming after her first inspirations. She has told me, when I questioned her politely on this, that the designation Parker/Shaw was and still is the right name for these works because Shaw guided her so well when she was quite young (she started working when she was 21) and not fully confident of her work. And she has reminded me that later on a number of the arrangements have only her name on them, as she was becoming more confident and far less in need of the guidance/editing of Shaw. In our correspondence on this Miss Parker is quite sweet about how she views their early collaborations- she was ten years his junior, and she says that at that time she truly needed his experience to help her compositional and arranging skills.



We had a whole packet of these pieces and we sang them through with her leading. She was tough on this crowd of choral directors, some of whom (including moi) may have been up too late the previous night! In fact, someone nearby whispered to me- "Hey, I though she would be like a sweet Grandma, I didn't think she would yell at us for sucking at singing!" And yes she was tough on us- at one point telling us that 5% of us had gotten a phrase right and the other 95% were terrible, and berating us for always crescendo rising lines. Personally, I thought it was great fun!

I would also add my opinion that the quality of these arrangements is not totally even- there are many brilliant arrangements which stand the test of time, but also some things which go on too long without fresh ideas warranting the length of them. But there is a great heritage here and so much to like-- and I will always have to say that I love her adamant statement (which she iterates quite often in her appearances) that all the arrangements pick a key and stay there- no knee jerk, "Hey Judy, let's add a half-step up modulation, and another, and another" stuff going on.

Some Parkerisms for y'all:

"Some people were 12 tone composers- I turned into a 5 note composer"

"Phrasing shouldn't be about beats- it should be like waves or a current"

"Never ignore a text comma"

And to counteract the usual performance tendencies of most people conducting "Hark I Hear the Harps Eternal" she said, " It's not ALL joyous. It's more dramatic, and at times tearful- it only gradually grows in its affirmation." What a brilliant soul- would that we all could be so cool and full of energy at age 86!

On Saturday night Alice Parker was named an Honorary Life Member of NCCO- here is what she said as her accepted this honor:

"I am honored more than I can say by this award, and also totally humbled by the fact that I’m standing on the stage before wonderful music is going to be made here. I will be brief in my remarks so we can get to that. I want to thank NCCO for inviting me here, and giving me the chance to be with a delightfully enthusiastic and varied group of people who love what I love, vocal music, and are searching after its many means of expression, with true humor and intelligence and diligence.

We are all here because we have ears. We are taking part in a tradition that goes back to the beginning of the human race, wherever we can find it: people have always listened. People have always learned songs and carried them on. The styles of music vary enormously, as do the languages in which people sing, but the reality is that music is a form of expression that we humans share all over the world. It does something for us that nothing else can do. Words are a basic part of it, but what happens when we combine words and rhythms and tones, is really miraculous. And what it allows for us is a language for our emotions, for sharing in those things which are most human about us and which unite us one to another. All of the different walls of race and color and age and language, political beliefs, everything else falls when we begin to sing together. And I can only wish that all the world would do a lot more singing. That if our Congress always sang a folk song to remind them of our common beliefs, we might be better off. And the same thing at the United Nations. Our rational brains get us into trouble. They are amazing things, but they get us into trouble when they are not balanced by our intuitive brains. And I honestly believe that when I am singing, or making music in this way, I am using all of the faculties at my disposal in a way that nothing else challenges me to do. My mind, my heart, my spirit, my body, my breath, everything I know, all the sounds I’ve ever heard, all come into it. And the incredible thing is that it all happens right now, right here. And the challenge for all of us is to keep learning, to keep hearing better and better, finer and finer distinctions in tone quality or in text accentuation, or the purity of the vowel, or the kind of rhythm which calls forth a certain kind of dance, which indeed calls it into being. So we listen more and more.

When we have the chance to be at a weekend like this, concentrating on both hearing excellent groups sing, and talking about the things that go into making it possible, it is a marvelous opportunity. And it is capped off in a superb way by tonight’s concert, where we are all in communion with Bach, through Helmuth Rilling, and his lifetime of absorbing himself in that language. So we kind of take fire from this. We are part of that tradition. We all are part of what we have been taught by the many visionary teachers who have influenced us. But we are also that next generation that needs to hand it on. So be very aware that we are all, each one of us, a fulcrum between the past and the future, and the only time we have to express that is right now. So don’t hold back: express it, learn tonight, listen tonight, revel in being a human being that is part of the same race that can produce this music that gives to each of us this chance to drink at those springs of inspiration that keep us working and singing together."

Interest Sessions (Thursday/Friday) at the 2011 NCCO Conference

Hi all!

Here is a recap ('twill be in two parts) of the many interest sessions at the 2011 NCCO conference in Ft. Collins, CO. There was a wide variety of events and many featured brilliant, famous folks like Alice Parker and Kirke Mechem, both octogenarians with lots of zip and lots to share!

