TUESDAY
OCTOBER 21
7:00 PM
Rialto Center for the Arts
CHORAL UNION
Prof. Meghan Stoll, conductor
Aaron Cummings, Shaun Gibbons, Logan Kropp, Alex Thompson & Katie Kress, graduate conductors
Kyung-Mi Kim, piano
Hear My Prayer
Moses Hogan | 1957-2003
Moses George Hogan was an American composer and arranger of choral music. He was best known for his settings of spirituals. Hogan was a pianist, conductor, and arranger of international renown. His works are celebrated and performed by high school, college, church, community, and professional choirs today. Over his lifetime, he published 88 arrangements for voice, eight of which were solo pieces
Joyful, Joyful
Ludwig van Beethoven | B. 1950
arr. Emerson
Kyung-Mi Kim, piano
Nick Coppola, percussion
Bobby Tong, bass
Jadon-Li Antoine & Jazmine Mobley, soloists
Hymn of Joy (often called "Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee") is a poem written by Henry van Dyke in 1907 and also the famous "Ode to Joy" melody of the final movement of Ludwig van Beethoven's final symphony, Symphony No. 9.
Tenor-Bass Choir
Dr. Patrick K. Freer, conductor
Aaron Cummings & Logan Kropp, graduate conductors
Josue Valdez, piano
Cantate Domino
Alec Schumaker (b. 1986)
Alec Schumacker is Director of Choral Activities and Associate Professor of Music at Hawai‘i Pacific University where he conducts the International Vocal Ensemble and the International Chorale. He presently serves as the Vice President of the Hawai‘i Chapter of the American Choral Directors Association.
An award-winning composer and arranger, Alec’s choral music is published by Santa Barbara Music Publishing, Alliance Music Publications, earthsongs, and World Projects. His works have been performed around the country by all-state choruses and prestigious ensembles such as the Santa Fe Desert Chorale, the New World Symphony, the University of Delaware Chorale, the Frost Chorale, the Voices of Aloha, and even at the NFL’s Pro Bowl in 2016.
Chasing Visions
Don MacDonald (b. 1966)
Logan Kropp, conductor
Don Macdonald (born 1966) is an internationally recognized composer of film and choral music, and he has an eclectic musical background as a performer, producer, and educator.
Connected
Brian Tate | B. 1954
Dr. Michelle Folta, conductor
Logan Kropp, rehearsal conductor
An award-winning composer, as well as an accomplished and versatile musician, choir director, and educator, Brian attributes the success of his multifaceted career to a love of working with people and a passion for the arts.
Brian received his Bachelor of Music degree from the University of British Columbia, and went on to further music studies in London, England; Toronto; Ghana; Cuba; Oakland and New Orleans. His love for music of many kinds has led to a diverse career that includes orchestral and choral conducting and performing, musical theatre, and composing music for film, television, stage, and the concert hall. Brian has twice received Vancouver's Jessie Richardson Award for original theatre music, and his choral music is performed worldwide.
As a vocalist, Brian performs with his jazz quartet at festivals, clubs, and in concert. He also performs with Dawn Pemberton and Karla Mundy in the vocal a cappella trio, TriVo.
United in Purpose
Rollo Dilworth | B. 1970
Aaron Cummings, conductor
Rollo A. Dilworth is an American choral composer, arranger, conductor, and music educator from St. Louis, Missouri. In 1998, both Colla Voce and Hal Leonard contacted Dilworth, offering him publishing contracts. Since then, Dilworth has had over 150 works published. He has contributed to the Choir Builders series of choral textbooks and to the music magazine Music Express, both of which are published by Hal Leonard.
Both classical music and African-American folk music have influenced Dilworth's musical development and style. He recognizes Beethoven and Chopin as beloved classical icons in his life, but his compositional style is largely influenced by Gospel and Spiritual composers such as Robert Ray and Moses Hogan.[1] Dilworth also draws inspiration from African-American literary tradition. He has a particular affinity for the poetry of Langston Hughes and Paul Laurence Dunbar,[9] a love which has moved him to compose settings of their texts.
