America Record Guide has issued a lovely review of Robert Kyr’s Paradiso, calling it “stunning” and “a must-buy if you are interested in the Divine Comedy”. Paradiso was especially commissioned for the sacred music drama “Journeying La Divina Comedia”, with support from the Ann Stookey Fund for New Music. The CD can be viewed in Albany Record’s page, in Amazon.com and YouTube.
The second part of Philip Glass’ A Madrigal Opera performed by Notre Vocale
Notre Dame Vocale, composed on this occasion of the members and alumni of the Conducting Studio at the University of Notre Dame, performed a multimedia version of Parts III,IV and Closing of Philip Glass’ A Madrigal Opera. The composer was present, in what was a joyous homage by the university to his extraordinary career. The virtuoso violist Luis Enrique Vargas took the extremely demanding obbligato part, joined by dancers Colin Raybin and Kelly Hirina, and the video art by Geoffrey Bell.
Philip Glass’ “A Madrigal Opera” – our contribution to a celebration!
Next March 29, Notre Dame Vocale will be absolutely thrilled to join the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center and the Music Department of the University of Notre Dame in honoring the great American composer Philip Glass. The DeBartolo Center and Third Coast Percussion are also premiering a new work on March 30!!! Our contribution will be the second part of Glass’ “A Madrigal Opera”, with the fantastic violist Luis Enrique Vargas, dancers Colin Raybin and Kelly Hirina, and video artist Geoff Bell. I hope those of you in the area can join us during these two days of celebration!
The Ann Stookey Fund for New Music supports a second consortium commission for Notre Dame Vocale
The Ann Stookey Fund for New Music supports a second consortium commission for Notre Dame Vocale with The Crossing (Philadelphia), I Cantori New York (New York City) and Volti (San Francisco) for a new work by Pulitzer Prize winner Caroline Shaw.
Notre Dame Vocale, the choral research project of Professor of Conducting Carmen-Helena Téllez at the University of Notre Dame has joined the Grammy-winning conductor and ensemble Donald Nally and The Crossing to commission a new work by Pulitzer Prize winner Caroline Shaw. They are also joined by Mark Shapiro and I Cantori New York, and Robert Geary and Volti of San Francisco. The project is supported by the Ann Stookey Fund for New Music, who also supported the commission of Robert Kyr’s Paradiso, premiered by Notre Dame Vocale at Notre Dame during the sacred music drama “Journeying La Divina Commedia: Desert, Discovery, Song” in 2016.
The Ann Stookey Fund also supported the first commission of the consortium, a work on Catholic poets by American composer Gregory Spears, The Tower and the Garden. Notre Dame Vocale is proud to represent the work of university ensembles in a consortium that includes some of the best professional ensembles in the United States.
The Ann Stookey Fund for New Music was established in celebration of the life of Ann Stookey, an avid choral singer and strong supporter of new music, who passed away in 2012. A number of works commissioned by the Fund have received their world premieres. “We are delighted to work with a consortium of highly regarded, leading edge choral organizations to identify the next generation of great choral composers and to support efforts to bring their work to audiences,” said Joe Waz, chair of the Ann Stookey Fund for New Music. “With this latest commission to Caroline Shaw, who has been hailed for her ‘exquisite, distinctive (compositional) voice’, the Fund is pleased to help expand the choral arts in Ann’s memory.”
Composer, violinist, and singer Caroline Shaw is the youngest recipient of the Pulitzer Prize in Music. She appears regularly as a vocalist with Roomful of Teeth and as a violinist with the American Contemporary Music Ensemble. Her works have been performed by The Crossing, the Baltimore Symphony, Roomful of Teeth, So Percussion, the Brentano String Quartet, and many other leading ensembles. She has also co-produced and contributed vocals to several Kanye West tracks. She visited Notre Dame last Fall with A Roomful of Teeth, and she composed a new work, In Living Green, for the Notre Dame Children’s Choir in 2017.
Donald Nally and The Crossing will perform at Notre Dame this Sunday, February 10, at the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center. Notre Dame Vocale also will give the Indiana premiere of Spears’ TheTower and The Garden on May 10, 2019, in an interdisciplinary concert that will also include The Beatitudes, a new choral work by Professor Jorge Muñiz of Indiana University South Bend, in collaboration with the Notre Dame Children’s Choir and the Euclid Quartet.
For more information on the work of the Ann Stookey Fund, please visit at http://annstookeyfund.org/our-work/. You can also follow the Fund on Facebook (Ann Stookey Fund for New Music) or Twitter (@AnnStookeyMusic). Notre Dame Vocale’s CD of Paradiso was released last December 1st by Albany Records.
A Mirror Over Time – an annotated concert
Notre Dame Vocale is excited to present “A Mirror Over Time: Self-reflecting Themes in the Catholic Musico-Poetic Imagination,” in the context of the conference “Trying to Say God” (TryingtosayGod.com), a gathering about the Catholic literary spirit. The program features works by James MacMlllan, Arvo Pärt, Josquin Desprez, Francisco Guerrero and Cary Boyce, as well as Gregorian chant. Recurring ideas have excited the inspiration of composers across history, resulting in some of the most beautiful and consoling music ever written. For this conference, the program is annotated with video projections and supertitles. To see the repertoire, click HERE.
