Dr. Jennifer Sengin, conductor
Dr. Kyung-Mi Kim, pianist
About the ensemble
The Georgia State University Treble Choir is one of the newest choral ensembles at the university and performs throughout the year both on and off campus. Reinstated during the 2018-2019 school year, the membership includes students majoring in fields across the entire university. The Treble Choir recently won first place in The American Prize Choral Performance and performed at the 2020 GMEA conference. The ensemble’s mission is to highlight the vast array of repertoire written for treble voicing. In addition, the ensemble seeks to promote and feature compositions and poetry by women.
About the program
In this program titled, “We Rise”, we hope you will experience an array of the inspiring music and text that touches on many facets of the human existence. Each of these pieces reflects on different actions and emotions that we experience on a regular basis. Though we may encounter many challenges and setbacks in our lives, we still dance, praise, care, hope, and soar!
We Dance
SIGUE
Ivette Herryman Rodriguez (b. 1982)
Emory Clements (bass), James Wooten, Jay Cutter and Xavier Motin (percussion)
The text of Sigue derives from the poem of the same name, written by the Cuban poet Nicolás Guillén (1902-1989). It was included in the Motivos de Son series of poems ascribed to the literary genre Poema-son, created by the poet. In the poem, the poet asks a traveler not to mention him walking by the house of a certain woman, who is “bad.” The poet requests of the traveler that he continue walking and that he not stop, even if she calls him. To create this image in the music, the piano part unfolds a bass line that presents a steady rhythm throughout the piece. This pattern is a walking bass that develops characteristic Cuban rhythms of the Cuban genre: Son. The “bad” woman is portrayed by a gesture composed out of triplets that tends to stop the regular movement of the bass. After the triplets, the woman’s attempt to stop the traveler – the bass restarts the pace of its line, and the piece continues to move forward.
Program Notes by composer Ivette Herryman Rodriguez
TāReKiṬa
Reena Esmail (b. 1983)
I wrote TaReKiTa as a gift for a choir called Urban Voices Project. They are a choir of people who are currently or have recently experienced homelessness on Skid Row in Los Angeles. They are so dear to me, and one day I just decided to teach them about Indian rhythm. They enjoyed the lesson so much that I wanted to write them a piece that would use what I had taught them. The result was TaReKiTa – I literally wrote it in an hour, just in a single moment of inspiration, and recorded myself singing all the parts for them to learn. It has since become a staple of their repertoire, but it’s also been sung by so many choirs around the world. There is just something about the piece, perhaps borne out of my love for this choir, that just seems to resonate with people. Practically speaking, this piece is based on sounds the Indian drum, the tabla, makes, called “bols” — they are onomatopoeic sounds that imitate the sound of the drum. The result is something like a scat would be in jazz – ecstatic, energetic, rhythmic music that feels good on the tongue.
Program notes by composer Reena Esmail
We praise
CHILDREN, GO WHERE I SEND THEE
TRADITIONAL AFRICAN AMERICAN SPIRITUAL
ARR. KEVIN PHILLIP JOHNSON
Rap Crafted by Ayana Davis
Jordan Little, rap
Jay Abrahman, solo
Jay Cutter, Xavier Motin, percussion
“This Negro Spiritual was made popular by the Golden Gate Quartet in the 1930s. Willie T. Johnson, the lead singer of the group, was my father. Like him, I use rhythm in exciting new ways to deliver Negro spirituals to contemporary audiences.”
Notes by arranger Kevin Phillip Johnson, Director of Choral Activities at Spelman College, Atlanta, GA
we care
HOW CAN I CRY
MOIRA SMILEY (B. 1976)
Emory Clements, Bass
Please hold your applause between numbers
"I feel lucky to have learned – early on in my singing life – laments and protests of various cultures. These (mostly folk) songs powerfully expressed grief, or protested against oppression – either personal or political. I wrote ‘How Can I Cry’ at age 19 to challenge myself to know why I sign these songs, even though I may not have experienced the suffering they express. “Tomorrow and justice” refers to South African freedom songs, while “sisters singing songs of their pain” refers to Balkan folk laments. These vocal repertoires had enormous potency in their own cultures, and I have been deeply influenced by their plaintive voices raised in harmony. “How Can I Cry” is about singing for those who cannot sing, or who have been told to be quiet.”
