the cuesta chamber singers · 2019-04-27 · lux aurumque eric whitacre (b. 1970) light, warm and...

❦

Sunday, March 18, 2012

4:00 PM

Holy Cross Church

170 High Street, Santa Cruz

T h e S an t a C r uz C h o r a l e S e a s o n 2 9 ❦ 2 0 1 1 – 2 0 1 2

The Cuesta Chamber Singersjoined by the Santa Cruz Chorale

John Knutson, Conductor, Cuesta College Chamber Singers

Christian Grube, Conductor, Santa Cruz Chorale

Musical Arts of Santa Cruz and the Santa Cruz Chorale present

Cuesta College ChamberSingers and VoceThe Cuesta Chamber Singers, Cuesta College’spremier choral ensemble, perform a wide variety of choral works to excellent criticalacclaim. Since its inception in 1997, the ensemble has toured extensively through theWestern United States and Europe. In the summer of 2005, the Chamber Singers touredthe Czech Republic, Austria, Switzerland, andGermany, performing to consistently packedhouses and standing ovations. The ChamberSingers returned to Europe in 2008 to perform inSpain and at the Festival International enProvence in France. In June 2009 the ChamberSingers received second place in every categoryat the California International ChoirCompetition. In July 2011 the Chamber Singerscompeted at the Vokal Total Festival in Graz,Austria. They were the only college group invited in the 11 years since the festival wasfounded, and received second place against professional groups from Europe and Asia.

Season 29 ❦ 2 0 1 1 – 2 0 1 2 The Santa Cruz Chorale 3

Reminders❦ Please turn off cell phones, watch alarms, andother devices that might disrupt the concert.

❦ Please refrain from taking photos or makingaudio or video recordings of performances. Nosuch activities are allowed without advance written permission.

❦ Due to the nature of live performance, all programs are subject to change.

The Chamber Singers’ concerts generally feature masterpieces ranging from theRenaissance to the contemporary, world music,gospel, and classical works. Recent concertshave featured outstanding performances of JohnRutter’s Requiem, Vivaldi’s Magnificat,Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms, Bach motets andcantatas, touching devotional songs, tour deforce jazz arrangements, and lush works fromthe Romantic period.

4 The Santa Cruz Chorale Season 29 ❦ 2 0 1 1 – 2 0 1 2

ChristianGrubeChristian Grube, artisticdirector of the Santa CruzChorale since July 2006, isemeritus professor of choralconducting at the Universityof Arts, Berlin. As directorof the Berlin State and Cathedral Boys’ Choir andthe Chamber Choir of the University of Arts,Professor Grube has conducted and toured withhis choirs throughout the world. In 1995,because of the diplomatic influence of his work,he was awarded the National Medal forDistinguished Service, the highest civilian honorgiven by the German government.

Professor Christian Grube continues to spendpart of the year in Europe, holding workshopsand serving as a guest conductor with variouschoral groups. He teaches conducting at theUniversity of Arts, Berlin, and performs andtours with the University Chamber Choir. Therest of the year he lives in the Santa Cruz mountains of California, where he gives privateconducting lessons.

John KnutsonMr. Knutson is Directorof Choral Studies atCuesta College in SanLuis Obispo. He is also amember of the professional vocal jazzensemble, Vocalogy. Mr.Knutson began his teaching career at a juniorhigh school in Brooklyn, New York. His ensembles have performed at the MontereyNext Generation Jazz Festival, the Santa CruzJazz Festival, California Music EducatorsConvention, the Festival International Choral enProvence, the American Choral Director’sAssociation National Convention, the MontreuxJazz Festival, and the International Associationfor Jazz Education Convention. He directed theCalifornia All-State Vocal Jazz Choir in 2006, andin May 2009, Mr. Knutson was named CuestaCollege’s Teacher of the Year. John holds aMaster’s in Conducting from Northern ArizonaUniversity and a Bachelor’s in PianoPerformance from the University of Minnesota.

Sarah BroomellSarah Broomell coaches and accompanies forOpera San Luis Obispo, Pacific Conservatory forthe Performing Arts, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo,and Cuesta College. She directs the Debut Choirof the Central Coast Children’s Choir and YoungSingers Club, teaches piano and voice, collaborates with San Luis Obispo Symphonymusicians, and sings with Canzona Women’sEnsemble.


