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SAN JOAQUIN CHORALE Soprano 1 Katie Holloway Jane Ludlow Carol Penner Joleen Siebert Marie Swasey Chelsea Vongehr Cindy Wulfing Soprano 2 Mai Betterley Tiffany Dunbar Gloria Green Anne Guenther Sharon Krause Rebekah Martin Kathy Penner Christy Rocca Karen Taggart Alto 1 Jocelyn Bergman Meg Buckingham Tina Carter Marissa Clay Marlis Croissant Suzy Gazlay Audrey Hanson Patti Hyder Toshiko Norimoto Karen Peterson Kristine Roberson Amy Scott Linda Sward Lori Wall Denise Wiens Alto 2 Jill DePartee Carol Gibbons Virginia Jolliff Glenda Mabry Shirley Roberts Arlene Steffen Melody Whiteaker Melissa Vallejos Julie Wiens Website: sanjoaquinchorale.com Tenor 1 Bryan Carlson Davis Maga Rob Roberson Enrique Vasquez Tenor 2 Oscar Luna Bobby Martin Robert Mertens Eli Micu Dick Peterson Eduardo Piña Baritone Roger Bergman Bruce Bybee Barry Guenther Bill Holloway Peter McMullen Hunter Reilly Roger Salley Esteban Solis Ken Wenger Fresno Pacific University Music Department presents San Joaquin CHORALE The Colors of Christmas Bass Kenneth Berg Mark Carter Greg Lanson Jeffrey Lusk Gene Sperling James Stroup Walter Wall FLUTE Marissa Clay TAMBOURINE Peter McMullen Dr. Roy L. Klassen, director Kevin Memley, accompanist Saturday, December 7, 2013 at 7:30 p.m. First Mennonite Church, Reedley MUSIC DEPARTMENT 1717 S. Chestnut Avenue, Fresno, CA 93702 559-453-2267 [email protected] fresno.edu Sunday, December 8, 2013 at 7:30 p.m. First Congregational Church, Fresno San Joaquin Chorale PROGRAM • Gaelic Alleluia arr. Craig Courtney (b. 1954) A native of Indiana, Courtney began playing the piano at the age of three and the cello at the age of eleven. He received Bachelors and Masters degrees in piano performance at the University of Cincinnati. During this time Mr. Courtney began directing a church choir and composing sacred choral music. He now resides in Columbus, Ohio. Gaelic Alleluia is a setting of the traditional hymn tune Puer Nobis, thought to have its origin in Trier, Germany. However, it may have originated even earlier with roots in folk culture. Courtney’s Advent setting is from a text by Charles Coffin (1676-1749) • Ave Maria gratia plena a 8 Francisco Guerrero (1528-1599) Guerrero was one of the two great Spanish composers of his generation, second only to Tomás Luis de Victoria. At the age of 17, he was already appointed maestro de capilla (singing master, i.e. music director) at Jaén Cathedral in Spain. Later he took a similar position in Seville. While there, Guerrero traveled to the Holy Land. On the return trip his ship was twice attacked by pirates who threatened his life, stole his money, and held him for ransom. He returned to Spain, but unfortunately had no money and endured a series of misfortunes including some time in debtors’ prison. In 1599, the Cathedral granted him leave to revisit the Holy Land but he died of the plague in Seville later that year. Ave Maria or Hail Mary, is a traditional Christian prayer asking for the intercession of the Virgin Mary. Based on the greeting of the angel Gabriel to Mary in the Gospel of Luke, the prayer takes different forms in various traditions. In Roman Catholicism, it forms the basis of the Rosary. In the Eastern Orthodox Churches, a similar prayer is used in formal liturgies, both in Greek and in translations. Mother of God and Virgin, rejoice, Mary full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, for thou hast given birth to the Savior of our souls. • The Piping Carol James Sclater (b. 1943) James Sclater took piano lessons as a young child and started clarinet in the eighth grade. After some early attempts at composition, he enrolled at the University of Southern Mississippi as a composition major. In 1970, he was awarded the Doctor of Musical Arts in Composition from the University of Texas at Austin. Sclater taught music theory and composition at Mississippi College in Clinton, MS for forty years, retiring in 2010. The composer wrote the text and music for The Piping Carol in 2004. It was one of two winners in the Vocal Essence 2004 ‘Welcome Christmas’ contest and was premiered by Philip Brunelle and the Vocal Essence chorus at their Christmas concert. AARON M. BRYAN Aaron is a native of the Fresno area, currently residing in Dinuba with his wife Tracy and sons, Luke and Matthew. Aaron received his B.A. in Music Education and California Teaching Credential from Fresno Pacific University and completed the coursework for his Master of Music Degree at California State University, Los Angeles under the mentorship of Donald Brinegar and Dr. William Belan. Aaron has been teaching choral music for 11 years, currently serving as the director of the Choral Music Department for Riverdale Joint Unified School District. Aaron has been a featured soloist in Fresno Pacific University’s Pacific Artist Series, performing Brahms’ Liebeslieder Walzer and, most recently, the tenor role in Mendelssohn’s Elijah, under the baton of Dr. Roy Klassen. MELINDA (MINDY) RAMOS Mindy, originally from Paso Robles, has called Fresno her home for the past 15 years. She completed a degree in Vocal Performance and a Teaching Credential from Fresno Pacific University and currently holds a private voice studio. Ramos has performed on numerous musical theater and classical stages, including, Into the Woods (Rapunzel), Amahl and the Night Visitors (Mother), Die Zauberflöte (Pamina), Dido and Aeneas (Dido), Hansel and Gretel (Hansel). Some of her most memorable performances were her soprano solo work in Mendelssohn’s Elijah and Brahms’ Requiem. Ramos has had the privilege of working