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Sponsored by Dorsey & Whitney LLP --~Ild a lew a R I and sin g e R S table of contents 2003-2004 Concert Season 4 The Dale Warland Singers 6 Dale Warland, Founder and Music Director 8 Artistic Staff 9 From the President 10 Concert Moderator, Tom Crann 11 An American Thanksgiving Program 12 Program Notes 14 The Singers 24 Honor Roll 28 Acknowledgements 31 Sponsors 32 Recordings 33 3 2003-2004 concert season Echoes of Christmas Saturday, December 6,2003 8:00 PM St. Olaf Catholic Church, Minneapolis Sunday, December 7,2003 4:00 PM Wayzata Community Church, Wayzata Saturday, December 13, 2003 8:00 PM Nativity of Our Lord Catholic Church, St. Paul Sponsored by Minnesota Monthly Embrace the magic of the season with some of the world's best-loved Christmas choral works. Holiday favorites include David Willcocks' historic Sussex Carol, Norman Luboffs arrangement of Still, Still, Still and Dale Warland's lovely What Child is This. Let the soul-stirring a cappella score of Francis Poulenc's Quatre Motets pour le temps de Noel fill your heart with joy and bask in the beauty of This Night, a new work by composer-in-residence John Muehleisen. Rounding out this seasonal concert are new commissions by two of the Singers own, Matthew Culloton and Abbie Betenis. Order tickets early to bring family and friends! Join Tom Crann (MPR's on-air host) for a pre-concert discussion 45 minutes prior to the performance. Cathedral Classics Thursday, March 18, 2004 7:30 PM Saturday, March 20,2004 8:00 PM Basilica of Saint Mary, Minneapolis Sponsored by Ecolab, Inc. Revel in the mysterious beauty of John Rutter's Hymn to the Creator of Light, a lush work dedicated to famed composer Herbert Howells. Then hear Howells' own impressive Take Him, Earth, for Cherishing. Immerse yourself in the beauty of Edward Elgar's Lux Aeterna and Gregorio Allegri's Miserere. An exquisite commission by Mark Kilstofte will premiere in this idyllic venue. 0 Magnum Mysterium, by composer Morten Lauridsen, and Russian classics by Golovanov, Sviridov, and Gretchaninoff conclude this timeless concert. Don't miss MPR's Tom Crann for a pre-concert discussion 45 minutes prior to the performance. Tickets for all concerts available through our "no fees" ticketing partner, TicketWorks: PHONE: 612-343-3390 ONLINE: ticketworks.com Special discounts for group sales avaiable through the Dale Warland Singers' office: 651-632-5870. 4 A River Journey Saturday, April 24, 2004 8:00 PM Nativity of Our Lord Catholic Church, St. Paul Sunday, April 25, 2005 4:00 PM First Lutheran Church, Columbia Heights Sponsored by Deluxe Corporation Foundation Follow America's sunlit back roads and meandering rivers into the past with delightful folk songs, expressive spirituals, and traditional favorites! Perfectly timed with St. Paul's Grand Excursion celebration, this concert glorifies our national waterway with Mississippi Suite, a major commission by American composers Bill Banfield, Steve Heitzeg, Kirke Mechem, and John Muehleisen. Delight in favorite hymns and folksongs including Shall We Gather at the River and Cindy. You'llhear works of America's first great songwriter, Stephen Foster, and relive the pioneering spirit with Eric Whitacre's Leonardo Dreams of His Flying Machine. Don't forget to come early for Tom Crann's (MPR's on- air host) pre-concert discussions 45 minutes prior to each performance. I Have Had Singing - A Choral Celebration! Sunday, May 30,2004 3:00 PM Orchestra Hall, Minneapolis Sponsored by the Target Foundation Thirty-one years of extraordinary music culminate in one last special performance at Orchestra Hall! The program will survey a broad spectrum of works including a reprise of Dominck Argento's Walden Pond, selections from Rachmaninoff's Vespers and one of Dale Warland's programming specialties, An Eclectic Mass. Dale Warland himself will offer the only premiere of the concert: settings of three texts by American poet, Sara Teasdale. Join MPR's Tom Crann one last time for a pre- concert discussion 45 minutes prior to the performance. It will be an event for all musical tastes ...and the dramatic highlight of our Farewell Season. After the celebratory concert, accompany Dale, current and alumni Singers, composers, and friends to a delightful reception at the Hyatt Regency, just steps from Orchestra Hall. Share in laughter, memories and a delectable meal, as we bid "adieu" to one of America's most beloved choral ensembles. DON'T MISS IT! 5 the dale warland singers Now celebrating its 31st season of The Dale Warland Singers also concerts, tours, radio broadcasts, and performs in collaboration with other critically acclaimed recordings, the Twin Cities arts organizations Dale Warland Singers is recognized as including the Saint Paul Chamber