WHEN WORDS FAIL, MUSIC SPEAKS
--SHAKESPEARE
As a choir community, we thrive on creative expression, and through our rehearsals, we give voice to some of the best contemporary composers and writers of our time.
Holiday Concert Music and Composer Information
The Music of Stillness words by Sara Teasdale and music by Elaine Hagenberg Elaine Hagenberg
“Elaine Hagenberg’s music “soars with eloquence and ingenuity” (ACDA Choral Journal). Her award-winning compositions are performed worldwide and frequently featured at American Choral Directors Association conferences, All-State festivals, Carnegie Hall, and other distinguished international concert halls from Australia to South America and throughout Europe. In addition to composing full-time, Elaine actively engages in bringing her music to life as the guest artist and featured clinician for professional conferences and festivals both in the U.S. and abroad as a composer, conductor, and accompanist of her work. “From https://www.elainehagenberg.com/
Elaine Hagenberg
“Sara Teasdale was born in St. Louis, Missouri to a wealthy family. As a young woman she traveled to Chicago and grew acquainted with Harriet Monroe and the literary circle around Poetry. Teasdale wrote seven books of poetry in her lifetime and received public admiration for her well-crafted lyrical poetry which centered on a woman’s changing perspectives on beauty, love, and death. Many of Teasdale’s poems chart developments in her own life, from her experiences as a sheltered young woman in St. Louis, to those as a successful yet increasingly uneasy writer in New York City, to a depressed and disillusioned person who would commit suicide in 1933.”. From the Poetry Foundation
Sara Teasdale
Glow words by Edward Esch and music by Eric Whitacre
Eric Whitacre
I“Howard David Blake OBE FRAM (born 28 October 1938) is an English composer, conductor, and pianist whose career has spanned more than 50 years and produced more than 650 works.[1] Blake's most successful work is his soundtrack for Channel 4’s 1982 film The Snowman, which includes the song "Walking in the Air". He is increasingly recognized for his classical works including concertos, oratorios, ballets, operas, and many instrumental pieces." From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard Blake and Howardblake.com
‘Grammy Award-winning composer and conductor, Eric Whitacre, is among today’s most popular musicians. His works are programmed worldwide, and his ground-breaking Virtual Choirs have united 100,000 singers from more than 145 countries. Born in Nevada in 1970, Eric is a graduate of The Juilliard School. He is currently Visiting Composer at Pembroke College, Cambridge University (UK) and is an Ambassador for the Royal College of Music (London). He recently completed two terms as Artist in Residence with the Los Angeles Master Chorale. In the 2022-2023 season, the Cincinnati Pops and the National Symphony Orchestra premiered a new commission: Prelude in C. Eric is proud to be a Yamaha Artist.’ From ericwhitacre.co
Walking on Air words and music by Howard Blake
“Howard David Blake OBE FRAM (born 28 October 1938) is an English composer, conductor, and pianist whose career has spanned more than 50 years and produced more than 650 works.[1] Blake's most successful work is his soundtrack for Channel 4’s 1982 film The Snowman, which includes the song "Walking in the Air". He is increasingly recognized for his classical works including concertos, oratorios, ballets, operas, and many instrumental pieces. From: “https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard Blake and Howardblake.com
Howard Blake
One Can Hear the Falling Snow Words and Music by Greg Gilpin
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“Greg Gilpin is a celebrated ASCAP award-winning choral composer and arranger and a highly respected choral conductor. He is known throughout the United States leading performances at New York City’s iconic Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center as well as Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee. His international appearances include the Sydney Opera House in Sydney, Australia, Royal Festival Hall in London, England and Harpa Concert Hall in Reykjavik, Iceland. Mr. Gilpin is also a producer and musician in the recording industry and is Director of Educational Choral Publications for Shawnee Press, a distinguished choral publisher.” From Greggilpin.com
Greg Gilpin
Blow, Blow Thou Winter Wind music by John Rutter, Words by Shakespeare.
