Houston Chamber Choir Robert Simpson, Founder and Artistic Director

Mary Preston, Organist

Tuesday, June 21, 2016 - 8:15 PM and 9:30PM St. Paul’s United Methodist Church

The Storm has Wrapped the Sky Alexander Dargomyzhsky (1813–1869)

The Golden Cloud Pyotr Illyich Tchaikovsky (1840–1893)

Kangaroo Sergei Ekimov (b. 1974) * * * O Clap Your Hands Orlando Gibbons (1583–1625)

Tristis est anima mea Carlo Gesualdo da Venosa (1560–1613) * * * Even Song John LaMontaine Organ Solo (1920–2013)

*Earthquake Zachary Wadsworth SATB chorus, organ, and soprano soloist, Kelli Mikeska (b. 1983)

Jauchz, Erd’, und Himmel, juble! (Rejoice, Earth and Heaven, Rejoice) Max Reger Organ Solo (1873–1916)

* * * Stars Ēriks Ešenvalds (b. 1977)

Deep River Spiritual Arranged by Roy Ringwald (1910–1995)

Pinball Wizard (b. 1945) Arranged by A.P. Jackman (1946–2003)

*Houston AGO 2016 Commission

This concert has been underwritten, in part, by a gift from the Schantz Organ Company. The commissioned work heard tonight was made possible by a gift from the Greater Hartford AGO Chapter.

Program Notes

A predominant feature of romantic Russian poetry is its fascination with nature. Mountains, sunsets, and forests are extolled for their own sake but even more so as a vehicle for expressing the human condition. Alexander Dargomyzhsky’s The Storm has Wrapped the Sky is a prime example. Here the outward storm is a metaphor for the grief and struggle of life. It comes from a set of St. Petersburg serenades completed in the early 1850s. Like many Russian composers of the early nineteenth century, Dargomyzhsky was largely self-taught. In his opera, The Stone Guest, he continues the tradition of national opera started by Glinka.

Though only fifty measures in length, The Golden Cloud by Pyotr Illyich Tchaikovsky is a masterpiece. It tenderly matches the pained resignation of the text. The composition was completed in 1887 at the suggestion of an acquaintance but contentiousness arose over the ownership of the manuscript and it was not published until 1922.

Kangaroo is the work of Sergei Ekimov, music educator, and conductor. It is currently among the favorites of Russian choirs.

Orlando Gibbons stands among the greatest of the Elizabethan composers. Born into a musical family, he rose to assume posts at the Chapel Royal and Westminster Abbey. O Clap Your Hands is counted among his finest works. Its exuberance fully expresses the jubilant text.

Carlo Gesualdo’s singular infamy in musical history stems from his murder of his wife and her lover. His high-born station allowed him to escape punishment and he spent the remainder of his life in seclusion composing works of enormous originality and harmonic daring. Tristis est anima mea is taken from biblical accounts of Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane as he awaits his capture. Madrigalisms abound, none more vivid than the flurry of notes accompanying Jesus’s foretelling of the disciples' fearful flight from him when guards approach.

Born in Latvia, Ēriks Ešenvald is recognized as one of today’s leading young composers. Written in 2011, Stars is a setting of words by Sara Teasdale who won the Pulitzer Prize in 1918. Scored for chorus and water-tuned glass bowls, the lyricism of the music is a perfect vehicle for this ethereal poetry.

2016 marks the 150th anniversary of the birth of Harry T. Burleigh, the noted African-American singer, composer, and arranger who is credited with bringing the Spiritual “out of the cotton field and into the concert hall,” as he once put it. In his honor we perform Deep River, one of his favorites, in a heartfelt setting by the gifted arranger Roy Ringwald.

