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MUSIC DIRECTOR AND CONDUCTOR

The 1997-98 concert season'marks founder Dale Warland's26th season as Music Director ofthe Dale Warland Singers. UnderWarland's leadership, the ensemblehas thrilled choral music loversthroughout North America andEurope.

Dale Warland's outstandingachievements in the field of cho-ral music were recognized in 1995,when he received the MichaelKorn Founder's Award. Thisaward, which ranks as the"Gramrny" of choral music in theUnited States, has been given to

luminaries such as RobertShaw, Margaret Hillis andRoger Wagner.

Beyond his active sched-ule as music director of TheDale Warland Singers,Warland is in demand asa guest conductor, lecturer

and composer. He has conductedsuch prestigious choirs as theSwedish Radio Choir, the DanishRadio Choir, the Oregon Bach Fes-tival Chorus, the Mormon Taber-nacle Choir, Colorado SymphonyOrchestra, Viginia Chorale, andIsrael's Cameran Singers. He hasprepared major choruses aroundthe world for performances, in-cluding Penderecki's Polish Requiemin 1990-the culminating event ofthe Second World Symposium onChoral Music in Finland.

Warland is an activecomposer and a member of theAmerican Society of Composers,Authors and Publishers (ASCAP).He has served as co-chair of thechoral and recording panels of theNational Endowment for the Arts.

Before devoting himself fulltime to the Singers, Dr. WaTlandspent 19 years as Director ofChoral Music at Macalester Col-lege. He holds degrees from St Olaf

College, the University of Minne-sota, and the University of South-ern California.

Now in its twenty-sixth sea-son of subscription concerts, tourand festival appearances, radiobroadcasts and critically acclaimedrecordings the Dale Warland Sing-ers are recognized as one of theworld's foremost a cappella choralensembles.

Based in Minneapolis/St. Paul,The Dale Warland Singershave earned a reputation for theircommitment to commissioningand performing 20th-centurychoral music. The Dale WarlandSingers' New Choral Music Pro-gram commissions works fromemerging composers, and throughthis program, commissions havebeen awarded to 10 talented mu-sicians, with an 11th to be awardedin 1998.

In addition to performancesin the Twin Cities, the DaleWarland Singers tour throughoutthe United States and have con-certized abroad. In 1990, the en-semble traveled to Stockholm andHelsinki to represent NorthAmerica at the Second World Sym-posium on Choral Music. Thegroup has been heard on Garri-son Keillor's original A Prairie HomeCompanion and has regularly beenfeatured on Public Radio.

Expanding their audience athome are performances of majorchoral symphonic works by thelarger Warland Symphonic Cho-rus in collaboration withrenowned orchestras and suchartists as Edo de Waart, RobertShaw, David Zinman and RogerNorrington.

The Singers' most recentrelease, titled Blue Wheat, is a col-lection of American folk music. TheSeattle Times calls it lithe lovliest cho-ral disc to emerge in a long

time ...sung by what is probablyAmerica's best chorus." Alsoamong the Singers' acclaimed re-cordings is December Stillness, whichBBe Music Magazine gave itshighest rating for performance andsound, and called it 1J ••• splendid,melting stuff;' and which The SeattleTimes placed at the top of its list ofbest holiday releases. Earlier re-cordings by the Singers includeFancie, A Rose in Winter which willbe re-released in October, Christ-mas Echoes and Carols For Christmasas well as Americana: A Bit of FolkChoral Currmts, and 12 others.

THE DALE WARLA D CHAMBER 51 GERS

Soprano Alto

Beth Althof Iuni Banerjee-Jane Andersen StevensMarie Spar Dymit * Io Halvorsen"Julie Olson Lynette JohnsonMonica Stratton LindaRuth Thompson KachelmeierTeresa Tierney Laura ichols

TeresaWoollums

Tenor Bass

Jeff DoumaJerry Elsbernd *Bryan FisherDavid MeissnerSteve StamchRandall Speer

* Section Leader

Bruce BroquistDavid Jacobson,David MobergBob Peskin *Jim RamletJerry RubinoBrian Steele

G1~iZ6tdwwASSOCIATE CONDUCTOR,DALE WARLAND SINGERSMUSIC DIRECTOR,THE WARLAND CABARET SINGERS ..~

Jerry Rubino has contri&11many of his talents to tn'Warland Singers during)hiyear relationship wi~lt.....ensemble. His past and R~~~efforts include singer: pianisita,arranger for the Dale Warla~';Singers, music director for the? (ii

Warland Cabaret Singers, andmusic coordinator of the Singers'education programs. Recently, hewas appointed associate conduc-tor of the Singers.

