{"id":7468,"date":"2018-05-04T11:28:03","date_gmt":"2018-05-04T15:28:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/academics\/music-and-dance\/?p=7468"},"modified":"2024-04-22T14:37:09","modified_gmt":"2024-04-22T18:37:09","slug":"chorus-garnet-singers-concert-features-swarthmore-composers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/academics\/music-and-dance\/2018\/05\/04\/chorus-garnet-singers-concert-features-swarthmore-composers\/","title":{"rendered":"Chorus & Garnet Singers Concert Features Swarthmore Composers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
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When interviewed on the upcoming Chorus and Garnet Singers Concert, the first thing director Joe Gregorio notes is that for the first time ever, the Garnet Singers set is entirely comprised of music by Swarthmore composers. Gregorio also writes that the Garnet Singers, comprised of 26 students, and Chorus, including 80 Swarthmore students, faculty, staff, and members of the community, are \u201cthe strongest they\u2019ve been in the five years I\u2019ve been lucky enough to teach here.\u201d Seemingly, this spring semester concert will be one to remember. The diverse repertoire of both ensembles feature some of the earliest forms of music alongside pieces composed this year by up-and-coming composers, many of whom will be familiar to those in the Swarthmore community.<\/p>\n

The Chorus will perform songs spanning one thousand years of music history, from Gregorian chant to contemporary classical and pop music. \u00a0The set revolves around the theme of sun, stars, and sea, including two settings of\u00a0Alma Redemptoris Mater<\/em>, an arrangement of Billy Joel\u2019s\u00a0Lullabye<\/em>, a Russian song by Sergei Taneyev, and a setting of Shakespeare\u2019s\u00a0Sonnet XVIII\u00a0<\/em>(\u201cShall I compare thee to a summer\u2019s day?<\/em>) by Joe Gregorio. Student conductors Deondre Jordan \u201819 and Andrew Kim \u201818 have assisted in preparing the Chorus during sectional rehearsals on their repertoire. The final two songs in the set were inspired by the centennial year of the passing of two significant French composers, Claude Debussy (1862-1918) and Lili Boulanger (1893-1918).<\/p>\n

From Debussy, the Chorus will sing\u00a0La mer est plus belle<\/em>, which Gregorio notes may be the first ever choral performance of the piece. \u201cThough Chorus has performed art song in unison before, Debussy’s is more complex than any such song we’ve attempted in the past. \u00a0It’s something of an experiment, I’ll admit, but I’m finding the mixture of Debussy’s sweeping lines, Verlaine’s mysterious text, and Chorus’s beautiful sound to be a magical one.\u201d Joshua Mundinger \u201818 will be featured on piano in both Debussy\u2019s and Boulanger\u2019s works.<\/p>\n

Boulanger\u2019s\u00a0Hymne au Soleil\u00a0<\/em>(Hymn to the Sun<\/em>) will feature soloist Min Cheng \u201818 and is led by assistant conductor Andrew Kim \u201818. Says Kim, \u201cThis semester, I have the privilege of conducting the big Chorus, an ensemble that I\u2019ve been a part of since my first week at Swarthmore. It could be daunting for a student conductor to stand in front of 80 people, but the musicians have been so supportive of me, always trusting my vision for the piece and working hard to bring it to life. I\u2019m so grateful to Joe for giving me this opportunity to make beautiful music with people I love!\u201d<\/p>\n

The Garnet Singers will perform music by Swarthmore composers, including Min Cheng \u201818, Branch Freeman ’20, Rachel Hottle ’18, Lili Tobias ’19, Asher Wolf ’18, and Music & Dance faculty Thomas Whitman and Joe Gregorio. The text for Min Cheng\u2019s work was written by Maya Kikuchi \u201820, and Asher Wolf\u2019s piece features text by Moses Rubin \u201818 and soloist Shelby Billups \u201820. Joshua Mundinger will accompany Garnet Singers on the piano.<\/p>\n

Rachel Hottle\u2019s piece\u00a0Oh!<\/em>, set to the text of\u00a0God\u2019s World\u00a0<\/em>by Edna St. Vincent Millay, is described by the composer as \u201can exuberant celebration of the natural world.\u201d This is the second song Hottle has composed for the Garnet Singers. \u201cThis piece springs from a place of sheer joy, and that\u2019s unusual for me, and I think for most composers,\u201d says Hottle. \u201cI\u2019m filled with a very pure kind of hope every time we rehearse the piece, and I think that\u2019s a sentiment that I would do well to carry over into other areas of my life. If only one other person hears my composition and feels the same kind of hope, I will have done my job.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hottle\u2019s work last semester inspired Lili Tobias in composing\u00a0There\u2019s a certain Slant of light<\/em>, set to the text of Emily Dickinson\u2019s poem of the same title. Says Tobias, \u201cWhen Garnet Singers sang Rachel\u2019s first choral piece last semester, I was really impressed with her setting of an Emily Dickinson poem. After rehearsal one night, while humming Rachel\u2019s piece to myself, I caught sight of the poster my roommate and I have on our wall of \u201cThere\u2019s a certain Slant of light,\u201d and I created my own melody for it.\u201d The piece was premiered earlier in the semester as a vocal quartet, but the spring concert marks the first performance of the song by an ensemble. \u201cI had to make a couple changes to the music in order to facilitate the rehearsal process and improve the text-setting,\u201d Tobias notes. \u201cIt\u2019s been exciting seeing it take shape with a larger group.\u201d<\/p>\n

Five of the seven pieces performed by the Garnet Singers will premiere at the spring concert. Many Swarthmore composers, musicians, and writers contributed in creating the Garnet Singer\u2019s set, which Gregorio notes was no easy feat. \u201cThe Garnet Singers have gamely embraced the daunting challenge of presenting a set comprising mostly premieres; the student composers, for their part, have worked hard to craft wonderful new works for the group, and in the process learned a great deal about writing for choirs.\u201d This spring choral concert represents more than just the product of these songs. It truly showcases the entire process from creation to performance–with Swarthmore students involved every step of the way.<\/p>\n

The Swarthmore Chorus and Garnet Singers\u2019 Spring Concert will be held Saturday, May 5th at 3PM in Lang Concert Hall. This event is free and open to the public. For more information, visit\u00a0https:\/\/www.swarthmore.edu\/music\/concerts-events<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Maya Kikuchi ’20<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n
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When interviewed on the upcoming Chorus and Garnet Singers Concert, the first thing director Joe Gregorio notes is that for the first time ever, the Garnet Singers set is entirely comprised of music by Swarthmore composers. Gregorio also writes that the Garnet Singers, comprised of 26 students, and Chorus, including 80 Swarthmore students, faculty, staff, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":7469,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/academics\/music-and-dance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7468"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/academics\/music-and-dance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/academics\/music-and-dance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/academics\/music-and-dance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/academics\/music-and-dance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7468"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/academics\/music-and-dance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7468\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7656,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/academics\/music-and-dance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7468\/revisions\/7656"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/academics\/music-and-dance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7469"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/academics\/music-and-dance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/academics\/music-and-dance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7468"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/academics\/music-and-dance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}