Taken from the 1969 , Wizard was written by Pete Townshend of . One feels the full frenzy of this extraordinary work, brilliantly arranged by A.P. Jackman. - Robert Simpson

The twentieth-century American and Pulitzer Prize winning composer, John LaMontaine, was a native of Chicago. He received his Bachelor of Music degree from the Eastman School in 1942. He studied with Howard Hanson, Bernard Rogers, and . His compositions include chamber and symphonic works that have been performed by major American orchestras as well as operas, music for solo piano, piano concerti, and vocal and choral works. Although known as a first-rate pianist, even playing for the famous conductor Arturo Toscanini, his primary passion was composition. His commission to write for JFK’s inauguration was one of the many accolades he received as a composer. His musical style has been described as neo-Romantic and compared to that of and Ned Rorem. The beautiful and lush Even Song is one of just three works he wrote for solo organ.

Max Reger is indeed a well-known composer and needs no introduction. Jauchz, Erd’, und Himmel, juble! (Rejoice, Earth and Heaven, Rejoice!), is based on the well-known chorale Old 113th. It comes from his Opus 67, a collection of fifty-two chorale preludes. The tune is prominent in the bass voice. The words often sung to this chorale are by Isaac Watts and are based on Psalm 146:

I’ll praise my Maker while I’ve breath; and when my voice is lost in death, praise shall employ my nobler powers. My days of praise shall ne’er be past while life and thought and being last, or immortality endures. Happy the one whose hopes rely on Israel’s God, who made the sky and earth and seas with all their train; Whose truth for ever stands secure, who save th’oppressed and feeds the poor, and none shall find His promise vain. - Mary Preston

Thomas Merton (1915-1968) was a monk, social activist, and poet. His writing vividly describes a peaceful and socially aware Christianity. In 1966, in response to the Christian non-violent movement for civil rights, he wrote Eight Freedom Songs. In the last of these, Earthquake, he reimagined Isaiah 52 as a call to action for the Christians of the world to use their “marching feet” to become “messengers of peace,” and to build a world in which “All … people / shall be one.” This message of strength and obligation reverberates powerfully in the continuing civil rights struggles of our time, and the poem’s strong inner rhythms resonated powerfully with me as a composer. My anthem, Earthquake, starts darkly with Merton’s invocations to “tell the thunder / To wake the sky,” but erupts joyfully with images of the bright paradises of love and unity. - Zachary Wadsworth

Earthquake (Isaiah 52)

Go tell the earth to shake So tell the earth to shake For the old world is ended And tell the thunder With marching feet The old sky is torn To wake the sky Of messengers of peace Apart. A new day is born And tear the clouds apart Proclaim my law of love They hate no more Tell my people to come out To every nation They do not go to war And wonder. Every race. My people shall be one.

Where the old world is gone And say So tell the earth to shake For a new world is born The old wrongs are over With marching feet And all my people The old ways are done Of messengers of peace Shall be one. There shall be no more hate Proclaim my law of love And no more war To every nation So tell the earth to shake My people shall be one. Every race. With marching feet Of messengers of peace So tell the earth to shake There shall be no more hate Proclaim my law of love With marching feet And no more oppression To every nation Of messengers of peace The old wrongs are done Every race. Proclaim my law of love My people shall be one. To every nation For the old wrongs are over Every race. The old days are gone A new world is rising Where my people shall be one.

St. Paul’s United Methodist Church Schantz 1981 (1996, 2004) Four manuals – 84 ranks

GREAT (Unenclosed) SOLO (Enclosed & Expressive) PEDAL (Unenclosed) 16’ Sub Principal 8’ Flûte Harmonique 32’ Untersatz 8’ Open Diapason 8’ Gemshorn 16’ Open Diapason 8’ Principal from 16’ Sub Principal 8’ Gemshorn Celeste [TC] 16’ Sub Principal [GT] 8’ Chimney Flute 8’ Trompette Harmonique 16’ Bourdon 4’ Octave 8’ English Horn 16’ Violone 4’ Open Flute 8’ Clarinet 2’ Super Octave 8’ Vox Humana 16’ Gedackt [SW] II Sesquialtera 16’ Tuba [TC] from 8’ Tuba 16’ Quintaton [POS] IV Mixture 8’ Tuba 8’ Octave III Scharf Unenclosed 8’ Principal [GT] 8’ Trompete 8’ Trompette en chamade [GT] 8’ Bourdon from 16’ Bourdon 8’ Trompette en chamade Tremulant 8’ Gedackt [SW] Great to Great 16’ Solo to Solo 16’ 4’ Choralbass Great to Great 4’ Solo to Solo 4’ 4’ Waldflöte Great Unison Off Solo Unison Off 2’ Waldflöte from 4’ Waldflöte