Program notes by composer Moira Smiley
we hope
All Shall Be Well
Sarah Quartel (b. 1982)
Morgan Watts, soprano
Tania Clements, violin
Commissioned for the National Children’s Chorus and premiered as a virtual choir during the COVID-19 pandemic, Sarah Quartel’s setting of Julian of Norwich’s text is simply stunning. An English mystic from the Middle Ages, Julian’s works are some of the earliest recorded and preserved English language texts by a woman. Inspired by Julian of Norwich’s book, Revelations of Divine Love, Sarah Quartel crafted the text by incorporating some of the reflections from members of the choir who commissioned the piece in July 2020. The message of this piece highlights how sharing a song can community love through the act of singing. Quartel repeats the line “All Shall Be Well” throughout the work reinforcing that even through times may be difficult, the gift of song can help to heal the singer and the recipient of the song.
Notes by Dr. Jennifer Sengin
we soar
Still I rise
Rosephanye Powell
Emory Clements, bass
John T. David, drum set
Still I Rise was inspired by the poem of the same name by poet laureate Maya Angelou. It is a women’s anthem, saluting the strength of women to persevere through life’s difficulties – low self-esteem, physical and emotional abuse, rape, incest, prejudice, abandonment, and such like. In summary, through a woman’s life or past may be filled with tears and heartaches, with each day that she finds herself still living, she finds that she has grown stronger and risen a little higher because her circumstances have not overcome her. Thus, every new day can be one of hope and joy because regardless of the past, today, “still I rise”!
Program notes by composer Rosephanye Powell
Dr. Jennifer Sengin
Jennifer Sengin is the Associate Director of Choral Activities at Georgia State University where she conducts Treble Choir and Choral Union, teaches graduate choral literature, co-teaches graduate conducting seminar, teaches a combined graduate and undergraduate conducting course, and supervises student teachers. Under her direction, the Women’s Chorus (now Treble Choir) won first place in The American Prize and Dr. Sengin received 2nd place in conducting. The Treble Choir has been invited to perform twice at the GMEA Conference (‘20 and ‘23). Dr. Sengin received the 2021-2022 GSU Instructional Effectiveness Award and she is currently a Conducting Fellow with ACDA’s International Conductor Exchange Program where she will travel to Germany in the summer of 2023.
An active guest conductor, clinician, adjudicator, and presenter, Dr. Sengin has conducted honor choirs in Georgia, Florida, New Jersey, Michigan, and New York, and presented sessions with the Dublin Youth Singers (Ireland), NAFME Eastern Division Conference, ACDA Central/North Central Division Conference, Georgia Music Educators Conference, Florida Music Educators Conference, and at the Virtual mirabai Women’s Leadership Retreat among others. She currently sings in the award-winning professional ensemble, mirabai, under the direction of Sandra Snow.
Dr. Kyung-Mi Kim
Pianist Kyung-Mi Kim received both Doctor of Music and Master of Music degrees in piano performance from Indiana University. She also received master’s and bachelor’s degrees in piano from Ewha Woman’s University in Seoul, Korea. Her major teachers include Jin-Woo Chung and Yoon-Bo Chung in Korea. At Indiana University, she studied with the late Leonard Hokanson , a pupil of legendary pianist Artur Schnabel, Shigeo Neriki, and Evelyne Brancart.
Dr. Kim has performed extensively as a solo and collaborative pianist throughout her career. Dr. Kim has performed in major recital halls in South Korea, such as the Se-Jong Cultural Center.
Throughout her career, she has performed more than 750 recitals, collaborating with outstanding vocalists and instrumentalists in Asia and throughout the United States. She is a frequent collaborator and coach for internationally renowned tenor Russell Thomas. Preparing him for performances of new roles at some of the world’s most important opera theatres and concert venues. Of her most recent collaboration for the Los Angeles Opera, Maria Nockin of Broadway World praised her performance of Barber’s Knoxville Summer of 1915 saying, “Kim played Barber’s distinctive harmony, one could almost smell the magnolia blossoms.”