and studying with Dr. Klassen for 15 years and is thrilled to share the stage with him again. She is happily married to her husband Andre; they have two beautiful daughters, Amelia and Sophia, and this year welcomed their son Alexander. • Child of the Stable’s Secret Birth Thomas Hewitt Jones (b. 1984) Jones is an award-winning composer of both concert and commercial music and was winner of the BBC Young Composer Competition in 2003. “Child of the Stable’s Secret Birth was the first Christmas carol I ever wrote, just after leaving Cambridge University, where I produced a couple of recordings for John Rutter. He premiered this carol in his Albert Hall concert with the Cambridge Singers & the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in 2012. I really enjoy writing carols because the form of a carol requires a very structured approach to provide a musical journey that helps the words (rather than fights them), and fully evokes their emotion and feel. I decided to set these words by Timothy Dudley-Smith because they are a very beautiful alternative representation of the birth of Jesus.” Solo: Melinda Ramos, Christy Rocca • Gospel Magnificat Patti Drennan (b. 1952) Drennan earned a Bachelor of Music Education degree at Oklahoma State University and a Masters of Music Education degree at the University of Oklahoma. She taught Choral Music for twenty-eight years in Norman Public Schools where she was voted “Teacher of the Year”. In 2004, she was awarded the coveted “Director of Distinction Award” given yearly by the Oklahoma Choral Directors Association. She retired from teaching in 2004 in order to compose and stay active as a clinician and workshop presenter. She also serves as Music and Worship Arts Director at First Baptist Church, Norman. Gospel Magnificat demonstrates Drennen’s love for writing and playing gospel music. “I love all facets of this genre. I was given a rough idea from a choral editor to write this Luke 1:46-55 scripture in a gospel style. Call and response with a soloist is so prevalent in this type of music and thus found in my anthem.” Solo: Melinda Ramos • Ding Dong! Merrily On High arr. Stephen Mager (b. 1956) Mager has been composer-in-residence for the Bach Society of Saint Louis since 2004. He was honored as the Composer of the Year by the American Guild of Organists in 2001, an award that acknowledged his service to the cause of sacred music. About Ding Dong! Merrily on High the composer states, “Rather than attempt to improve upon the original theme, one ought to display its beauty so that it shines to its own best advantage. My objective as a composer is to present this carol in a style that reflects its own distinctive national and expressive character.” • Ave Maria Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847) Mendelssohn is regarded as the 19th century equivalent of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. He may have realized more import during his lifetime had his life not been marred with hardships. After his death he was recognized as one of the best and most influential composers to have lived. He wrote a significant amount of sacred music covering a time span from 1821 -- when he was 12 -- to the year of his death. This setting of Ave Maria is from Three Sacred Choruses written in 1830 and was first performed in Bonn in the same year. Nowhere is Mendelssohn’s creative talent more poignantly exposed than in his choral works. Tonight’s performance includes only the first 48 measures of a much longer work. The Three Sacred Choruses were composed directly in response to one of his first visits to Vatican City. In the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik a critic wrote, “This music speaks so convincingly of Mary’s sanctity that it could lead a non-Catholic to her. Here we find the most tender tonal colors of edification, worship and religious thought directed toward Heaven.” Solo: Aaron Bryan • Lullay My Liking Stephen Chatman (b. 1950) One of Canada’s most prominent composers, Chatman, Professor of Composition at The University of British Columbia, since 1976, is the first Canadian ever short-listed in the BBC Masterprize International Competition. As Professor of composition, orchestration, co-director of University of British Columbia Contemporary Players new music ensemble, and Head of the UBC School of Music composition division, Dr. Chatman has taught a generation of prominent Canadian composers. Lullay My Liking is a setting of a well-known early Renaissance traditional English text. Solos: Melinda Ramos, Christy Rocca, Arlene Steffen • A Night of Birth Frederic Chopin (1810-1849) arr. Severin Behnen (b. 1953) Behnen received his Ph.D. in Music Composition from UCLA in 2008. He teaches at Los Angeles Valley College and continues research into the development and testing of various types of musical notation in an interactive motion graphics environment. Chopin, a Polish composer, wrote this etude in 1830. Based on Chopin’s piano Etude in C# minor, this is an original choral setting by Behnen. With his permission, the Christmas text was written by Roy Klassen. • O Little Town of Bethlehem arr. Steven Paulus (b. 1949) Paulus is an American composer best known for his operas and choral music. He has received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and Guggenheim Foundation and won the prestigious Kennedy Center Friedheim Prize. Paulus co-founded the American Composers Forum in 1973, the largest composer service organization in the U.S. The text for O Little Town of Bethlehem was written by Phillips Brooks (1835–1893), an Episcopal priest and Rector