UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO FACULTY of MUSIC 100 ,YEARS 1918-2018 Nocturnes U of T Women’s Chorus Dr. Elaine Choi, conductor Eunseong Cho, collaborative pianist U of T Men’s Chorus Dr. Mark Ramsay, conductor Kevin Stolz, collaborative pianist Sunday, October 28, 2018 2:30 pm Church of the Redeemer, 162 Bloor Street West We wish to acknowledge this land on which the University of Toronto operates. For thousands of years it has been the traditional land of the Huron-Wendat, the Seneca, and most recently, the Mississaugas of the Credit River. Today, this meeting place is still the home to many Indigenous people from across Turtle Island and we are grateful to have the opportunity to work on this land. Program U of T Women’s Chorus Dr. Elaine Choi, conductor Eunseong Cho, collaborative pianist Alleluia Stephanie Martin* (b. 1962) Beau Soir Claude Debussy (1862-1918) arr. Linda Spevacek (b. 1945) Child with the Starry Crayon Eleanor Daley* (b. 1955) Maddy Battista, soprano Stars Larysa Kuzmenko* (b. 1956) Night Larysa Kuzmenko Noche de Lluvia Sid Robinovitch* (b. 1942) Hymn to Vena from Choral Hymns from the Rig Veda (third group) Gustav Holst (1874-1934) Olivia Lu, Lauren Levorson-Wong, Mimi Ye, Ana Isabella Castro, sopranos Emma Moss, Lucy Cheng, Yelena Gavrilova, Chiki Ogawa, altos Christina Kant, harp Canadian Composers Combined Choir “Gloria Tibi” from MASS Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990) Angelo Moretti, tenor “Gloria in excelsis” from MASS Leonard Bernstein Qiuchen Wang, percussionist Eunseong Cho, piano U of T Men’s Chorus Dr. Mark Ramsay, conductor Kevin Stolz, collaborative pianist The Dying Rebel Traditional Irish arr. Mark Sirett* (b. 1952) The Ballad of Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard Benjamin Britten (1913-1976) Peace Stephen Chatman* (b. 1950) Mad Timothy C. Takach (b. 1978) Sure On This Shining Night Samuel Barber (1910-1981) arr. Jacob Narverud (b. 1986) Combined Choir Sure On This Shining Night Morten Lauridsen (b. 1943) Kevin Stolz, piano Program Notes for U of T Women’s Chorus Canadian composer and conductor Stephanie Martin is associate professor of music at York University’s School of the Arts, Media, Performance and Design; director of Schola Magdalena; conductor emeritus of Pax Christi Chorale; and past director of music at the historic Church of Saint Mary Magdalene in Toronto. Alleluia is a five-part round that can be performed by any combination of voices and is from a set of two pieces that also includes “Tantum Ergo.” Beau Soir (Beautiful Evening) is a French art song, originally scored for solo voice and piano. In this program, the Women’s Chorus is performing a choral arrangement by Linda Spevacek. Written by a teenage Claude Debussy with words by poet Paul Bourget, this piece paints the picture of a beautiful evening as the sun sets into the rose-coloured river. A sense of peacefulness is created by long legato phrases, paired with fluid constant triplets in the piano accompaniment. Child with the Starry Crayon was commissioned in 2004, as a joint collaboration between Oriana Women’s Choir and the Toronto District School Board. Composer Eleanor Daley set music to selected student poetry (poem by Grade 5 student Dinushi Munasinghe) as part of the special Poetry and Music Project. Daley plays with textures, alternating between unison melodic lines and dense three-part harmonies, unfolding the endless imagination of the one child with the starry crayon. Elaborate piano accompaniment with rolled chords and arpeggiated movement creates a sense of awestruck wonder. We continue the innocence of children’s depiction of night skies with two short pieces by Canadian composer Larysa Kuzmenko. Stars and Night are two poems by students from Faywood Public School. Stars is a light, cheerful piece, depicting the shimmering of the stars. Its energetic spirit echoes the brightness of children’s voices. The poem Night tells the story of haunting shadows. Like the atmosphere of the night, the music is both mysterious and ethereal, depicting the shapes and moods of the underlying poetry. Noche de Lluvia (Rainy Night) is the third movement of Canciones por las Americas by Canadian composer Sid Robinovitch - a set reflecting different aspects of Latin American culture. Noche de Lluvia uses the evocative words of Uruguayan poet and feminist Juana de Ibarbourou (1892-1979), also known as Juana de America. The Latin American rhythms used throughout create a scene of great sensuality both inside a bedroom and outside, where the rain is tapping with “little fingers” on the windowpane. In the early 20th century, inspired by his Theosophist stepmother, British composer Gustav Holst developed an immense interest in the religious literature and poetry of India. The Rig Veda is a set of over 