Dr. Kim currently holds a position as collaborative pianist at Georgia State University, a position she has held since 2006. She has also been teaching at Georgia Academy of Music as a piano faculty member since 2007. Since relocating to Atlanta in 2006, Dr. Kim became one of the most active collaborative pianists in the Atlanta area.
Choral Faculty
Dr. Deanna Joseph
Dr. Deanna Joseph is Professor of Music and Director of Choral Activities at the Georgia State University School of Music where she conducts the University Singers and leads the master’s program in choral conducting. A recent review of her work states, “[t]he choir sings with great musicality, excellent intonation, clear diction, and a healthy and beautiful pallet of tone colors…” (The Choral Scholar).
Deanna Joseph holds conducting degrees from the Eastman School of Music, where she was awarded the Walter Hagen Conducting Prize. She is the founder and co-artistic director of the Atlanta Summer Conducting Institute, a weeklong summer conducting master class that draws conductors nationally.
Dr. Patrick Freer
Patrick K. Freer is Professor of Music at Georgia State University where he conducts the Tenor-Bass Choir and directs the doctoral programs in music education. The GSU Tenor-Bass Choir was a featured choir in 2022’s XIV Corhabana International Choir Festival (Havana, Cuba). Dr. Freer is former Visiting Professor at the Universität Mozarteum Salzburg (Austria) and at Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (Spain), and has been in residence as a guest conductor for the Bogotá Philharmonic Orchestra (Colombia). His degrees are from Westminster Choir College and Teachers College-Columbia University. Dr. Freer has guest conducted or presented in 40 states and 30 countries. Dr. Freer is Editor of the International Journal of Research in Choral Singing and former longtime editor of Music Educators Journal. He chaired the philosophy sub-group within the task force responding to COVID-19 concerns for the National Collegiate Choral Organization (USA).
Collaborative artists
Tania Maxwell Clements
Tania Maxwell Clements attained a BA in Music Performance (Viola) and a Certificate of Post-Graduate Studies (Viola Performance) from the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama (RSAMD) where she studied viola with James Durrant. During her studies at the RSAMD she won the prestigious Watson Forbes Prize for Viola Playing and the Viola Challenge Prize. Her studies continued in Switzerland at the International Menuhin Music Academy (IMMA) for two consecutive years, working intensively with Alberto Lysy and Johannes Eskar. During this time she performed regularly in master classes given by Sir Yehudi Menuhin and artists such as Igor Oistrakh and Donald McInnes. She was principal viola and soloist with the Camerata Lysy and performed as soloist at the Menuhin Festival, Gstaad and at festivals in France, Spain, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy and Wales.
Upon leaving the IMMA, Tania was invited to become a founding member of the Seville Symphony Orchestra in Spain and from there was invited to join the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra in Manchester, England as Assistant Principal Viola. Whilst working with the BBC, Tania also held the principal viola position with the Northern Symphony Orchestra and was invited to perform as guest principal with the Halle Orchestra and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. During this time she was also a founding member of the Wralle flute, viola and harp Trio and the Puligny String Quartet.
Tania joined the faculty of Georgia State University in 1998. Since arriving in Atlanta she has appeared as a concerto soloist both at GSU and elsewhere, gives frequent recitals and performs regularly with Georgia State faculty (Musica da Camera). She is also principal viola with the Chamber Orchestra of Tennessee and the North Georgia Symphony.
Over the years she has performed with many other orchestras including the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Scottish Orchestra (formerly the SNO), the BP Scottish Ensemble, the Scottish Opera Orchestra, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the East of England Orchestra and the Royal Festival Orchestra. She has played at some of the world’s most prestigious venues including Covent Garden and the Royal Albert Hall in London, the Philharmonie in Berlin, Boston’s Symphony Hall, New York’s Lincoln Center, La Scala Milan in Itay, the Musikverein in Vienna and Prague’s Dvorak Hall. Since moving to Atlanta in 1998, she has performed with the Atlanta Symphony, Charleston Symphony, Columbus Symphony and Macon Symphony orchestras, the Atlanta Chamber Players, the Kopec String Quartet, Musica da Camera and the Lyra String Quartet.