IV Mixture

32’ Contre Bombarde SWELL (Enclosed & Expressive) POSITIV (Unenclosed) 16’ Posaune 16’ Gedackt 16’ Quintaton 8’ English Diapason 8’ Spitzprincipal 16’ Bombarde [SW] 8’ Celeste [TC] 8’ Bordun 8’ Trompete from 16’ Posaune 8’ Salicional 4’ Principal 8’ Bombarde from 16’ Bombarde 8’ Voix Celeste [TC] 4’ Koppelflöte 4’ Klarine from 8’ Trompete 8’ Gedackt from 16’ Gedackt 2 2/3’ Nasat 4’ Rohr Schalmey 4’ Prestant 2’ Octave 8’ Trompette en chamade [GT] 4’ Spillflöte 2’ Blockflöte 2 2/3’ Nasard 1 3/5’ Terz ANTIPHONAL ORGAN 2’ Doublette 1 1/3’ Quinteflöte (Unenclosed) 1 3/5’ Tierce 1’ Super Octave 8’ Open Diapason IV Plein Jeu IV Mixture 16’ Bombarde 8’ Trompete 4’ Octave 8’ Trompette 8’ Krummhorn 2’ Fifteenth from Fourniture IV 8’ Hautbois 8’ Trompette en chamade [GT] 2’ Fourniture IV 4’ Clairon from 8’ Trompette Cymbelstern Chimes [Draw knob in Swell] Tremulant Tremulant Swell to Swell 16’ Positiv to Positiv 16’ (Enclosed & Expressive) Swell to Swell 4’ Positiv to Positiv 4’ 8’ Open Wood Flute Swell Unison Off Positiv Unison Off 8’ Open Wood Flute Celeste [TC] 4’ Silver Flute 8’ Cornopean

ANTIPHONAL PEDAL 16’ Bourdon [Draw knob in Pedal]

About the Performers Described by Peter and chorus the Houston Chamber Choir recently Phillips as “one of premiered. A champion of contemporary music, the this country’s leading choir has commissioned works from Christopher ensembles,” the Theofanidis, David Ashley White, Jocelyn Hagan and Houston Chamber Dominick DiOrio. These works may be heard on its Choir is celebrating recently released compact disc, Soft Blink of Amber its 20th anniversary Light. this season. During this time it has performed with Dave Brubeck, Peter Schickele, Jamie Bernstein and The choir’s earlier recording of nineteenth- and guest conductors, Anton Armstrong, Maria Guinand, twentieth-century Russian secular choral music, Joseph Flummerfelt, and Paul Hillier who remarked Ravishingly Russian, was greeted with glowing following his engagement, “I loved working with the reviews: “Ravishing is right” (Gramophone) and “The Houston Chamber Choir. Robert Simpson has singing was top-of-the-line” (American Record created something special.” The ensemble has Guide). The ensemble’s world premiere recording of collaborated with Dave Brubeck, Dutch new music Psalmi ad Vesperas by late seventeenth-century specialist Reinbert de Leeuw, and Grammy-winning Italian composer Giovanni Paolo Colonna was hailed jazz bassist Christian McBride, whose commissioned by Fanfare magazine as “one recording that Baroque work for jazz trio music lovers will need in their collection."