THURSDAY

At 5:15 there was a panel discussion on conducting- specifically how do the panel members teach choral conducting to their students. The panelists were mostly from big schools with MM and DMA programs-- David Rayl (Michigan State), Kevin Fenton (Florida State), Jill Burleson (Northern Colorado)-- but also Joshua Bronfman, who has a much smaller program at the University of North Dakota. Actually, Josh was really fun to listen to- he intimated what his goals were at a small school and how he went about achieving them- all delivered with great humor. Meeting him later and getting to chat was great fun for me. All the panelists had great ideas to share- Jill stressed student responsibility and reminded us that having singers work in quartets is a great idea. She also had other great insights on how to keep students progressing well.

There were also a great quote from David Rayl when he was asked by moderator Charlene Archibeuque what he wished students would bring with them when they (as grad students at MSU) start working closely with him on their advanced degrees:

"I wish students had more vivid imaginations and bolder ideas and had the ability to make more choices-- and feel free enough to make those decisions." Bronfman added "I wish they would listen more."



(Joshua Bronfman)

The panelists all agreed that they loved teaching choral conducting and also stressed the importance of one on one lessons in addition to choral conducting class. Overall this session was filled with interesting personal insights and plenty of humor as well.

FRIDAY

There were early morning sessions by the following people (contact them for more info):

Andrew Crow: Music and Architecture and a Bruckner Case Study

Seth Houstion: The Shape-Note Tradition: New Resources

Nicole Lamartine: Choral Resonance: A Singer's Constructive Resonance through Standing Arrangement or Active Listening

(hmm, there's that "listening" thing again!)

James Niblock: Spectral Analysis in Collegiate Choral Training

Albert Pinsonneault: Choral Intonation Exercises

Andrea Solya: Thymiaterium Musical by Andreas Rauch

10 AM brought us an open rehearsal of James Kim's Colorado State Chamber Choir led by guest Helmuth Rilling as they worked in very dedicated manner on their all-Bach program. Mr. Rilling was miked so that he could alternate between speaking to the musicians and speaking more directly to us about his ideas and rehearsal techniques. I mentioned most of this in an earlier post.

11:15 AM brought another session with the very talented Nicole Lamartine-she presented recordings and her own University of Wyoming Chorale in a sampler of choral music by Jennifer Higdon- an interesting subject. Known as an award-winning orchestral composer, Higdon's choral music is far less sophisticated and at times somewhat odd, which even Nicole admitted. Higdon's choral writing still needs work in the craftsmanship area (tessitura and knowledge of passagio issues, text underlay issues, etc) and perhaps even could use better texts- but one has to respect that, with encouragement from people like Nicole, a person with such a high profile in the orchestral composing world has ventured into a totally new area. This issue came up later, on Saturday- the idea of conductors encouraging fine composers who might not have a lot of choral crafting experience (plus also young, generally inexperienced composers) to still go ahead and start writing for voices. Most of those in the audience were in favor of this.

4 PM brought an interest session on current Israel Choral Music from Eric Johnson and Orna Arania from Northern Illinois University . Eric has been doing good work in finding interesting ethnic music to explore. He has some other upcoming things worthy of our attention.

NEXT BLOG: Saturday interest sessions

Concert #6: Highlights from the 2011 NCCO Conference

Saturday night- the final concert of NCCO 2011

Colorado State University Chamber Choir, plus orchestra, James Kim, director; Guest conductor for the performance, Helmuth Rilling

Singet den Herrn ein neues Lied, BWV 225 by JS Bach

Jesu, meine Freude, BWV 227, by JS Bach

Magnificat, BWV 243, by JS Bach



As members of NCCO we were blessed to be part of the ongoing process of James Kim's fine singers as they worked with Helmuth Rilling on these Bach masterpieces. We were allowed to watch an open rehearsal, during which Rilling also addressed the audience now and then about something in the music or a rehearsal technique he was using, plus also another session of Q and A with Rilling. It was obvious that 1) Kim's singers were highly prepared and astounding musicians going in 2) Rilling challenged them to go even further. To me, these challenges he set for them should be taken overall as a great compliment- for he treated them as professional musicians, not students. Kudos to every singer for aspiring to these levels. You know ole JS was looking down with a smile.

In rehearsal, Rilling stopped the choir for tiny details- but hey, maybe they weren't so tiny. One very telling point was when the singers' articulation did not match the violin articulation of the same fairly florid pattern- maybe some other conductor would let it slide, figuring it was too much of a burden for all to fix, but with Rilling it was just the opposite-it had to be fixed. And when we heard, as observers, the difference this made in the clarity of the overall contrapuntal sound- it was obvious that Rilling was right to be so meticulous.

