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GREATER NEW HAVEN COMMUNITY CHORUS
Building Community One Note at a Time
Noah Blocker-Glynn, Artistic Director
For Immediate Release:
Greater New Haven Community Chorus Selects Award-Winning Composer Jake Runestad for
50th Anniversary Commissioned Choral Work
New Haven, CT – January 27, 2014 – Greater New Haven Community Chorus has commissioned award-winning composer
Jake Runestad to compose a choral piece to celebrate its 50th anniversary. The premiere performance of the piece, Voices
of One, will take place at GNHCC's Spring Concert on Saturday, May 31 at Battell Chapel.
The choral composition is the final stage of the chorus’ year-long creative development process: Photography and poetry
contests encouraged amateur photographers and poets from the Greater New Haven area to contribute to the creative
process through their art forms. Poems, based on images chosen in the photo contest, were then offered to Runestad as a
basis of the text for the choral work, which he has now set to music.
In addition to the world premiere of Voices of One, the 50th anniversary concert will include Rejoice in the Lamb by Benjamin
Britten, as well as works by Gwyneth Walker, Moses Hogan, Gerald Finzi and Frank Ticheli.
Runestad (b. 1986) is noted for his versatility and wide range of expressive capabilities with music driven by soaring
melodies, driving rhythms, and lush textures. Considered “highly imaginative…with big ideas” (Baltimore Sun) and “stirring
and uplifting” (Miami Herald), Jake has received commissions and performances from leading ensembles such as Seraphic
Fire, the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, VocalEssence, the Master Chorale of Tampa Bay, the Dayton Philharmonic
Orchestra, the Cincinnati Vocal Arts Ensemble, Cantus (Minnesota), and the Rockford Symphony Orchestra.
A diverse composer, Mr. Runestad’s prolific body of work represents many genres – including music for wind band, chorus,
orchestra, chamber ensembles, jazz ensembles, and opera. He has received awards and grants from ASCAP, the American
Composers Forum, the Peabody Conservatory, the Otto Bremmer Foundation, VocalEssence, the Virginia Arts Festival, the
National Association for Music Education, the Association for Lutheran Church Musicians, and the American Choral
Directors Association of Minnesota.
Jake Runestad holds a Master’s degree in composition from the Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University where
he studied with Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Kevin Puts. He has also studied extensively with acclaimed composer
Libby Larsen. Mr. Runestad currently lives in Minneapolis, MN.
Greater New Haven Community Chorus is a non-auditioned chorus of approximately 100 voices which draws its membership
from throughout the greater New Haven area. GNHCC strives to embrace the wide diversity of the community and is
committed to making quality music accessible and approachable for audiences and members alike. Greater New Haven
Community Chorus was founded in 1963 as a venture in community singing and continues to perform with pride and
distinction.
For more information about GNHCC, please visit www.gnhcc.org or email: [email protected].
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Media Contacts:
Katherine McManus
President, GNHCC Board
203.303.4642
[email protected]
Dennis Burke
Marketing/PR Chair, GNHCC Board
203.303.4642
[email protected]