Robert Simpson is Artistic Choirs under Mr. Simpson’s direction have toured the Director of the Houston United States, Europe and Mexico, and performed Chamber Choir, the before national conventions of Chorus America, the professional ensemble he American Choral Directors Association, the American founded twenty years ago. Guild of Organists and the Association of Anglican He also serves as Canon for Musicians. They have appeared nationally on CBS- Music at Houston’s historic TV, ABC-TV and American Public Radio. Christ Church Cathedral, and Lecturer of Church Music at Robert Simpson is an honors graduate of Brown the Shepherd School of Music, Rice University. University and the School of Sacred Music at Union Chorus America recognized his leadership in the field Theological Seminary after which he studied for two by awarding him the Michael Korn Founders Award years at the Hochschule für Musik in Cologne, for the Development of the Professional Choral Art. Germany. His teachers include organists Barclay He earned the Associate and Choirmaster certificates Wood, Robert Baker, Michael Schneider, and the from the American Guild of Organists, receiving both Swedish conductors Gustaf Sjökvist and Eric Ericson. the award for the highest Choirmaster grades and the S. Lewis Elmer Award for highest overall grades.

Houston Chamber Choir Andreea Mut, accompanist

Sopranos Altos Tenors Basses Kammi Estelle Jennifer Crippen L. Wayne Ashley Brendan Emig Stacey Franklin Clipper Hamrick Jack Bryom Felipe Gasper Stephanie Handal Monica Isomura Francisco Espinoza Jeffrey Van Hal Kelli Mikeska Marianna Parnas- Benjamin Geier Michael Vaughan Nini Marchese Simpson Matthew Mazzola Randolph Wagner Lynelle Rowley Lauren Pastorek Jeffrey Ragsdale Joshua Wilson Laura Sharpless Ryan Stickney Elizabeth Tait

Mary Preston is the Resident Along with performing concerti and other major Organist and Principal/Lay works with the Dallas Symphony, she has Family Chair with the Dallas performed with the L.A. Philharmonic, the Chicago Symphony. She also serves Symphony Orchestra, Denver, East Texas and as Organist and Choirmaster other orchestras. She performed the world at St. John’s Episcopal premiere of Poul Ruders’ Organ Symphony No. 4 Church and School in Dallas. and the Guilmant and Saint-Saëns organ Mary has been presented in symphonies with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, recital throughout the US, and continues to perform and record with the Europe and Asia to audiences responding with Dallas Wind Symphony as well. Her recordings are enthusiasm and excitement. She has been a produced on the Reference, Gothic and Naxos featured artist for numerous AGO national and labels, and are met with rave reviews. regional conventions.

About the Composer of the AGO 2016 Commission

Zachary Wadsworth’s “vivid, vital, and prismatic” music has established him as a leading composer of his generation. His compositions have been heard in venues around the world, from Washington’s Kennedy Center to Tokyo’s Takinogawa Hall, and have been performed by such ensembles as the choir of Westminster Abbey, the Yale Schola Cantorum, the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Atlanta Philharmonic Orchestra. As the 2012-2013 recipient of the Fellowship for American Opera, Wadsworth was in residence at the Metropolitan Opera and the Santa Fe Opera. In 2014, he had his Carnegie Hall debut.

Winner of an international competition chaired by James MacMillan, Wadsworth’s anthem Out of the South Cometh the Whirlwind was performed at Westminster Abbey in the presence of Queen Elizabeth II. Other recent honors include a Charles Ives Scholarship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, three Morton Gould Young Composer Awards from ASCAP, and first-prize recognition in competitions sponsored by the American Composers Forum, the King James Bible Trust, Long Leaf Opera, the Pacific Chorale, the Boston Choral Ensemble, and the Esoterics. Wadsworth’s music is widely broadcast and distributed, with recent publications by Novello, G. Schirmer, and E.C. Schirmer, and airings on NPR, BBC, and CBC.

Wadsworth earned graduate degrees from Cornell University (DMA) and (MM), and is an honors graduate of the Eastman School of Music (BM). Originally from Richmond, VA, Wadsworth now resides in Calgary, Alberta. He has taught at the Interlochen Center for the Arts and the University of Calgary, and he maintains an active performing life as a tenor and pianist. For more information, please visit www.zacharywadsworth.com.

Special thanks to the St. Paul’s United Methodist Church clergy and staff for providing their facility, organ and support services for this concert.