1,000 hymns, singing praises to higher beings such as Agni, Vena, Indra and so on. Translated from Sanskrit to English by Holst himself, he has set 14 Rig Veda hymns into four groups of Choral Hymns. The third group, written in 1910, is a set of four pieces written for women’s chorus with harp accompaniment. To conclude our set with pieces dedicated to Night skies, we have chosen to perform Hymn to Vena (The sun rising through the mist). This work paints the appearance of Vena, the child of cloud and mist appearing on the ridge of the sky. The elaborate harp accompaniment helps create a sense of awe and mystical wonder throughout. Women’s Chorus will be performing the remaining three hymns from this group at concerts on February 3 and March 31,2019. As the world comes together to celebrate the centennial of iconic American composer, conductor, and humanitarian Leonard Bernstein (1918-2018), we have chosen to include excerpts of MASS in this program. Unlike a traditional mass setting, this composition is a large scale theatrical piece scored for singers, players, dancers and more. Bernstein envisioned MASS not as a concert piece, but rather, an eclectic staged dramatic performance. MASS incorporates music of many genres such as blues, rock, gospel, folk, Broadway, and jazz idioms, reflecting the multifaceted nature of Bernstein’s career. In MASS , “Gloria Tibi” and “Gloria in Excelsis” follow a reflective orchestral movement, Meditation No. 1. These two energetic and exuberant movements offer highest praise and rejoicing to God. Program notes by Elaine Choi Program Notes for U of T Men’s Chorus The Dying Rebel is a traditional Irish folk song that dates from the early 20th century. Cork, located on the southwest coast of the island, is known as the Rebel County in honour of its long association in the forefront of many uprisings to overthrow British rule. This poignant ballad recounts the tragic death of a young rebel from Cork during the famous 1916 Easter Rising which proclaimed the Irish Republic independent of Britain. Program note by Mark Sirett English composer Benjamin Britten wrote The Ballad of Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard in 1943, the same year of his well-known cantata, Rejoice in the Lamb. He dedicated the work to ‘Richard Wood and the musicians of Oflag VIlb,’ a prisoner-of-war camp where the work was performed several times over the span of two months under the musical direction of Lieutenant Richard Wood. The text comes from an anonymous tale of adultery, betrayal, and regret. Britten’s keen attention to the text comes alive throughout the work in the dialogue of two secret lovers, the frantic actions of a page boy, and the anger and hurt felt by a betrayed lover. Today, the work remains as a staple in the tenor/bass choir repertoire. Peace, written by Canadian composer Stephen Chatman, was commissioned by the Cantabile Men’s Chorus of Kingston, Ontario. Throughout the lyrical work, melodic lines frequently begin in unison and slowly unfold to four-part harmony throughout each phrase, highlighting Teasdale’s beautiful poetry. Mad is a playful and poignant work created by American composer Timothy C. Takach in 2014. Based on a poem by Naomi Shihab Nye, the song portrays the relationship between mother and child and uses musical text painting to highlight imagery in the poem. The work was the result of a commission by the American Choral Directors Association of Minnesota. Samuel Barber penned his famous setting of Sure On This Shining Night (from Four Songs , Op. 13) in 1938 for solo voice and piano as well as his own arrangement for mixed SATB chorus in the same year. This arrangement for tenor/bass voices by Jacob Narverud mirrors the lyricism found in both of Barber’s settings. Morten Lauridsen composed his setting of James Agee’s poem Sure On This Shining Night as the third movement in a choral cycle titled Nocturnes. Lauridsen explains, “I set the verse very much like a song from the American musical theatre stage and it should be sung in that manner.” It remains as one of Lauridsen’s most popular works today and is best described by Norwegian composer, Ola Gjeilo: “A piece like Sure on This Shining Night , which is my own favorite, has a warm, beautiful melody with elegantly flowing vocal and piano accompaniment, and it’s both passionate and peaceful at the same time.” Program notes by Mark Ramsay BLOOR ST. CULTURE CORRIDOR The Faculty of Music is a partner of the Bloor St. Culture Corridor bloorstculturecorridor.com Biographies Dr. Elaine Choi contributes to Toronto’s vibrant choral community as a conductor, educator, adjudicator, and collaborative pianist. She is the Director of Music at Timothy Eaton Memorial Church, President of Choirs Ontario, and the conductor of the University of Toronto Women’s Chorus. Elaine