So... the Saturday evening concert approached and everyone was excited- just how good would this performance be? And the answer was, it was spectacular. The singing was intense and so detailed, the professional orchestra was riveted to their parts, and Rilling was in fine form. I was glad to see that he seemed in better physical shape than when he conducted the Mendelssohn Elijah at ACDA Chicago when, to me, it seemed that he was be having difficulties with his back and posture. At NCCO these issues seemed to be gone- he was erect and in his element. Sarah Graham and I sat close to the front and off to the side, Sarah's choice- and it was because she wanted to see all the conductor/singer interaction. It was great fun to watch, and I especially enjoyed watching the trumpet section and also highly enjoyed the fine work of the very wonderful continuo organist (a player far too often overlooked). But the most interesting was watching these young singers faces as they took on the challenge of every wild, crazy, unrelenting melisma passage ole JS and Rilling could throw at them- wow!

When the evening ended there was a prolonged standing ovation- and this was one of the few standing ovations at NCCO ( fine with me, automatic standing ovations for mediocre performances have become ridiculously commonplace). Everyone was so thrilled at the successes of this young chorus, the young soloists, and with James Kim and Helmuth Rilling's fine work.




It was fitting that this group of young musicians who had been so wonderfully prepared by Kim and then worked their tails off for three days in very long rehearsals with Rilling finally got to have center stage on the final night- bravo to them all.

NEXT POST:

With Thanksgiving coming up, I will have a slight interruption in my NCCO posts (I will return to them and talk about all the interest sessions- and the contributions of some pretty energetic octogenarians). But next I want to post a short blog about a college choir and also a high school choir who I have come in contact with recently- it's a bit fitting for Thanksgiving I think- so see you soon for that.

Concert #5: Highlights from the 2011 NCCO Conference

Northwest Missouri State University, Tower Chamber Choir, dir. by Stephen Town


Literature from the English School for Chorus and Organ (Sean Vogt, organ)

God is gone up, by Finzi (Boosey)

Like as a hart desireth the waterbrooks, by Howells (OUP)

The Lord is Risen, by Arthur Bliss (Novello)

Magnificat and Nunc dimittis, by Rubbra (Allied Lengnick)

Nunc dimittis, by Stanford (cpdl.org)

I am a gigantic fan of this genre and the performance by this amazing chamber choir concert was to die for. Almost late, I scurried in and grabbed a seat in the front row, almost inside the choir! This concert was held in the Organ Performance Hall, a more intimate setting than the large hall where the other concerts were held. I opened up my program and saw "Finzi" and of course melted away with the beauty of the music - great singing, great communication between conductor and singers (one advantage of sitting close and slightly to the side is that you get to see the interactions more).

Then as they were about to start piece two I glance down at the program- it's one of my favorite gems, Howells' Like as a hart! The Howells' starts and not that far into it I am really overcome with emotion, not even an emotion I can put my fingers on exactly. Some of it comes from the beauty of the music, its odd flatted, virtually blues fifths and poignant minor mode and subtle dissonances- but it also comes from the communication I was sensing from soul to soul in the choir/conductor realm, and also, I realize, the music is bringing forth subconscious feelings of both pain and beauty in my own life experience. Somehow these intense feelings of floating freely in a glorious ether, yet also the sadness and pain tied our daily travails, are somehow all being brought together by this piece and by this performance of otherworldly beauty. This leads to some tears, and of course grown men aren't supposed to cry, right? So I wiped some tears away, but more replaced them- not to the point of being a distraction to the people behind me, but they were there and weren't going away. As an inner dialogue I said to myself- this is what music is supposed to do to us, for us, or with us- don't fight it. And so in a sense I didn't- I let myself go and become one with this music and the experience was beautiful on so many levels. I can tell you that this happened to me at another concert not long ago- tears of sheer joy which unexpectedly overtook me with a wallop as I watched Marie Guinand's choir from South America sing, dance, and smile, and then exit the stage dancing and waving to a raving audience (ACDA Oklahoma City 2009 National Conference).

The next piece, by Arthur Bliss, was a bit of textual craziness- I loved it- wild Middle English images of dragons and what-not, and brilliantly sung, of course.

The concert ended with a gorgeous Magnifikitty and a Nook and another Nook (oops, I meant a Nunc and another Nunc). All in all this was a sublime performance- I am sorry for anyone who missed it. To me this was a major highlight of the conference- and thanks to Buddy James for creating an NCCO category for chamber choirs. The energy between conductor and choir was beyond words. The sopranos were amazing- they floated so beautifully at times, yet never out of context with their lower-voiced colleagues and the music. Stephen Town was masterful in his control and understanding of this music- he lead, shaped, and enabled a great, soulful performance by singers finely attuned to his musical models. And then there was organist Sean Vogt, the glue that held it all together in tandem with Dr. Town.

More info on Dr. Town: In 1993 he was the recipient of the prestigious Ralph Vaughan Williams Fellowship, given by the Carthusian Trust and Charter House School in the United Kingdom to a North American scholar for research on the great English composer.

Concert #4: Highlights from the 2011 NCCO Conference

Friday evening programs

By looking at the names of the choirs and conductors about to take the stage, it was fairly obvious that the Friday night program was potentially spectacular, and I am happy to report that it truly was. While these choirs were different from each other (most noticeably the youthfulness of the all-undergrad Iowa State Singers) what connected them was the maturity and experience of their conductors- Kent Hatteberg, James Rodde, and Jo-Michael Scheibe. These three fine musicians have conducted thousands of concerts over the years and they may well still conduct thousands more- their love of the choral art knows no boundaries.