WHERE: Washington Hall, University of Notre Dame
WHEN: Friday June 23, 9:15 -10 pm
Free and Open to the Public
Notre Dame Vocale invited to be part of prestigious Ann Stookey Fund commissioning consortium
ANN STOOKEY FUND FOR NEW MUSIC ANNOUNCES COMMISSIONING GRANT FOR MAJOR NEW CHORAL WORK BY COMPOSER GREGORY SPEARS
Los Angeles, California (February 2, 2017): The Ann Stookey Fund for New Music (“ASFNM”) today announced that it has awarded a grant in the amount of $25,000 to underwrite the commissioning of a new choral work by Gregory Spears (www.gregoryspears.com). The new work will be a cantata for mixed choir and obbligato chamber ensemble, approximately 30 minutes in length, and will premiere during the 2018-19 performance seasons of the four choral organizations in the consortium.
Spears attended the Eastman School of Music, earned a master’s degree at Yale, and
took his Ph.D. at Princeton. Of his recent work,The Wall Street Journal said, “Mr. Spears writes brilliantly for vocal ensembles.” The Philadelphia Inquirer said his
“Requiem” bore “a modern sense of theatrical timing that keeps your ears on edge until the last note.”
“We are delighted to work with a consortium of highly regarded, leading edge choral
organizations to identify the next generation of great choral composers and to
support efforts to bring their work to audiences,” said Joe Waz, ASFNM chair.“
With this latest commission to Gregory Spears, who has been hailed for his ‘exquisite,
distinctive (compositional) voice’,the Fund is pleased to continue its unique role in expanding the choral arts in Ann’s memory.”
From Donald Nally, Conductor of The Crossing:
The opportunity to commission another substantial work through the support of the Ann Stookey Fund for New Music is extraordinary; we are so grateful for the generosity of Joe and his family in making this possible. I know that Ann would have fully embraced Greg Spears’ music – it speaks so directly to us and is crafted with such thought, contemplation, and courage.He is a true match to the mission of the Fund as well as the missions of thefour wonderful ensembles who will premiere the work in their hometowns.
From Mark Shapiro, Artistic Director of Cantori New York:
Cantori New York and I are delighted and honored to be part of this prestigious consortium—and in such distinguished company. The Ann Stookey Fund for New Music is providing significant leadership in the creation of important new work for our art form; with this project, ASFNM identifies a promising composer of a rising generation and affords him a
precious opportunity to receive multiple performances, before multiple audiences, in cities across the United States, of this major new composition.
From Robert Geary, Artistic Director of Volti:
Bravi to the Ann Stookey Fund for New Music and Joe Waz for inspiring new choral music and a substantial platform for its dissemination. Volti is happy to be part of this project and honored to be counted with The Crossing, Cantori New York, and Notre Dame Vocale as leading proponents of new choral music in the United States.
From Carmen-Helena Téllez, Director of Notre Dame Vocale:
For Notre Dame Vocale, the research and special project ensemble at the University of Notre Dame, it is a distinct honor to collaborate with The Crossing, Volti, and Cantori New York, ranked among the most distinguished choral groups in the U.S., as we join forces to commission and premiere a new work by the gifted composer Greg Spears. The Ann Stookey Fund for New Music has built a visionary American repertoire through its focused
support of collaborations between choral ensembles and composers. The exciting new consortium model will generate the necessary synergy for the dissemination of the new compositions among diverse regions and audiences in the country.
From Gregory Spears:
I am very excited and honored to write a major new work for this brilliant consortium of choirs that explores the expressive power of the choral idiom.
Vocale begins preparations for The Dante Project
Under the leadership of Vocale’s director Carmen-Helena Téllez, the International Dante Project will present a new interdisciplinary work, “JOURNEYING LA DIVINA COMMEDIA: DESERT, DISCOVERY, SONG…” next October 8 and 9, 2016, at the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center of Notre Dame. It features Notre Dame Vocale prominently as singers will perform diverse roles around Dante’s travel from Hell into Purgatory and then Paradise.
“JOURNEYING THE COMMEDIA: DESERT, DISCOVERY, SONG…” is the third of the Sacred Music Dramas at Notre Dame wit support from the Mellon Foundation, following “I Was Born For This” on the historical impact of Joan of Arc, and “Elijah or the Jewish Artist in the Western World”, featuring Metropolitan Opera baritone Nathan Gunn.
“JOURNEYING LA DIVINA COMMEDIA” counts with the stage direction of Notre Dame’s Professor of Theatre Anton Juan, who explores aspects of the human condition and social justice in his art. The work’s was co-created after a libretto by celebrated Dante scholar Robin Kirkpatrick (University of Cambridge), with further creative input by Notre Dame Dante scholar Vittorio Montemaggi.
Composer Robert Kyr (University of Oregon, Oregon Bach Festival) has been commissioned with a grant from the Ann Stookey Fund for New Music to compose an oratorio the segment of Paradiso that will close the work.
Vocale’s commissioned composer wins award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters
Composer Robert Kyr, who has been commissioned by Notre Dame Vocale to write a new cantata based on Dante’s Paradiso, has been honored with a major award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Four composers will each receive a $10,000 Arts and Letters Award in Music, which honors outstanding artistic achievement by a composer who has arrived at his or her own voice. Each will receive an additional $10,000 toward the recording of one work. The other winners with Robert Kyr are Robert Carl, Sean Shepherd, and Ricardo Zohn-Muldoon. See more.
Vocale wins major award from the Ann Stookey Fund for New Music
Last February 3rd, Notre Dame Vocale, received news of the prestigious award by the Ann Stookey Fund for New Music. The award places Vocale in the company of some of the most distinguished professional ensembles in the country. See More.