of the Church of the Holy Trinity, Philadelphia. Inspiration to write this hymn came after a visit to Bethlehem in 1865. This arrangement was written by Steven Paulus in 1998. He uses the original melody, left the text the same, but set them to new harmonies. • Noe! Noe! arr. Mack Wilberg (b. 1955) Wilberg is a composer, arranger, conductor, and choral clinician, as well as the music director of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. He attended Brigham Young University and earned a bachelor’s degree in music in 1979. He then earned a Ph.D. in music from the Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California. Noe! Noe! is a traditional Christmas melody originating in France. Wilberg’s arrangement was premiered by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir in 2008. • The Colors of Christmas John Rutter (b. 1945) Born in London, Rutter studied music at Clare College, Cambridge, where he was a member of the choir. He served as director of music at Clare College from 1975 to 1979, and led the choir to international prominence. In 1981, Rutter founded his own choir, the Cambridge Singers, which he conducts and with which he has made many recordings of sacred choral repertoire (including his own works). He resides in Cambridgeshire. The Colors of Christmas was released October 24, 2011. Rutter fell in love with Christmas carols when he was a chorister in grade school. “It was really a short step from singing and enjoying carols to saying ‘Why don’t I write some of my own?’” Rutter explains. “Every now and again I write a new carol and it’s like a thread that runs through my musical life. It always brings me back to those happy days as a little boy soprano, getting so excited about Christmas. For me it just never seems to grow stale. I look forward to Christmas, hand on heart, every year.” INTERMISSION • Magnificat in G Charles Villiers Stanford (1852-1924) Sir Charles Stanford was an Irish composer, music teacher, and conductor. He was educated at the University of Cambridge before studying music in Leipzig and Berlin. While still an undergraduate, Stanford was appointed organist of Trinity College, Cambridge. In 1882, he was one of the founding professors of the Royal College of Music, where he taught composition for the rest of his life. From 1887 he was also the professor of music at Cambridge. Among his pupils were rising composers whose fame went on to surpass his own, such as Gustav Holst and Ralph Vaughan Williams. Magnificat in G is one of Stanford’s best-known choral works. In this setting, he assigns the “role” of Mary to a solo soprano, though perhaps we shouldn’t read too much into this because, in the cathedral, the part would have been sung by a boy treble and tonight by a tenor. The Magnificat is a translation of the Latin text from the Roman Vespers Service into English. The words are those sung by the Blessed Virgin Mary after an angel tells her she is bearing the Christ child. Solo: Aaron Bryan • There is No Rose of Such Virtue Kevin A. Memley (b. 1971) Kevin started piano lessons at five and began composing at twelve, largely due to a bet with his father. Kevin’s skills as a composer have been largely self-taught. His music has been performed world-wide. He currently teaches Music Technology at Clovis East High School and directs the church choir at the Kingsburg Community Church. Kevin has been the accompanist for the San Joaquin Chorale for 12 years. There is No Rose of Such Virtue was commissioned in 2010 by Travis Rogers for the Napa High School Chamber Singers. Once written, it was placed in the Jo-Michael Scheibe Choral Series of Pavane Publishing where it has remained one of Memley’s most popular a cappella works to date. Known for his use of complex harmonies and rhythms, Memley has earned the title of “being a cross between Bernstein and Rutter”. A review of the piece from music distributor Hal Leonard reads as follows: “Selected for the Jo-Michael Scheibe Sacred Choral Series, Kevin Memley brings new life to a classic Christmas text. The textures, the harmony, the word coloration, the elements that lift this setting to compete with the established settings in choral literature.” • Blow, Blow, Thou Winter Wind Michael John Trotta (b. 1978) Trotta earned a Doctorate of Musical Arts in Choral Conducting from Louisiana State University. He has held positions at the middle school, high school, and university levels. He is currently the Director of Choral Activities at Virginia Wesleyan College. He currently lives in Virginia Beach. Trotta commented, “Taking part in choral music, whether as an audience member, singer, conductor, or composer, is an opportunity to slow down time long enough to allow the beauty of life to catch up with you.” Blow, Blow, Thou Winter Wind is a well-known Shakespeare poem, taken from Act II, Scene 7 of As You Like It. This song states that physical suffering caused by frost and winter wind is preferable to the inner suffering caused by man’s ingratitude. • Mary Had a Baby arr. Craig Courtney Every verse of Mary Had a Baby ends with ‘The people keep a-comin’ and the train done gone.’ Trains were a new reality in the newly emerging industrial age of the early nineteenth century. They connected places that had been previously isolated. Trains represented a way out, whether physical, spiritual, or imaginative. There is also the historical image of the Underground Railroad, which took passengers from station to station on its way to physical freedom. Mary’s baby represents freedom, salvation and deliverance. Jesus is the way out of sin and death. Solo: Melinda Ramos