University of Louisville Cardinal Singers, dir. by Kent Hatteberg



Kyrie from Missa Papae Marcelli, by Palestrina (cpdl.org)

Amazingly beautiful- I don't think I have ever heard a choir so perfectly and sweetly in tune in my life. This performance glowed from within. People were gasping at the end.

Der 2te Psalm: Warum toben die Heiden, by Mendelssohn (Carus)

Mendelssohn was on more than one program- bravo. This performance was full of depth and emotion

Veni, dilecte mi!, by Wolfram Buchenberg (ms from composer)

O lux beata Trinitas, by Ko Matsushita (Carus)

Another performance of this piece (the first was by John Byun's fine group on Thursday) and I like it more and more- so much energy and so many voices to listen to. The performance was flawless and exciting. If one were keeping score, Louisville was the best choir of the three day conference. Their singing was impeccably tuned on such a magisterial level that the sound seemed to magically hover and shimmer in the air around you; every phrase and tiny, tiny nuance of the music was unified in all members of the choir. It was virtually impossible to find fault with anything they did. This was singing not just on a high collegiate level but on a truly professional level.


Iowa State Singers, dir. by James Rodde





Deus in adiutorium meum intende, by Juan Gutierrez de Padilla (Vanderbeek and Imrie)


O Radix Jesse, by Vytauta Miskinis (Ferrimontana)

Sitvit anima mea, by Palestrina (cpdl.org)

Just as gorgeous as Louisville was in this repertoire

Warum ist das Licht gegeben?, by Johannes Brahms (Peters)

Satamasho, by Otar Taktakishvili, adapted Rodde (earthsongs)

A great piece- highly recommended!

A Worshipper and a Man, Tinothy Takach (TimothyCTakach.com)

So this was a great, fun moment of contrast- as the audience showered the mixture of undergrads and grad students making up the Louisville choir with enormous amounts of applause, on walked Iowa State, looking super young, an entire large ( 80-90 voices, perhaps?) choir of undergrads. And in fact Rodde told me later that half of these kids are freshmen and sophomores! Wow, upper Midwest choirs are amazing. Their entire program was spectacular, and I wonder what Rodde could further achieve if do if he were leading a choir at a school with an MM/DMA program. I loved watching and listening to these young artists as they sang with joy on a level far beyond their chronological age.

University of Southern California Thornton Chamber Singers, dir. by Jo-Michael Scheibe



A Retrospective of the Music of Morten Lauridsen

Lament for Pasiphae, from Mid-Winter Songs (Opus)

This is an early piece, before Lauridsen had discovered his signature sound, harmonies. etc. I found it be the most interesting thing on the program- it was full of angularity, counterpoint, large dynamic contrasts, a very engaging and independent piano part- overall far more dramatic than his later, more languid music- very interesting stuff. Folks should look at this piece and perform it. In talking to Morten on Saturday night at Buddy James' intimate Saturday night reception, he told me that he devised this program personally and he very much wanted this piece on the program.

Contre qui, Rose (Peer, plus all following pieces by Peer)

Amore lo Sento L'alma (Fored Songs)

Se Per Havervi, Oime (Fire songs0

Soneto de la Noche (from Nocturnes)

Sure on this Shining Night (from Nocturnes)

The entire program was beautiful and memorable, and I had been very much looking forward to hearing Mike's USC choir- I had not yet heard them (I was an enormous fan of his University of Miami choirs). I was surprised to hear how big the sound was on the mostly gentle Lauridsen pieces everyone knows- I love that Mike expanded the sound that much in mf/f passages. I know Mike is very proud of his current grad conducting students/singers, and I believe the choir is going to get better and better as they learn more of what he wants from them. I would love to hear this group again in 1-2 years, for sure. Of course there will be turnover, but by then Mike will have his complete stamp on the approach and the sound. I would also like to make a shout out to ChoEun Lee, whose subtle phrasing was the epitome of expressive choral accompanying. Every note and phrase she touched was golden, EVERY note mattered, and that is something you do not often hear. Lauridsen replaced her for the final number, Sure on this Shining Night, and the audience simply melted with joy as the entire program, and magical evening, ended. This was a night that validated NCCO beyond measure- there was so much magical musicmaking by so many people - from teenagers in the Iowa choir all the way to Morten Lauridsen himself.

After this concert there was a wonderful reception at the Hilton with yummy beverages and food. Everyone mingled and chatted things up. What I especially loved here (as in elsewhere during the three days) was that I could not detect a single occurrence of jealousy among these folks, they are all there for each other- amazing. At the reception I was able to chat with old chums like Nancy Menk, Sarah Graham, and others, and still also meet and get to know a few people I did not know yet, but who had impressed me greatly in concerts or sessions-folks like Michelle Jensen, Joshua Bronfman, Nicole Lamartine, and many others. What a great day and evening of concerts and and a great reception too!

