Conspirare artistic director Craig Hella Johnson led the American Creators Chorus.
by GARY FERRINGTON
It seems fitting to perform brand new music with a brand new group. The 37-member American Creators Chorus was formed on June 28, giving the musicians only four days to prepare and then perform 11 new works by the emerging composers hosted by this summer’s Oregon Bach Festival Composers Symposium. But on Tuesday, July 2, they pulled it off, due to the skillful mentorship of visiting choral conductor Craig Hella Johnson, founder and artistic director of Conspirare, the Austin based “company of voices” drawn from around the country that has often performed music by Symposium director and University of Oregon music professor Robert Kyr.
Tuesday’s first installment of the symposium’s Living Music concert series featured new choral works, each 2-3 minutes long, created by young composers participating in this year’s ten-day gathering at the University of Oregon’s School of Music and Dance in Eugene. The programing of short works provided the opportunity to hear a diversity of new music ranging from the traditionally religious “Ave Maria Regina Familiae” by Daniel J. Knaggs (Rice University) to the playful “Paper Boats” by Saunder Choi (Berklee College of Music).
ACC sang all the music a cappella except for “The Lord is My Shepherd” by William Gorton (Arizona State University) which included flute and piano accompaniment. Other performed works included “O Salutaris Hostia” by Robert Chastain (University of Oregon); “Sancta Maria” by David Sackmann (Gonzaga University); “Come, O Human Child” by Iris Ceulemans (University of Wisconsin); “I Shall Not Care” by Brandon Stewart (Marylhurst College) and two works by composers from the University of Oregon: David Eisenband’s “Who Has Seen The Wind?” and “Ah Sunflower” by Alexander Johnson.
I’ve not been personally fond of choral music and rarely include it in my selection of classical music. So I approached this event with some trepidation. To my surprise, I found myself fully involved in listening to these new compositions – most performed for the first time. My experience was greatly enhanced by Dr. Kyr, who asked each composer to introduce his/her work. To hear a composer describe what inspired a particular composition helped me as a listener to hear the piece within the context of why it was written.
“Father Myke’s Prayer” by Kitty Brazelton (Bennington College), for example, reminded listeners of the sacrifices made by those who perished in the September 2001 World Trade Tower attack. Father Mychal F. Judge, the chaplain of the Fire Department of New York, was the first certified fatality on that tragic day. This composition is a setting of Father Judge’s prayer for choir:
Lord take me where you want me to go
Let me meet who you want me to meet
Tell me what you want me to say
and keep me out of your way.
Dr. Robert Kyr welcomes the audience to Living Music 1: Choral Music at Beall Concert Hall on July 2. Photo: G.W. Ferrington.
Part of the UO’s Oregon Bach Festival since 1994, the Composers Symposium allows a community of creators to come together in a collaborative environment to share living music of our time with the public, as Kyr noted in his opening remarks. The Symposium continues to grow each year and now attracts to Oregon participants from all over the United States, Canada, and elsewhere. This year, 90 composers, performers, and conductors are participating in multiple roles during the various concerts the symposium offers to the public.
Upcoming public performances in the series continue this week at Beall Hall on the UO campus. Living Music Now: Beta Collide, at 7:30 pm on Friday, July 5. BC’s directors Molly Barth (flute) and Brian McWhorter (trumpet) and guest artists the Fireworks New Music Ensemble and the Symposium’s American Creators Ensemble will perform premiers of new instrumental music by symposium participants, as well as works by the great 20th century composers Morton Feldman, Toru Takemitsu, and John Cage. Living Music 2: New Chamber Music at 7:30 pm on Saturday July 6 and Living Music 3: New Chamber Music at 7:30 pm on Sunday July 7 feature work by emerging composers who are participants in the Composers Symposium. All the performances will be streamed live.
Although the just-formed American Creators Chorus will not perform again this year, I eagerly anticipate this week’s remaining Living Music Now programs featuring the future of classical instrumental music today.