The Santa Cruz ChoraleFounded in 1983, the Santa Cruz Chorale dedicates itself to two goals: presenting its audiences with distinctive, exciting concerts ofchoral works from diverse periods, and givingits singers the chance to experience the delightand artistic growth that come from makingmusic at the highest level. The Chorale hasrecorded three CDs and has toured in Italy,Croatia, and Spain.

The Chorale’s 30-some members, who livethroughout Santa Cruz County and beyond, jointhe ensemble by audition. Although several areprofessional musicians, all volunteer their time,and all are amateurs in the original sense of thatword—people who seriously pursue an art forthe love of it.

Christian Grube has been our conductor andartistic director since 2006.

Members of the Cuesta College ChamberSingersSOPRANOVeronica Sallaz Irissa Gee Julia CorbettAlyssa RamazzotiiEmma Reynolds (Voce)Hannah Hudgins

ALTORaelene LarsonAlexis RubellShaina Levin (Voce)Samantha GipsonKaytie Holt (Voce)Joy Patterson (Voce)Caitlin Freeman

TENOR Victoria MartinezJason Clark (Voce)Michael ManningPaul Burkle (Voce)Eric HunterSami Musallam

BASS Josh DamianKeegan MeadeAlex MuñozEvan Boaz (Voce) Daniel LewisGregg Haueter (Voce)Ian RobertsonTimothy Metcalfe (Voce)

AcknowledgementsThe Chorale is deeply indebted to the followingindividuals and institutions for their invaluablehelp in producing our concerts:

Sister Barbara Ann Long, OP, Liturgist/Musician,Holy Cross Church

Mr. Ron McLain, Maintenance, Helper Supreme,and Keeper of the Keys, Holy Cross Church

The staff of radio stations KUSP 88.9 FM andKSCO 1080 AM

The staff and congregation of the FirstCongregational Church, Santa Cruz

Members of the Santa Cruz ChoraleDana BagshawAnne BonnerBruce BridgemanDiane BridgemanMeera Collier-MitchellRosella Crawford-Bathurst

Kevin CrewsSuzanne DuvalMargie EricksonBob FinkeKaren GordonCody HallenbeckGary HintzRob KeimPaul LawtonRobert LeyMichael Logue

Michaelyn LogueVida MaraisLaura MatterChristian MendozaTom PennelloAlison RussellPaul SchmitzAnne SchoeppDeana SlaterGabrielle StockerAnnette Von OepenJulia van der WykNiel WarrenMary WielandStanley WilliamsonWendy WyckoffKatja Zuske

Program

CHAMBER SINGERS

Fair Phyllis I Saw Sitting All Alone . . . . . . . . . . . John Farmer (1570-c. 1601)

Lux Aurumque. . . . . . . . . . . . . Eric Whitacre (b. 1970), Poem by Edward Esch

A Procession Winding Around Me . . . Jeffrey Van, Text by Walt Whitman

I By the Bivouac’s Fitful Flame

II Beat! Beat! Drums!

III Look Down Fair Moon

IV ReconciliationSoloist: Jeff Miley, guitar, Applied Music Instructor, Cuesta College

CUESTA VOCE

I’ve Got You Under My Skin. . . . . . . . . . . . Cole Porter, Arr. Phil Mattson

Not While I’m Around . . . . . . . . . . Stephen Sondheim, Arr. Ryan Billington

Brazasia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Yutaka, Arr. Jennifer Barnes

Intermission


Musical Arts of Santa Cruz presents

Cuesta College Chamber Singers with The Santa Cruz Chorale

John Knutson, Conductor, Cuesta College Chamber Singers

Christian Grube, Conductor,The Santa Cruz Chorale

CHAMBER SINGERS WITH THE SANTA CRUZ CHORALE

Selections by Samuel Barber

Sure on this Shining Night . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Text by James AgeeSoloist: Raelene Larson, violin, Cuesta Chamber Singers

Let Down the Bars, O Death . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Text by Emily Dickinson

Under the Willow Tree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Text by Gian Carlo MenottiSoloist: Paul Burkle, tenor, or Alexis Rubell, soprano, Cuesta Chamber Singers

CHAMBER SINGERS

Five Hebrew Love Songs . . . . . . . . . . Eric Whitacre, Text by Hila Plitmann

I Temuña (A Picture)

II Kalá kallá (Light Bride)

III Lárov (Mostly)

IV Éyze shéleg! (What Snow!)

