PROGRAM NOTES

Kantorei’s program this weekend bears the title Walk Together, Children, and features twelve composers with roots in the African diaspora. The connection flavors their music in varying ways. At times, it’s the flow of melodies and their harmonic flavors. It can also be point of view: what feelings or aspirations might seem especially close to the heart. Whatever inspired each composer – men and women alike, representing a century worth of marvelous music – the results make for compelling listening. Sacred or secular, joyous, peaceful, or hopeful, it is music that can reach every one of us.

Undine Smith Moore: two selections – Lord, We Give Thanks to Thee; Striving After God performers alike.Her setting of Praise the Lord both opens and closes in festive mood. However, the central pages bring tenderness, the better to reflect the text and to provide contrast to the work as a whole.

David Hurd: Make a Joyful Noise to the Lord

Given the text of Psalm 100, one can expect it to be joyful. However, composer David Hurd (b. 1950) goes one step further, providing a distinctive organ prelude, as well as intriguing juxtaposition between voice parts. Hurd sets the middle lines of the Psalm in calm and thoughtful demeanor, making the return to vigor for the closing even more dramatic.

REGINAL WRIGHT (B. 1976)

Granddaughter of slaves, Undine Smith Moore (1904 –1989) grew up in a Virginia community where music played a central role, especially in congregational singing of hymns. Two contrasting examples of Moore's own hymn settings open Kantorei’s program. Lord, We Give Thanks to Thee is vividly celebratory, with elegantly expansive Alleluias which themselves seem worth the price of admission. Handel thought he knew how to set an Alleluia, but Moore gives him a run for his money. Striving After God opens with serenity, growing to juxtapose women’s voices against those of men. At times, greater motion anticipates the fervent build to brightness at the close.

William Grant Still: All That I Am

KEN BURTON (B. 1970)

ROSEPHANYE POWELL (B. 1962)

Composer of the first symphony by an African American to be given a professional performance (1931: Rochester), William Grant Still (1895 – 1978) proved himself in the big classical genres. However, he did not neglect choral settings. Still’s All That I Am, setting words by Verna Avery (1910 – 1987), is a serene prayer of thanks to the Lord for all that He has provided.

MY HEART BE BRAVE MARQUES L. A. GARRETT (B. 1984)

DRAW US NEAR

Alicia Rigsby, piano

BRING ME ALL YOUR DREAMS

JOEL THOMPSON (B. 1988)

CHRISTOPHER H. HARRIS

HOLD FAST TO DREAMS JOEL THOMPSON

Alicia Rigsby, piano

To make a general contribution to Kantorei, text “ Kantorei ” to 44321 Thank you!

Florence Beatrice Price: Praise the Lord Arkansas born, Boston trained, and Chicago based, Florence Beatrice Price (1887 – 1953) was a prominent figure in the Chicago Black Renaissance. Her orchestral and chamber works tend to get the most notice, but her vocal works merit close attention from audiences and

Betty Jackson King: Psalm 57

Composer Betty Jackson King (1928 – 1994) once attested “Over my head, I hear music in the air. There must be a God somewhere.” That conviction led her to focus largely upon sacred works, including this setting of Psalm 57. The text begins “Have mercy on me, O Lord,” words that King felt were best expressed with serenity. The later addition of a high descant to the other voices brings greater brilliance, and by the closing verse, splendor takes over. King sensed that this evolution best reflected reflect images of praise and exaltation “reaching to the heavens.”

Nathan

Carter: Psalm 150

Over and over, Psalm 150 evokes scenes of praise: with trumpet, tambourine, cymbals, and more. None of those instruments appear in this setting by Nathan Carter (1936 – 2004). Only a piano provides accompaniment to the voices. After a glorious opening, nimbly racing lines charge forward, taking a break midway for a serene soprano solo. For the closing pages, Carter brings back the exuberance of the opening. Here is a choral work that, driven by its text, is suffused with joy.

Reginal Wright: We are the Music Makers

Here one finds no Biblical verses. Current composer Reginal Wright (NOT ‘Reginald’) has chosen as text the Ode by Irish poet Arthur O’Shaughnessy (1844 – 1881). The vision is not specifically sacred, but still compelling: “We are the music makers the dreamers of dreams the movers and shakers of the world for ever, it seems.” Any singer would revel in

JOEL M. RINSEMA Managing Artistic Director

Joel M. Rinsema joined Kantorei (Denver, Colorado USA) in 2014, becoming the second conductor in its 25-year history. A frequent collaborator and champion of new works for chorus, Joel has commissioned and premiered works by many of today’s leading composers, including Kim André Arnesen, Mason Bates, René Clausen, Jean Belmont Ford, Ola Gjeilo, Jocelyn Hagen, Mark Hayes, Cecilia McDowall, Sarah Quartel, Jake Runestad, and Eric Whitacre. In the summer of 2022, Joel conducted the Central American premiere of Jake Runestad’s El Último Hilo (The Last Thread) in Guatemala City and Antigua, Guatemala with Kantorei and the Guatemalan choir Vocalis. He will return in late May of 2023 to conduct Eric Whitacre’s The Sacred Veil

Under Joel’s direction, Kantorei has released two recordings on the Naxos label. Sing, Wearing the Sky: Choral Music of Jake Runestad (2020) was the #3 best-selling classical album on iTunes, reached #4 on the Traditional Classical Billboard Charts, and was in the top ten in both the best-selling classical album and new classical release categories on Amazon. Infinity: Choral Works of Kim André Arnesen (2018) climbed to the #2 best-selling classical album on iTunes, #6 on the Traditional Classical Billboard Charts, and #19 on the overall Classical Billboard charts. Santa Barbara Music Publishing Inc., publishes the Joel Rinsema / Kantorei Choral series.