Concert #3: Highlights from the 2011 NCCO Conference

Here are highlights from the day two afternoon concert:


University of Northern Colorado Concert Choir, dir. by Galen Darrough




Choral music of Argentina: A Sampler

Cantate Domino, by Antonio Russi (ediciones GCC)

Gala del Dia, from Las Indianas, by Carlos Guastavino (Kjos)

Mi Lumia, by Javier Zentner (GCC)

A wonderful piece- I would love to hear with score in hand. Bravo!

La Muerte del Angel, by Astor Piazolla (GCC)

Chacarera de las Piedras, by Atahualps Yupanqui, arr. Gustavo Felice (no publisher info)

Milonguera, by Oscar Escalada (Kjos)


This was a great program which I am sure Galen is very proud of putting together. All his singers were in fine form and much of this music is quite difficult- what you hope to do is sing it so well and so naturally that it doesn't appear to be so daunting at all! I especially loved the first song, the Zentner and the Piazolla of course. I don't know the full story about how Galen researched all this, but maybe I can ask him soon. He did tell me that it was really hard to figure out what to use, since there were hundreds of great tunes he had sifted through. In addition to the very fine singing and conducting, guitarist Socrates Garcia (now that's a cool name) brought so much electricity and joy to the music; his smile and love of performing shone through on the two pieces he played on and the audience loved him.

Bravo to the singers- all this intricate and expressive music was fully memorized- no small feat!



Azusa Pacific University Chamber Singers, dir. by Michelle Jensen



In Windsor Forest, by RV Williams

This was a sheer delight, Vaughn Williams' five-movement cantata for SATB/chamber string orchestra/piano written in 1931; an adaptation of scenes from his opera "Sir John [Falstaff] in Love". The singing was spot-on cheery and felicitous and from where I was sitting, off to the side, you could see the smiling playfulness between conductor Jensen and her choir and instrumentalists. Two performers were standouts-- the first I'll mention was Arie Moriguchi, who had a couple solo spots as the Queen/Mrs. Quickly. Arie's voice and acting was perfect for this. The other standout was the young pianist Anna Nizhegorodtseva, whose supple phrasing, shading of color, and brilliant sense of rhythm added so much to the ensemble sound (and who knew Vaughn Williams wrote so well for the piano? Ms. Nizhegorodtseva was one of my very favorite pianists who performed over the three day stretch of concerts.

Michelle Jensen was wonderful, she presented this little-known piece in such a charming and playful way. I did get to talk to Michelle a couple times about the music- she is a very gregarious musician who loves to talk passionately about music and I also discovered that we are both former harpists. She has the distinction of studying, over a period of time at USC, with three amazing teachers there- William Dehning, Paul Salamunovich, and now finishing up her choral music DMA with Mike Scheibe. Oh and btw, this choir was full of beautiful southern California folks with posture so impeccable that it would bring a smile to any Alexander technique teacher observing them. Great singer posture, smiles, delightful music, and a very positive conductor inviting singers and audience inside the music and action led to a great performance.

Free harp joke of the day- Stravinsky: "Harpists spend 90 percent of their lives tuning their harps and 10 percent playing out of tune"

Free viola joke of the day: What's the difference between a viola and an onion? No one cries when you cut up a viola!

Next Post: the day two evening concert

Announcement: If you would like a free pdf file perusal score of my latest advanced SATB piece, please contact me. The piece is a compelling, expressive modern arrangement of William Billings' famous round "When Jesus Wept" for SATB double choir, suitable for college and professional ensembles. It was successfully premiered this past September by Chor Anno, Reg Unterseher conducting, in Vancouver, WA. The duration is six minutes. E-mail me at paulcarey440@yahoo.com for a pdf file.

Concert #2: Highlights from the 2011 NCCO Conference

Thursday Night Highlights


University of British Columbia University Singers, dir. Graeme Langager



Ave Virgo sanctissima, by David Azurza (Oihu Hau)

Rich, luxurious tone colours (there you go, friends from the north- I shall honour you by spelling in your manner)

Mitten wir in leben sind, by Mendelssohn (cpdl.org)

Again, so many colours to the sound and impeccable Deutsch- btw, The Felix was well represented by choirs at the conference.

S I Do Mhaimeo, by David Mooney, (ECS)

Lots of fun, and also artistic- why do so many choirs never really sing their best on fun pieces? You can do so much more with pieces like this than just rip through them, and this choir proved it.

Nigra Sum sed formosa, by Jean L'Hereitier (cpdl.org)

Heavenly- such beautiful lines, I absolutely loved this piece and the interpretation. I advise you to check it out at cpdl

I am the rose of Sharon, by Ivo Antognini (Alliance)

Melancholia, by Duke Ellington arr. by Rejean Marois (ms)

Can you guess I loved this choir? For me they were a very large highlight of this conference. They sang with a very rich, deep, and a bit different sound than the American choirs- it was wonderful to hear this contrast (not that any one is necessarily better than the other- hurray for variety). I wanted to keep listening to them- too bad they had to stop at their allotted 25 minutes! I was thrilled and honoured to meet Graeme the next day.