John Rutter
John Rutter is an English composer and conductor, associated mainly with choral music and active internationally for many years. His larger choral works, Gloria, Requiem, Magnificat, Mass of the Children, The Gift of Life, and Visions, are widely performed around the world, and many of his shorter pieces such as The Lord bless you and keep you, For the beauty of the earth, Look at the world, and All things bright and beautiful have become ‘standards’. He has composed or arranged many Christmas carols. He established the Collegium record label in 1983 as a vehicle for recordings with his professional chamber choir the Cambridge Singers, and they have made over fifty recordings. He has enjoyed a long association with Clare College, Cambridge – first as student, then Director of Music, later as parent, and recording producer for their renowned choir. From: Johnrutter.com
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening music by Bruce W. Tippette words by Robert Frost
Bruce W. Tippette
Robert Frost
Bruce W. Tippette (b. 1985) “is a composer, performer, and educator. He holds a Master of Music from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts in music composition and a Bachelor of Music in both music composition/theory and also music education from Appalachian State University. His published compositions for chorus, concert band, orchestra, handbells, and solo/small ensembles have been performed internationally, and he actively receives commissions for both choral and instrumental ensembles. In addition to his concert works, Tippette has composed original compositions for choreographers, film, and has co-composed music for a children's musical. Tippette's work Unconquered, written for orchestra, won the 2012 Mary Starling Composition Competition, and the Winston-Salem Symphony performed it four subsequent times. Additionally, he was chosen in 2012, 2013 and 2014 to compose five new works as part of an experimental collaboration with Cirque du Soleil and the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. “ from Brucetippette.com
Robert Frost was born in San Francisco, but his family moved to Lawrence, Massachusetts, in 1884 following his father’s death. The move was actually a return, for Frost’s ancestors were originally New Englanders, and Frost became famous for his poetry’s engagement with New England locales, identities, and themes. Frost graduated from Lawrence High School, in 1892, as class poet (he also shared the honor of co-valedictorian with his wife-to-be Elinor White), and two years later, the New York Independent accepted his poem entitled “My Butterfly,” launching his status as a professional poet with a check for $15.00. Frost's first book was published around the age of 40, but he would go on to win a record four Pulitzer Prizes and become the most famous poet of his time, before his death at the age of 88. From https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/robert-frost
Winter Sings Her Song words and music by David Waggoner
“David Waggoner currently teaches elementary music in Woodhaven, MI. He lives with his wife Heidi and three children in Wyandotte, MI, where he is also the Director of Music at the First United Methodist Church.
David is a graduate of the University of Michigan School of Music and has a master’s degree in music from Eastern Michigan University. He has composed many pieces for choirs, handbells, and other instruments.” From https://www.alfred.com/authors/david-waggoner/
David Waggoner
In the Stillness of Winter words and music by Victor C. Johnson
“Victor C. Johnson is an award-winning composer and arranger, in addition to being an experienced music educator and conductor. Having his first choral composition published while still a sophomore in high school, composing beautifully crafted choral compositions has been one of his lifelong passions.” From Victor C. Johnson. http://www.victorjohnsonmusic.com
Snowscape words and music by Douglas E. Wagner
“Douglas E. Wagner, a native of Chicago, Illinois, is an internationally recognized composer and arranger holding undergraduate and graduate degrees in music from Butler University, where he studied organ with Ernest White. With thirty years as a high school music educator and administrator behind him, Wagner now devotes himself to composition and its allied activities. With more than 3,000 titles published since 1973, including works for choir (sacred and secular), concert band, orchestra, handbell ensemble, organ, piano, and voice, well over fifteen million copies of his music have been sold to date.”From . https://lorenz.com/composers-and-authors/meet-our-composers/douglas-e-wagner
The First Snow words by Julie H. Scott and Music by Heather Sorenson
Julia H. Scott née, Kinney; November 4, 1809 – March 5, 1842) was an American author who had the distinction of being the Poet of Sheshequin. She wrote numerous articles of prose and poetry, which were published in many of the most popular literary periodicals in the U.S.[2] She was a prominent literary figure in the Universalist religion, along with Sarah Carter Edgarton Mayo and Caroline Mehitable Fisher Sawyer: From Wikipedia