V Rakút (Tenderness)

Daniel, Daniel, Servant. . . . . . . . . . . . Trad. Spiritual, Arr. Undine S. Moore

Praise His Holy Name. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Keith Hampton

These concerts are funded, in part, by agrant from The Cultural Council of SantaCruz County, and co-sponsored by KSCO1080 AM and KUSP 88.9 FM.


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Program Notes, Texts and Translations

❦ Fair Phyllis I Saw Sitting All AloneJohn Farmer (c. 1570–c. 1601)

This madrigal, composed in 1610, is about a shepherdess who wanders from the other shepherds,and is then found by her lover with joy expressed by a tumble of kisses. Farmer uses a compositionaltool—very popular in the Renaissance—called word painting. For example, in the opening line “FairPhyllis I saw sitting all alone”, Farmer had only the soprano sing since she was all alone. In the nextline “Feeding her flock near to the mountain side”, all the voices sang since it was her flock.Additionally, the second phrase, which begins with “Up and down he wandered” and ends with“then they fell a-kissing”, repeats, causing the elision “kissing up and down.”

❦ Lux AurumqueEric Whitacre (b. 1970)

Light, warm and heavyas pure gold,and the angels sing softlyto the newborn babe.

Whitacre took a novel approach to this text, choosing an English poem and then having it translatedinto Latin for this setting. He says he was “immediately struck by its genuine, elegant simplicity.” Thework is filled with harmonic intervals in whole and half steps—notes that sit right beside each otheron the scale. Whitacre’s particular genius lies in his ability to use this dissonant interval to createchords that shimmer and glow like light.

❦ A Procession Winding Around MeJeffrey Van, text by Walt Whitman

Jeffrey Van teaches classical guitar at the University of Minnesota School of Music, and he performsfrequently all over the United States. He selected these Whitman poems from the poet’s Drum-Tapscycle published in 1865. The percussive qualities of the guitar figure prominently throughout thiswork, evoking the ever-present drums of war: the call to attention of the field drums, the rattle of thesnare, and the ominous pulse of the bass drum.

While the Civil War was the context for these poems, there is nothing in these texts that specificallyidentifies that war, and Whitman’s powerful and timeless words ring true for war in any age. The fourmovements encompass 1) loneliness and boredom, surrounded by the procession of thoughts ofhome and those who are far away; 2) the fury of battle, bursting through all areas of personal life andcommunity that lie before it; 3) fields littered with dead, where we whistle fearfully in the brittle stillness; and 4) the possibility of reconciliation, washing again and again this soiled world.


I.By the bivouac’s fitful flame,A procession winding around me, solemn and sweet and slow—but first I note,The tents of the sleeping army, the fields’ and woods’ dim outline,The darkness lit by spots of kindled fire, the silence,Like a phantom far or near an occasional figure moving,The shrubs and trees, (as I lift my eyes they seem to be stealthily watching me,)While wind in procession thoughts, O tender and wondrous thoughts,Of life and death, of home and the past and loved, and of those that are far away;A solemn and slow procession there as I sit on the ground,By the bivouac’s fitful flame.

II. Beat! beat! drums!—blow! bugles! blow!Through the windows—through doors—burst like a ruthless force,Into the solemn church, and scatter the congregation,Into the school where the scholar is studying;Leave not the bridegroom quiet—no happiness must he have now with his bride,Nor the peaceful farmer any peace, ploughing his field or gathering his grain,So fierce you whirr and pound, you drums—so shrill you bugles blow.

Beat! beat! drums!—blow! bugles! blow!Over the traffic of cities—over the rumble of wheels in the streets;Are beds prepared for sleepers at night in the houses? No sleepers must sleep in those beds [No bargainers bargains by day—no brokers or speculators—would they continue?Would the talkers be talking? would the singer attempt to sing?Would the lawyer rise in the court to state his case before the judge?Then rattle quicker, heavier drums—you bugles wilder blow.