TREBLE CHOIR
Prof. Meghan Stoll, conductor
Carolyn Mielke & Rae Laury, graduate conductors
Nick Johns-Cooper, piano
Gloria Kajoniensis
Levente Gyöngyösi | B. 1975
Madison Tiegreen, Rae Laury & Carolyn Mielke, soloists
Nick Johns-Cooper, piano
Guilliana Scaramazza & Ethan Del Prado, violin
Dylan Mantione & Nick Coppola, percussion
The Gloria Kajoniensis is a Gloria in three movements, with text taken from the Cantionale Catholicum. This was a Hungarian hymnbook first published in 1676 by Romanian monk János Kájoni, after which this piece is likely named.
Composer Levente Gyöngyösi (b. 1975) is himself a Romanian-born Hungarian who has published almost 80 choral works, primarily in Latin. The first movement, Gloria in excelsior deo, launches us into a lively piece befitting its celebratory text. It features exhilarating combinations of syncopated rhythms, clapping, and hypnotic melodies making it exciting and undeniably fun.
Beati Quorum Via
Charles Villiers Stanford | 1852-1924
Rae Laury, conductor
Sir Charles Villiers Stanford was an Irish composer, music teacher, and conductor. Among his students were Gustav Holst and Ralph Vaughan Williams.
Kalinda
Sydney Guillaume | B.1982
Originally from Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Sydney Guillaume currently resides in Portland, Oregon working as a full-time composer, conductor and frequently doing workshops on his music with universities and high schools throughout North America. Since 2013 he has been the conductor of Imbroglio Sextet, a group of musicians from Haiti, Spain, and the United States.
Sydney Guillaume’s compositions are known to be intricate, challenging and yet highly spirited. Many of his choral works, most with original poetry by his father Gabriel T. Guillaume, have fostered an awareness of the beautiful Haitian culture and continue to serve as an ambassador for his native country. They have been featured at numerous national conferences and international festivals. In 2017, he was honored by the top music school in Haiti for his “great contribution in the expansion and the promotion of the music and culture of Haiti around the world.” Guillaume has also written original film and documentary scores for the Los Angeles based company Loyola Productions.
UNIVERSITY SINGERS
Dr. Deanna Joseph, conductor
Justin Maxey, piano
TCHAKA
Sydney Guillaume (b. 1982)
Lyza Cue, Nick Johns-Cooper, Rae Laury & James Wooten, percussion
Tchaka is one of the most popular meals in Haitian cuisine. It’s a “melting pot” – a tasty mélange of different food products such as corn, beans with pork, and crustaceans. Likewise, Haitian folklore consists of a huge variety of rhythms and dances that when mixed together give birth to extraordinary works.
- program note from composer
SACRED PLACE
Alex Berko (b. 1995)
I. Opening Prayer
II. Amidah
III. Shemah
IV. Mi Shebeirach
V. Kaddish
VI. Closing Prayer
Lindsey Hansen-Bravo, soprano
Margot Cohen, mezzo soprano
Shaun Gibbons, tenor
Benjamin Varner, baritone
Adam Moore, violin
Mary Horst, cello
Justin Maxey, piano
Sacred Place is an ecological service that connects the old with the new, the sacred with the secular, and the individual with their community. The outline of the work is a Jewish service. However, rather than Jewish prayers, the text is made up of various writers and thinkers who speak of the environment as a place of safety, comfort, and beauty. This piece is at times a meditation and at times an impassioned prayer for the world we inhabit and share.
Words by Wendell Berry, John Muir, William Stafford & Rabindranath Tagore
I Wanna Be Ready
arr. Stacey V. Gibbs (b. 1964)
Stacey V. Gibbs is a prolific and highly sought-after composer, arranger and clinician. Best known for arrangements of spirituals, he is highly acclaimed for his ability to infuse new energy into familiar works without sacrificing their authenticity or power.
Maestro Gibbs' spirituals have been commissioned and performed by the King's Singers of England, United States Air Force Sergeants, The St. Olaf Choir, the Stellenbosch Choir of South Africa, the University of Southern California Chamber Singers, The Princeton Glee Club, Morehouse & the University of Michigan Glee Clubs, the Wartburg Choir, The Nairobi Chamber Singers, Cantus, Chanticleer and many other college, university, high school and professional ensembles both domestically and internationally. His music has been programmed at all state festivals, National Association of Music Educators (MENC) Festivals, the World Choir Games and regional and national American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) Conventions.
He currently has over 200 published arrangements available for SATB, SSAA and TTBB voices. His music was featured at the 57th Inaugural Service for President Obama and family.