College of Charleston Concert Choir, dir. by Robert Taylor




Choral Dances from Gloriana, by Benjamin Britten

Wonderful, marvelous!

Three Shakespeare Songs, by RV Williams

Oh my, oh my-- Rapture. Robert is a good friend of a good friend (Lisa Fredenburgh). We now got a chance to talk more and I found out that he is as big a RVW fan as I am. He even invited me impromptu to tell his choir what I had just told him, mainly that they rocked. We also discussed things in the scores, like RVW's love of modes/temporary modal inflections (yes, RVW is a big influence on my sacred/spiritual music), in particular in some of these pieces the major third with a minor sixth

Movements from "The Passing of the Year", by Jonathan Dove

I was not excited by this piece, as the piano was too jangly and took away from the choir, which is so worthy of listening to in a cappella music.

Robert has some great things going with this choir and I love his passionate approach to music. He lays it all out there without apologies. If a big full Cabernet started to sing to you- this is what it would sound like! Southern choirs rocked here- Rob's choir and University of Louisville were great. And, by the way, ACDA South division (the largest ACDA division) is full of amazing choirs singing sophisticated music- if you have never attended a Southern ACDA conference you need to head there pronto.


All in all, I loved this choir! They will be the hosts for NCCO 2013 and I know many people will want to attend not only for the music but also for the Charleston, SC experience.






Next Posts: Day two program highlights

Announcement: If you would like a free pdf file perusal score of my latest advanced SATB piece, please contact me. The piece is a compelling, expressive modern arrangement of William Billings' famous round "When Jesus Wept" for SATB double choir, suitable for college and professional ensembles. It was successfully premiered this past September by Chor Anno, Reg Unterseher conducting, in Vancouver, WA. The duration is six minutes. E-mail me at paulcarey440@yahoo.com for a pdf file.

Concert #1: Highlights from the 2011 NCCO Conference

You have probably already seen my posts listing all the repertoire from the three days of NCCO in Ft. Collins. Now I will highlight a number of the programs, and overall the performances and conducting ranged mostly from great to spectacular. Also evident was healthy singing with free sound production, use of more than one tonal color (thank you!) and also a Canadian choir which had amazingly varied, beautiful tonal colours (hehe- they spell that word funny). Conductor beat patterns and gestures were masterful about 97% of the time. Other than one conductor who was just working way too hard and did not not INVITE the choir to sing, there were no flailing arms or pomp and circumstance. I would think that attending this conference and watching closely would be highly beneficial to any young conducting student.

In my opinion, two programs were sung well but the repertoire was suspect- specifically they contained material that was more like average high school material, and in one case even included some mega church pop singing with three soloists using handheld mikes, a piano part filled with Disney ballad ninth choirs and the like. I don't think this was at all what NCCO had in mind when creating this organization. The other program was not offensive, but simply had vocal parts with no real challenge on the collegiate level and which contained all piano accompanied pieces.

By the way, as I am about tackle all this-- I would like to say I honestly wish more people were blogging about the choral world- come on, people, get to it. Or be a guest blogger here if you like, even if you are a young'n. Richard Sparks writes a great choral music blog, and Philip Copeland and Tim Sharp do great work through ChoralNet mostly, but we need more people doing this!


Program One: Riverside City College Chamber Singers, dir. Jon Byun



Der Feuerreiter by Hugo Wolf (CF Peters)

Lay a Garland, by Robert Pearsall (cpdl.org)

This was sung with crystalline clarity and an amazing contrast with the preceding highly dramatic piece

O lux beata Trinitas, by Ko Matsushita, (Carus)

Easily by far the most fascinating new piece of music in the three days. It also showed up on the University of Louisville program. There is so much going on here, I loved getting a chance to hear it twice in three days. The music is generally set up with an amazing amount of highly intricate, divisi ostinati in the women's voices- very complex and very beautiful. I'd love to see a score of this piece. Ko is a Japanese composer.conductor well-known in the international choral scene. He, Marian Dolan, and my partner Sherri Lasko worked on a great project for Japanese tsunami relief (which is ongoing). You can visit the site Sherri developed for the project here.

O vos omnes, by Richard Birchard, (ms)

Hmm, a letdown after the Matsushita; this piece had the usual slow tempo and heavily homophonic American musical style we've been hearing so much of the time for the last ten years. There were even a few "Whitacre-isms" that you only tend to hear from composers younger than Whitacre, which this composer is not.