holds a B.Mus Ed, M.Mus and DMA in choral conducting from the University of Toronto where she studied with Dr. Doreen Rao and Dr. Hilary Apfelstadt. She was a recipient of the Elmer Iseler Fellowship in Choral Conducting and is the 2018 recipient of the William and Waters graduation award from the University of Toronto. Elaine has recently founded Babel, an SATB chamber ensemble with a mission to bridge cultures with choral music by promoting compositions by Canadian and Chinese composers. Dr. Mark Ramsay is the artistic director of the Exultate Chamber Singers as well as the conductor of the University of Toronto Men’s Chorus, the U of T Scarborough Concert Choir, and the MNjcc Community Choir. In addition to his conducting work, he is an adjunct professor at the U of T Faculty of Music where he teaches graduate choral conducting lessons, an undergraduate course in choral music education, and works as an administrator for the choral area. He holds a DMA degree in choral conducting from U of T where he was a student of Dr. Hilary Apfelstadt. He was a recipient of an Elmer Iseler National Graduate Fellowship in Choral Conducting, and multiple U of T Fellowships and an Ontario Graduate Scholarship. Being a versatile musician as an organist, conductor, harpsichordist and collaborative pianist, Eunseong Cho has contributed her talent to Toronto’s music community for many years. She graduated from the University of Toronto with a Master’s degree in organ performance under the tutelage of Dr. John Tuttle. She studied with Sir Colin Tilney, and was a harpsichordist for the U of T Early Music Ensemble under the direction of Jeanne Lamon. She also studied choral conducting with Dr. Hilary Apfelstadt. She serves as music director at The Korean Philadelphia Presbyterian Church and as collaborative pianist for U of T Women’s Chamber Choir and Women’s Chorus. Kevin Stolz is a pianist based in Toronto. Hailing from the mountains of upstate New York, he completed undergraduate studies in jazz and contemporary music at Humber College in Toronto, receiving his Bachelor of Music in 2014. After graduation, Kevin was active in the contemporary scene, performing with alt-pop band Andi on CBC TV and venues throughout Ontario and Quebec. He also produced the acclaimed jazz big band album The Twilight Fall by Chelsea McBride’s Socialist Night School. Kevin has now returned to his original passion of classical performance, and he is privileged to study with Steven Philcox in the Master’s program in collaborative piano at the University of Toronto. Personnel U of T Women’s Chorus Dr. Elaine Choi, conductor Eunseong Cho, collaborative pianist Teresa Lin and Emma Moss, choir managers Soprano Leticia Balogh Maddy Battista Ana Isabella Castro Katharine Chiu Maria Deng Amelia Depiero Wenyuling Ding Maria Fedyushina Andrea Franco Alexa Frankian Yvonne Gao Katherine Flo Tanya Humeniuk Paige Jeffrey Lexie Laengert Kitty Lau Lauren Levorson-Wong Teresa Lin Taylor Lovelace Olivia Lu Jodie Ng Ismene Papadopoulou Lydia Shan Diyara Toktamyssova Julie Wang Joelle Wong Jocelyn Yang Mimi Ye Cindy Yu Yuhan Zhang Alto Annie Cao Lucy Cheng Chanel Chow Hillary Chu Rosemonde Desjardins Yelena Gavrilova Reina Kwak Lin Li Sarah Marchack Tina Meng Emma Moss Emily Ninavaie Chiki Ogawa Tessa Prasuhn Rina Shim Carina Shum Rebecca Synard Emily Tam Teresa Tang Reyna Yan Futian Yao Sher Yao Yin Yin Mia Zheng Jane Zuchelkowski U of T Men’s Chorus Dr. Mark Ramsay, conductor Kevin Stolz, collaborative pianist Qattani Legroulx, choir manager Tenor Joey Labute Jeong Wu Lee Nathan Richards Ivan Tapel Jacob Thomas Kevin Yue Baritone Michael Brennan Gabriel Cordova Michael Denomme Crescenzo DiCecco Thomas Dobrovich Jeremy Hernandez Lum Tong John Krutschke Kevin Lau Hinners Leung Arthur Li Gordon Mok Brent Nuevo Oliver Peart Mikelis Rogers Stephen Shi Evan Tanovich Ben Yeo Bass Jaime Barrow Ken Chen Benjamin Fitzpatrick Franciz Gonzales Qattani Legroulx Luciano Maizel Stephane Martin Demers Mykola Pyskir Andrew Stanco Performance Collection Karen Wiseman, Librarian Upcoming Ticketed Performances Kurt Weill’s Street Scene U of T Opera’s Fall Main Stage Production Thu Nov 22, Fri Nov 23 and Sat Nov 24 at 7:30 pm Sun Nov 25 at 2:30 pm MacMillan Theatre, 80 Queen’s Park A Child’s Prayer Choristers from the Schola Cantorum & Theatre of Early Music Sat Nov 24 at 5 pm Trinity College Chapel, 6 Hoskin Avenue For the Joy of the Singing U of T Choirs Tribute to Dr. Hilary Apfelstadt Sun Dec 2 at 2:30 pm MacMillan Theatre, 80 Queen’s Park U of T Symphony Orchestra with Gena van Oosten, mezzo soprano and Julia Mirzoev, violin Fri Dec 7 at 7:30 pm MacMillan Theatre, 80 Queen’s Park Tickets and information: music.utoronto.ca I 416-408-0208 Want to stay informed of our upcoming events? 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