one of the world's foremost a cappella Orchestra, the Minnesota Orchestra, choral ensembles. The 40-voice and the James Sewell Ballet. The professional choir is based in Singers have worked under the batons Minneapolis/St. Paul. of the late Robert Shaw, Hugh Wolff, Edo de Waart, Leonard Slatkin, Bobby The Dale Warland Singers has earned McFerrin, David Zinman, and Roger a reputation for its commitment to Norrington to name a few. commissioning and performing new choral music. The ensemble has kept During the 2002-2003 season, the the choral genre fresh and alive by choir released two new recordings: commissioning works from Dominick Walden Pond, containing three major Argento, Stephen Paulus, Libby choral works written by Pulitzer-Prize Larsen, Carol Barnett, George winning composer, Dominick Argento; Shearing, Peter Schickele, Bernard and Christmas with the Dale Warland Rands, Emma Lou Diemer, Alice Singers, which The Seattle Times Parker, Janika Vandervelde, Augusta described as "impeccable, full of Read Thomas, Aaron Jay Kernis, and vibrant life and blended like a bottle Frank Ferko among others. The Dale of Veuve Clicquot Grande Dame." Warland Singers' Choral Ventures '" These recordings join some 24 other program solicits works from emerging Dale Warland Singers recordings composers, and through this program, including Bernstein and Britten, which over $150,000 in commissions have contains Bernstein's Chichester Psalms been awarded to over fifty talented and Britten's Rejoice in the Lamb, musicians. along with Stephen Paulus' Pilgrims' Hymn and movements from Albright's In 1992, the Dale Warland Singers Chichester Mass. Another favorite, became the first-ever recipient of the Blue Wheat, is a collection of Margaret Hillis Achievement Award American folk music. Also among the for Choral Excellence. The Singers' lauded releases is December organization shares this honor only Stillness, which BBC Music Magazine with Chanticleer and the Vancouver gave its highest rating for Chamber Choir among professional performance and sound, calling it, choirs. The group's extraordinary "...splendid, melting stuff." The South efforts on behalf of composers and Jersey's Courier-Post called the 1994 new music resulted in ASCAP Awards release of Cathedral Classics, "an for Adventurous Programming in 1992, unmatched musical experience," and 1993, 1996, and 1999. The Oregonian stated simply, "peerless." Earlier recordings by the In addition to a subscription season in Singers include: A Rose in Winter; the Twin Cities, the Dale Warland Christmas Echoes, Vols. 1 and 2; Carols Singers tours throughout the United for Christmas; Choral Currents; as well States and abroad. It has also as 13 others. appeared on Garrison Keillor's original A Prairie Home Companion and has been featured on Public Radio International's Saint Paul Sunday. The annual Echoes of Christmas and Cathedral Classics broadcasts reach listeners nationwide. In the summer of 2002, the ensemble made its debut at the Ravinia Festival (Chicago). The choir also performed at the American Society of Harpists National Conference and the Sixth World Symposium on Choral Music, both held in the Twin Cities. 6 Soprano Alto Beth Althof Abbie Betinis Marie Spar Dymit* Galina Erickson Carole Hofstad Joanne Halvorsen * Deborah Loon Osgood Melissa Holm-Johansen Jennifer Rissman Lynette Johnson Jodi Rowe Natalia Kojanova Dawn Schuffenhauer Mary C. Maiden MUller Naomi Staruch Krista J. Palmquist Monica Stratton Susan Ramlet Teresa Tierney Tenor Bass Joel C. Fischer* Duane E. Andersen Jon Hermanson Matthew Culloton * Eric N. Hopkins Eric Harstad Justin Karch Dave Jacobson Nicholas Eugene Lemme Patrick McDonough David Lower Michael Meyer Robert Pontious Jack Nelson Hal Snyder Thomas Shaffer Anthony Sofie Steve Sheppard Brian L. Steele * section leader 7 dale warland, founder and music director Dale Warland, celebrated American musician, has made an indelible impression on the landscape of contemporary choral music both nationally and internationally. During his time with the Dale Warland Singers, he has shaped a vocal ensemble known for its exquisite sound, technical finesse, and stylistic range. From this platform, Warland not only masters the traditional repertoire, but has commissioned over 250 new choral works. Dale Warland The choral world has responded by bestowing its highest honors on Warland, founder and music director including the prestigious ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers) Victor Herbert Award (2003) in recognition of Warland's artistic contributions and a special award from Chorus America and ASCAP for Warland's "pioneering vision, leadership and commitment to commissioning and performing new choral works at the highest level of artistry" (2002). Other awards and recognition