Alleluia, by Hyo-Won Woo (Chorus Center Publishing, South Korea)

This is a great piece, and one which will not forgive a single counting mistake from even a single singer. I have been fortunate to hear this piece live a number of times by Incheon City Chorale and other fine choirs and also get to know the very gracious and highly talented composer, Hyo-Won Woo. John Byun is a master of this kind of high energy piece which must not only be precise but artistic as well- bravo John!I am hoping that people here in the US will soon try to explore other pieces by Hyo-won. If you need a way to contact her or the Hak-won Yoon's publishing company which distributes her music e-mail me at paulcarey440@yahoo.com

Congrats to John and this choir- I have now heard them three times in ACDA or NCCO conference concerts and have loved getting to know John's musical approach and product- and it still amazes me that this is a two year college!



Arizona State University Symphonic Chorale, dir. Gregory Gentry



Dnes Hristos, by Vasily Titov (ca. 1650- 1715)

I absolutely loved this piece for three, count 'em, three choirs. There was an amazing amount of richness and depth to the sound, of course what you expect and hope to hear in Russian music, and Gentry was a master of pulling that sound out of a young choir- I didn't see any 45 year old vodka consuming basses or altos in the choir. Of course as editor of a new edition of this piece, Greg knew the piece so well. It is a joy to hear Russian music sung so well, and another group I can think of who does this repertoire complete justice is David Rayl's at Michigan State. Greg also had the choirs spaced at exactly the right positions to not only get perfect multi-choir effects, but also sounding great when choirs were united in sound. I wish I had asked him more about how he did this when we were having lunch Saturday. I would highly recommend this piece to any advanced choir (published by Musica Russica)

Mass, by Stravinsky

The Stravinsky Mass was great as well, but with some roughness in the instrumentalists sound. Many attendees at the conference were so glad to see this long-ish, somewhat neglected piece programmed, and the entire Russian-themed program was one of a number of intelligently constructed themed programs that were true highlights of the conference.

After the concert I was interviewed by DMA student from the ASU choir Kira Rugen, whose dissertation is on the direction over the last ten years in choral music, as well as looking ahead to the next 10 or 20 years. Kira had a great bunch of questions for composers and also conductors and our interview went about an hour. I thoroughly enjoyed working with her and look forward to reading her work. She also was able to line up interviews at NCCO with actually famous people in the field (which I am not) like Morten Lauridsen and other personable folks who were on hand. Bravo, Kira.

Speaking of questions, as I travel around the country here and there to work with choirs here are some common questions I get from young people- usually K-5 folks but even sometimes from JHS through HS choir members:

1) what kind of car do you drive?
2) what is your favorite video game?
3) what is your real job?




Funny stuff- and yes, they also ask some great questions too!

Next Post: Day one evening concert highlights

Announcement: If you would like a free pdf file perusal score of my latest advanced SATB piece, please contact me. The piece is a compelling, expressive modern arrangement of William Billings' famous round "When Jesus Wept" for SATB double choir, suitable for college and professional ensembles. It was successfully premiered this past September by Chor Anno, Reg Unterseher conducting, in Vancouver, WA. The duration is six minutes. E-mail me at paulcarey440@yahoo.com for a pdf file.

Day Three Repertoire from the NCCO Conference in Ft Collins

Okay sports fans- here is the rep from day three- the final day of an extremely successful NCCO conference. Everyone is all smiles about what they got out of this three days. Choral music is alive and well on many fronts, but especially I see the joy (arising out of their very strong efforts) on young singers' faces- it is thrilling to see!

Northwest Missouri State University, Tower Chamber Choir, dir. by Stephen Town

Literature from the English School for Chorus and Organ (Sean Vogt, organ)

God is gone up, by Finzi (Boosey)

Like as a hart desireth the waterbrooks, by Howells (OUP)

WOW! WOW!

The Lord is Risen, by Arthur Bliss (Novello)

Magnificat and Nunc dimittis, by Rubbra (Allied Lengnick)

Nunc dimittis, by Stanford (cpdl.org)




Colorado State University Chamber Choir, dir. by James Kim; Guest conductor for the performance, Helmuth Rilling

Singet den Herrn ein neues Lied, BWV 225 by JS Bach

Jesu, meine Freude, BWV 227, by JS Bach

Magnificat, BWV 243, by JS Bach

(Oh my, what glorious singing and phrasing, plus great 1st trumpet and piccolo trpt; trpt three filled in the rest of the notes ably)

All in all, great and extremely varied repertoire for this conference. More later, dudes and dudettes!

Day Two Repertoire from the NCCO Conference in Ft Collins

Day Two

Here is the repertoire from day two of NCCO-- many stunning performances. I don't necessarily like rating choirs- I surely do not like all the choral competitions/battles in Europe- but FYI University of Louisville was beyond amazing...more on them later when I find time to blog in more detail.

By the way, you do not want to see spellcheck "corrections" of these titles and composers!!