Joel led Kantorei in performances at the 2019 National Convention of the American Choral Directors Association, and prepared Kantorei as the primary chorus for the Aspen Music Festival for Maestro Robert Spano in the summers of 2021 and 2022. More recently, he conducted Kantorei along with the Canadian Brass in December of 2022, commissioned and prepared Kantorei for the world premiere of the string orchestra version of Eric Whitacre’s The Sacred Veil, led by the composer, and guest conducted The Sacred Veil with the Washington (DC) Choral Arts Society in May of 2023.

Joel is a passionate advocate for the professional choral art form, and he frequently consults with choral arts organizations around the country. Because of his leadership in his field, he received the Louis Botto Award for “Innovative Action and Entrepreneurial Zeal” from Chorus America, the industry’s advocacy, research, and leadership development organization for choruses, choral leaders, and singers.

From 2017-2020 he was the North American Choral Promotion Manager for Oxford University Press based in Oxford, England, a tenure during which he worked closely with and represented roster composers John Rutter, Mack Wilberg, Bob Chilcott, Sarah Quartel, Cecilia McDowall, Gabriel Jackson, and Will Todd among others.

Joel holds music degrees from Arizona State University and Whitworth University and he is a member of the Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (Grammys), American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) and Colorado Music Educators Association (CMEA).

He came to Kantorei from the Grammy Award-winning Phoenix Chorale. Throughout his 23-year tenure with the Phoenix Chorale, he served in nearly every capacity with the organization, including his last 15 years as President & CEO and Assistant Conductor. He negotiated an ongoing recording contract with the prestigious U.K.-based Chandos Records, and Phoenix Chorale recordings received a total of eight Grammy nominations and two Grammy awards during his tenure. Joel appears on all Phoenix Chorale recordings and was a soloist on the Grammy Award-winning “Spotless Rose: Hymn to the Virgin Mary.” In addition to his work with the Phoenix Chorale, he was the founding chorus master of the Arizona Musicfest Chorus.

Kantorei is a Denver-based, choral ensemble comprised of volunteer singers under the direction of Artistic Director Joel M. Rinsema

Formed in 1997 under the leadership of six friends and artistic director Richard Larson, Kantorei has established itself as one of the nation’s premier choral ensembles. Our choral artists have studied at schools with strong music programs across the United States such as Baylor University, Brigham Young University, Eastman School of Music, Indiana University, St. Olaf College, Wartburg College, and Westminster Choir College. Kantorei’s singers reside throughout the greater Denver area. Some serve as choral music educators, church choir conductors, and vocal instructors. Others are doctors, social workers, optometrists, counselors, clinical psychologists, accountants, realtors –all brought together in weekly rehearsals for shared artistic excellence and community.

Kantorei has performed for major choral conventions across the U.S., toured the world, and has commissioned and premiered new choral works from such renowned composers as Kim André Arnesen, Eric William Barnum, Abbie Betinis, René Clausen, Ola Gjeilo, Jocelyn Hagen, Sarah Quartel, Jake Runestad, Joshua Shank, and Eric Whitacre. In the summer of 2022, Kantorei performed the Central American premiere of Jake Runestad’s “El Ultimo Hilo” in Guatemala City and Antigua, Guatemala, along with Guatemelan choir Vocalis. In the fall of 2021, Kantorei began its three-year collaboration with M. Roger Holland, II as Artist-in-Residence.

Kantorei has released two recordings on the Naxos label. “Sing, Wearing the Sky” (2020) choral music of Jake Runestad reached the #3 best-selling classical album on iTunes, #4 on the Traditional Classical Billboard Charts, and the top ten in both the best-selling classical album and new classical release categories on Amazon. “Infinity: Choral Works of Kim André Arnesen” (2018) climbed to the #2 best-selling classical album on iTunes, #6 on the Traditional Classical Billboard Charts and #19 on the overall Classical Billboard charts. Santa Barbara Music Publishing Inc. publishes the Kantorei Choral series.

“...An ideally balanced ensemble... In total a much recommended release.”

-David Denton, David’s Review Corner, August 2020 (Read the full review here)

“That he writes well for singers is enthusiastically proved by the all-volunteer Denver-based Kantorei choral ensemble and eight instrumentalists, and some full-blooded recordings.”

-Laurence Vittes, Gramophone, October 2020 (Read the full review here or here)

“…Always engaging and colorful…sung with depth and conviction by Kantorei.”

– Karl W. Nehring, Classical Candor, December 2020 (Read the full review here)