Rubino is a versatile musi-cian, giving solo and chamberperformances; serving as organ-ist and choir director of Spirit ofHope United Methodist Church;and appearing with the TwinCities-based New Music TheaterEnsemble and The Saint PaulChamber Orchestra. He frequentlyserves as a choral clinician andadjudicator. Rubino began hisprofessional studies as a cellist atthe Curtis Institute of Music andwent on to earn degrees in piano,music education, and conductingfrom Temple University and theUniversity of Minnesota. A pub-lished arranger with Jenson, Wordand Hinshaw, he was named in

. International Who's Who in 1995.

Founded in 1983, theWarland Cabaret Singers hasgained a devoted following of

vocal jazz enthusiasts for its so-phisticated renditions of swing eraballads and jazz selections. Selectedfrom among The Dale WarlandSingers, the Cabaret Singers rep-resents a broad musical spectrum,including voice teachers, big bandsoloists and free-lance musicians.Under the direction of pianist/ con-ductor Jerry Rubino, the WarlandCabaret Singers has developed adistinctive sound, rich in vocal in-tegrity and virtuosic precision. Itsrepertoire is delivered with pa-nache and style, whether in Broad-way show tunes or jazz classicsby George Gershwin and ColePorter.

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THE WARLAND CABARET SINGERS

Jane AndersenTeresa WoollumsJo HalvorsenIuni Banerjee-StevensJerry ElsberndBryan FisherBruce BroquistBrian Steele

FancieThe Cloud-Capp'd TowerTake, 0 Take Those Lips AwayBlow, Blow Thou Winter Wind

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Modern MadrigalsRotala (Round Dance)Water ightKotek (The Kitten)TearsOf Crows and Clusters

Juris KarlsonsEric Whitacre

Andrzej Koszewskied Rorem

orman DelIo Joio

II

From Canada and EstoniaEpitaph for MoonlightJaanilaul (St. John's Song)

R. Murray SchaferVeljo Tormis

III

Choral ClassicsAlleluiaPsalm 67Ave Verum CorpusSalmo 150

Randall ThompsonCharles Ives

W A. MozartEmani Aguiar

INTERMISSION

IV

A Shakes eare Tribute

vCabaret Sin ers

Selections will be announced from stage

VI

From uebec and the StatesOh. Shenandoah (Traditional)Cindy (American Folksong)Pretty Saro (Traditional)J'entends lc moulin (I Hear the Mill Wheel»

x· ».

(French Canadian) Donald Patriquirl;~"

Instrumen talistsJerry Rubino, Piano Jeff Douma, Percussion

~~c9'Yo4iI. MODERN MADRIGALS

Juris Karlsons (b. 1948):Rotala (Round Dance)

from Nesdgtais Gredzens(The Unclosed Ring) (1982)

Latvia was annexed by theformer U.S.s.R. in 1940 and struggledto maintain a cultural identity duringthe next fifty years. Works like JurisKarlsons' 'Neselgtais Gredzens" showhow lively such efforts were. Here isone setting of poems by the contro-versial Janis Rainis (1865-1929),Latvia's most renowned poet and po-litical exile. A tripp ling, rapid-firechildren's dance, punctuated by tonecluster cries of "Vidu!"

Eric Whitacre (b. 1970): Water Night(1996)

Eric Whitacre is the winner of~lte 1994 ACDA Composers of the

.....Future Competition and has had nu-..merous commissions for choral andinstrumental groups.