Beat! beat! drums!—blow! bugles! blow!Make no parley—stop for no expostulation,Mind not the timid—mind not the weeper or prayer,Mind not the old man beseeching the young man,Let not the child’s voice be heard, nor the mother’s entreaties,Make even the trestles to shake the dead where they lie awaiting the hearses,So strong you thump O terrible drums—so loud you bugles blow.

III. Look down, fair moon and bathe this scene,Pour softly down night’s nimbus floods, on faces ghastly, swollen, purple;On the dead, on their backs, with their arms toss’d wide,Pour down your unstinted nimbus, sacred moon.

IV.Word over all, beautiful as the sky,Beautiful that war and all its deeds of carnage must in time be utterly lost,That the hands of the sisters Death and Night incessantly softly wash again,and ever again, this soil’d world;For my enemy is dead, a man divine as myself is dead,I look where he lies white-faced and still in the coffin—I draw near,Bend down and touch lightly with my lips the white face in the coffin.



❦ Five Hebrew SongsEric Whitacre, text by Hila Plitmann

The genesis of this piece was a 1996 commission, asking Whitacre to write a set of troubadour songsfor piano, violin, and soprano. He asked his Israeli-born girlfriend Hila to write a few ‘postcards’ inher native tongue. Whitacre explains, “Each of the songs captures a moment that Hila and I sharedtogether. Kalá kallá (which means “light bride”) was a pun I came up with when she was first teaching me Hebrew. The bells at the beginning of Éyze Shéleg! are the exact pitches that awakenedus each morning in Germany as they rang from a nearby cathedral. These songs are profoundly personal for me, born entirely out of my new love for this soprano, poet, and now my beautiful wife,Hila Plitmann.”

I. A picture is engraved in my heart;Moving between light and darkness:A sort of silence envelopes your body,And your hair falls upon your face just so.

II. Light brideShe is all mine,And lightlyShe will kiss me!

III. “Mostly,” said the roof to the sky,“the distance between you and I is endlessness;But a while ago two came up here,and only one centimeter was left between us.”

IV. What snow!Like little dreamsFalling from the sky.

V. He was full of tenderness;She was very hard.And as much as she tried to stay thus,Simply, and with no good reason,He took her into himself,And set her downin the softest, softest place.

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Mailing List and Web SiteYou may contact the Chorale or add your nameto the mailing list at the following address:The Santa Cruz ChoraleP.O. Box 272, Santa Cruz, CA 95061831-427-8023, www.santacruzchorale.org

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Contributors to the Santa Cruz Chorale


Board of Directors, Musical Arts of Santa CruzNiel Warren, PresidentMichael Logue, Vice-PresidentBob Finke, TreasurerDon Gartner, SecretaryPam BurnhamGary HintzPaul LawtonTom PennelloLynn WenzelJulia van der WykChristian Grube (ex officio)

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Music lends beauty and balance to our lives

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MBPA web site: www.mbpsych.org

Musical Arts of Santa CruzUpcoming Event 2012

Songs of Fate

The Santa Cruz Chorale

Friday, June 8, 2012, 8:00pmSunday, June 10, 2012, 4:00pmHoly Cross Church170 High Street, Santa Cruz

The Santa Cruz Chorale will presentSchicksalslied and Nenia by Johannes Brahms,Elegie by Beethoven, as well as works by MaxReger, John Rutter, Randall Stroop, and KirkeMechem.

Auditioning for the Santa CruzChoraleSingers with choral experience who read musicat an intermediate or advanced level are invitedto audition for the Chorale. Call 831-427-8023 orcheck our website to receive materials thatdescribe the audition and the responsibilitiesthat go along with membership in the ensemble.


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Help the Santa Cruz Chorale continue its tradition of distinctive vocal music in Santa CruzCounty by supporting us in one of the followingways:

Make a Donation Contribute with your checkin the enclosed envelope or with your credit cardat our website www.santacruzchorale.org/donate.

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the cuesta chamber singers · 2019-04-27 · lux aurumque eric whitacre (b. 1970) light, warm and...

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