Day Two

University of Northern Colorado, dir. by Galen Darrough

Choral music of Argentina: A Sampler

Cantate Domino, by Antonio Russi (ediciones GCC)

Gala del Dia, from Las Indianas, by Carlos Guastavino (Kjos)

Mi Lumia, by Javier Zentner (GCC)

La Muerte del Angel, by Astor Piazolla (GCC)

Chacarera de las Piedras, by Atahualps Yupanqui, arr. Gustavo Felice (no publisher info)

Say that title and composer ten times fast after you've had three Fat Tires (their brewery is here in ft Collins)

Milonguera, by Oscar Escalada (Kjos)



Azusa Pacific University Chamber Singers, dir. by Michelle Jensen

In Windsor Forest, by RV Williams


Western Michigan University Cantus Femina, dir. by Dee Gauthier

Anne Frank: A Living Voice, by Linda Tuta haugen (available from the composer)

Now I Become Myself, by Gwyneth Walker (ECS)


University of Louisville Cardinal Singers, dir. by Kent Hatteberg

Kyrie from Missa Papae Marcelli, by Palestrina (cpdl.org)

Der 2te Psalm: Warum toben die Heiden, by Mendelssohn (Carus)
(this translates as "Who went hiding my Toblerone?")

Veni, dilecte mi!, by Wolfram Buchenberg (ms from composer)

O lux beata Trinitas, by Ko Matsushita (Carus)



Iowa State Singers, dir. by James Rodde

Deus in adiutorium meum intende, by Juan Gutierrez de Padilla (Vanderbeek and Imrie)
(this translates as "Hey, who in the auditorium is playing my Nintendo?")

O Radix Jesse, by Vytauta Miskinis (Ferrimontana)

Sitvit anima mea, by Palestrina (cpdl.org)

Warum ist das Licht gegeben?, by Johnny Brahms (Peters)

Satamasho, by Otar Taktakishvili, adapted Rodde (earthsongs)

A Worshipper and a Man, Tinothy Takach (TimothyCTakach.com)


University of Southern California Thornton Chamber Singers, dir. by Jo-Michael Scheibe

A Retrospective of the Music of Morten Lauridsen

Lament for Pasiphae, from Mid-Winter Songs (Opus)

Contre qui, Rose (Peer, plus all follwoing pieces by Peer)

Amore lo Sento L'alma (Fored Songs)

Se Per Havervi, Oime (Fire songs0

Soneto de la Noche (from Nocturnes)

Sure on this Shining Night (from Nocturnes)

Check back in for Day Three-- mostly interest sessions, just two concerts

Day One Repertoire from the NCCO Conference in Ft Collins

Hi all!

I'm in Ft. Collins, CO at the home of Colorado State University and the site of the three-day National Collegiate Choral Organization's National Conference. Great stuff happening-- this is my first time attending even though I am officially a founding member.

Often when I am at such events people are grilling me via e-mail for what the repertoire is, and since things are really busy, I can't really blog a lot of details of events right now but I will give you the repertoire being sung here. All I ask is that you send $5 to the Paul Carey's Family Has Never Been To Hawaii Fund And It's About Time They Went. Please, unmarked bills only.

Capitalizations are from the programs, publishers in parentheses where supplied on the programs:

Day One-

Riverside City College Chamber Singers, dir. Jon Byun

Der Feuerreiter by Hugo Wolf (CF Peters)

Lay a Garland, by Robert Pearsall (cpdl.org)

O lux beata Trinitas, by Ko Matsushita, (Carus)

O vos omnes, by Richard Birchard, (ms)

Alleluia, by Hyo-Won Woo (Chorus Center Publishing, South Korea)



Arizona State University Symphonic Chorale, dir. Gregory Gentry

Dnes Hristos (triple choir), by Vasily Titov

Mass, by some obscure dude named Stravinsky




University of British Columbia University Singers, dir. Graeme Langager

Ave Virgo sanctissima, by David Azurza (Oihu Hau)

Mitten wir in leben sind, by Mendelssohn (cpdl.org)

(This translates as "Mitten, I love you, but where is your twin? -- my hands are very cold here in the foothills of the Rockies)

S I Do Mhaimeo, by David Mooney, (ECS)

Nigra Sum sed formosa, by Jean L'Hereitier (cpdl.org)

I am the rose of Sharon, by Ivo Antognini (Alliance)

Melancholia, by Duke Ellington arr. by Rejean marois (ms)




College of Charleston Concert Choir, dir. by Robert Taylor

Choral Dances from Gloriana, by Benny Britten

Three Shakespeare Songs, by RV Williams

Movements from "The Passing of the Year", by Jonathan Dove




Capital University Concert Choir, directed by Lynda Hasseler

Forklaring, by Ola Gjeilo

Wondrous Love, by Steven Sametz

Tshiotsholoza, by Jeffery Ames

Himne, Roelof Temmingh
(My title for this is "Hmmm? Wha'...?" more info later)

Hear my prayer, O Lord, by Hank Purcell

Notre Pere, by Durufle

Schaffe in mir, Gott, ein rein Herz, by Brahms

(This translates as "I'm chafing here,God, please rent me a Hertz so I don't hafta walk no mo'")

Hey, I studied German for five years, don't pick on me

I Will Rise, by Chris Tomlin




Remember, send those donations in!

Paul