Tania has a prolific recording career and appears on almost one hundred CD’s covering orchestral, solo and chamber repertoire. Upcoming projects include a CD of solo viola, piano and chamber works by Atlanta composer Nickitas J. Demos as well as two concertos specially commissioned for her. She is a strong supporter of new music for the viola and has personally commissioned many new works for her instrument.
Tania Maxwell Clements is also a master teacher. Before moving to Atlanta she taught orchestral techniques at Chethams School of Music (a Yehudi Menuhin School) and the Royal Northern College of Music and has also taught at the Junior Department of the RSAMD. In Atlanta, Tania is Adjunct Professor of Music (Viola and Violin) at Georgia State University.
Emory Clements
Emory Clements has been a major presence on the orchestral and chamber music scene in the South East for over thirty years. He is a member of the Atlanta Opera, the Savannah Philharmonic, and the Columbus Symphony Orchestra and freelances with orchestras throughout the region. These include the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and the Atlanta Ballet, as well as the Charleston Symphony, Alabama Symphony, Hilton Head Symphony, and many others. Clements has played with many chamber music and new music ensembles including the Vega Quartet, Atlanta Chamber Winds, and Bent Frequency as well as at festivals including the Highlands-Cashiers Chamber Music Festival.
As an Atlanta native Clements took his first lessons on the double bass at the age of eight and started his serious studies with the legendary Jane Little. He attended the University of North Texas, where he studied jazz bass, and holds degrees in Music Education and Performance from the University of Georgia. During his studies he attended bass workshops with Hal Robinson and George Vance.
Clements has taught in the Clarke County school system, at Clark Atlanta University, Mercer University, and at Georgia College and State University. Clements also is a passionate luthier and has been repairing, restoring, and making double basses since 1997. He often plays on one of his basses, as five string, which was completed in 2001. He regularly attends the Oberlin Bass Makers Workshop in his summers. He has his own bass making and repair business, Clements Contrabasses.
Emory lives in Atlanta with his wife, Tania, their children Max and Lucia, and their two cats.
John David
John David is Artist-in-Residence and Director of Jazz and Percussion Studies at Berry College in Rome, GA. Appointed to this position in Fall 2013, Mr. David is the director of the Berry Jazz Ensemble, Jazz Combo, Percussion Ensemble, Steel Band and Viking Drumline. He also teaches applied percussion and is the percussion pedagogy specialist in music education. Under his direction the Berry College Jazz Ensemble has been a featured performing group at the 2015 and 2019 Georgia Music Educators Conference.
Renowned as a drumset artist, John has performed throughout the United States and Europe in a variety of jazz and commercial settings. He studied at the University of Miami, University of Georgia and Columbus State University.
DR. STUART GERBER
Lauded as having “consummate virtuosity” by The New York Times, percussionist Stuart Gerber has performed extensively on international stages both as a soloist and chamber musician. He has worked with such noted composers as Karlheinz Stockhausen, Kaija Saariaho, George Lewis, Georgie Crumb, and Steve Reich and has recorded for the Stockhausen Complete Edition, Innova, Mode, Bridge, Telarc, Code Blue, Centaur, and Albany Records. Recent appearances include The Kuala Lumpur Experimental Film, Video, and Music Festival, the Montreal New Music Festival, Electronic Music Malta Festival, The Eduardo MATA Festival (Mexico), the Cervantino Festival (Mexico), the Now Festival (Estonia), the Spoleto Festival (US), and the Savannah Music Festival.
Stuart studied at the Oberlin College Conservatory, the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, and the Hochshule für Musik in Hannover, Germany. He is Professor of Music at Georgia State University and co-artistic director of the Atlanta-based contemporary music ensemble Bent Frequency.
Student Performers
Credits:
Created with images by eshma - "White cloud in the sky" • fishyo - "Realistic white cloud" • Dany - "white fluffy cumulus clouds full flame " • simon - "cloud background " • simon - "heavenly dreamy fluffy colorful fantasy clouds" • SusaZoom - "beautiful sunset sky with light pink clouds, pastel colors" • AARTI - "Beautiful pastel cloudy sunset" • schankz - "beautiful sky with clouds in the evening"