Andrzej Koszewski (b. 1968):Kotek (The Kitten) (1968)

The DWS have championedAndrzej Koszewski's music for manyyears. The Polish composer has a strik-ing knack for creating truly fresh cho-ral sounds. In Kotek (The Kitten), heimaginatively turns the choir into aprowling, purring little feline. You canpractically see it approach its prey,then hop playfully away.

Ned Rorem (b. 1923):Tears (1951)

Ned Rorem is the 20th century'sFranz Schubert. Like the Austrian of175 years past Rorem has staked hisclaim predominantly on one musicalform, song-creating hundreds of lean,elegant works for the voice that over-shadow his fine instrumental works.This touching poem dates from theearly 17th century.

Norman Dello Joio (b. 1913):Of Crows and Clusters (1972)

This nonsensical text dates fromthe turn of the century, when poetVachel Lindsay was enamored of fan-

tasies like Alice in Wonderland. Here,we've two bumbling black birds sit-ting on a fence, "thinking of cause andeffect...effect and cause, and of nature'slaws" One of them stutters, the othermutters, a bee buzzes by and scaresthem both off, and that's that. Don'tlook for ultimate meaning here- justenjoy the wit and snap of a great com-poser sporting with a goofy poem.

II. FROM CANADAAND ESTONIA

R. Murray Schafer (b. 1933):Epitaph for Moonlight (1968)

Schafer wrote this piece to de-pict moonlight and to commemoratethe moon's pristine environment,which he realized would be foreveraltered with the first moon landing.

Musically, Epitaph has no keysignatures, bar lines, sharps or flats

here- not a stave of conventionallynotated music. The sopranos enterhumming a "medium high note" andthe choir, divided into 16 parts, slidesin behind on descending half-steps;if all is lined up properly, this mashof sound evolves into a major triad.

Veljo Tormis (b. 1930): Jaanilaul(S1oJohn's Song) (1966-67)

Veljo Tormis is regarded todayas a cultural treasure in Estonia. Herescued Estonian native music fromextinction by encouraging farmers,laborers and housewives to sing forhim their grandparents' tunes.

In St. John's Song, Tormis exploitsthe tune's harmonic potential bystacking on top of it another versionof the tune. Music theorists call twoseparate but coexisting harmonies "bi-tonality" Tormis teases a third strandof harmony out of the bass line.Though the title refers to St. John ofthe Bible, this old Estonian text issemi-nonsensical.

III. CHORAL CLASSICS

Randall Thompson (1899-1984):Alleluia (1940)

Thompson was one of ourcountry's great men of music. Hetaught for nearly 20 years at HarvardUniversity and wrote scores that in-fused a uniquely American elementinto classical music. He was one of

the first to incorporate jazz into or-chestral works, and his 1932 Sym-phony No.2 gained hugh popularitybecause of it. The graceful Alleluia hasbeen a perennial favorite with choirsof all sizes and ages.

Charles Ives (1874-1954):Sixty-Seventh Psalm

A few years ago the New York Timesasked several prominent musi-cians to name the most overrated andunderrated composers. One man,Charles Ives, topped each list. Ives hasspawned debate like this since his firstworks 100 years ago-and there's nosign of it letting up even four decadesafter his death. To his fans, he's anAmerican original, a fiercely indepen-dent iconoclast who broke Europeanmusical convention at every oppor-tunity.

Sixty-Seventh Psalm is notablebecause it introduces "hi-tonality"decades before other composers triedtheir hands at it.

W. A. Mozart (1756-1791):Ave Verum Corpus, K. 618

Perfect things come .packages. Only 46 bars longposed in a single day (June 1the Ave Verum Corpus is a rareeven for Mozart. Its eloquharmonic richness, and pspirituality make it hisgious vocal work.

Ernani Aguiar (b. 1949):

Brazilian-bornone of his country's byounger composers. Psebulliently rhythmic andexample of Aguiar'sFrequent passages of rapidtion punctuate the music andexcitement level high all thethe exultant, final 'Alleluia!"

IV A SHAKESPEARE TRIB

Benjamin Britten (1913-1976):Fancie (1961) Text: Merchant of

Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-The Cloud-Capped ToThree Shakespeare Songs (1951Text: The Tempest