TRANSFIGURATIONS:
Choral Music of Christopher Tin
10.5.2024
SATURDAY @ 7:30PM
First Plymouth UCC 3501 S Colorado Blvd, Cherry Hills Village
10. 6.2024 SUNDAY @ 3:00PM
Wellshire Presbyterian Church 2999 S Colorado Blvd, Denver
Christopher Tin Featured Composer
Charles Anthony Silvestri Featured Libretist
TRANSFIGURATIONS
Choral Music of Christopher Tin
A licia Rigsby, piano; Dylan Tyree, cello; David Short, cello; Nicholas Recuber, bass; Remy Le Boeuf, soprano saxophone
BY CHARLES ANTHONY SILVESTRI
Kantorei’s Vision:
To elevate the human experience through choral excellence
Our Mission:
Kantorei is an inclusive community of volunteer singers that invites audiences to experience the richness and diversity of the choral art form, joyously executed at the highest standard of musical excellence. We are innovators: we responsibly leverage our resources to commission work by living composers, perform music by underrepresented and emerging artists, encourage future talent through educational engagement, and nurture the choral community.
Our Values:
Musical Excellence – We maintain the highest possible standards. We hold ourselves and each other accountable for putting in the necessary effort. We take on artistic challenges that many choirs cannot. We provide our audiences with unique musical experiences performed with professionalism, accuracy, passion, and finesse. We are a volunteer choir with world-class aspirations and achievements.
Land acknowledgement
Kantorei honors and acknowledges the Tséstho’e (Cheyenne), hinono’eino’ biito’owu’ (Arapaho), Núu-agha-tʉvʉ-pʉ̱ (Ute), and Očhéthi Šakówiŋ (Sioux) Tribes, and all of the original Indigenous peoples of the land upon which we rehearse and perform.
SONG OFFERINGS*
LYRICS BY RABINDRANATH TAGORE
* World Premiere. Commissioned by Linda & Randy Chilcote in memory of their daughter, Alison N. Roman, honoring her love of music and her beloved Kantorei; and by Judith Kay Fredericksen for Kantorei & Joel Rinsema, Managing Artistic Director
Inclusion – We strive to create a singer community where individuals from all backgrounds and experiences can be their best. We celebrate and perform composers that have been underrepresented in the choral tradition alongside those who have historically enjoyed the spotlight. We amplify voices that should be heard, and seek to bring our voices to new places. We connect diverse audiences through the power of music.
Joy – We make music because it brings us joy and we are passionate about sharing that joy with others. Audiences feel our connection to each other and the music; through our work they experience intellectual and emotional expansion. Sharing this joy with each other and our audiences is a privilege.
Community – We provide an opportunity for singers, artists, students, and audiences from many different backgrounds and identities to share in musical experiences that allow us to transcend the world we live in. Our singers show up for each other, both musically and personally. We are in community with the composers who partner with us. We create nurturing relationships with other choirs so we can collectively thrive. We show young and emerging artists what their musical future can look like.
To make a general contribution to Kantorei, text “ Kantorei ” to 44321 Thank you!
Innovation – As an organization, we are never stagnant. We feel a responsibility to use our funding to educate, delight, and amaze, which is evident through every aspect of our work: programming, recordings, concerts, and community impact. We move the art form forward by celebrating the full diversity of modern choral composition, and juxtaposing it with treasured work of the traditional canon. Our audiences can feel the musical past resonating with wisdom in the present, and the present reaching back to seek guidance from the past.
PROGRAM NOTES
TRANSFIGURATIONS
NOTES FROM THE COMPOSER, CHRISTOPHER TIN
1.
2.
6. Tat Tvam Asi (after Tagore, Gitanjali 35)
'Transfigurations' is a choral setting of a suite of poems by celebrated poet Charles Anthony Silvestri, centered around the idea of change. It's our first collaboration, and it was inspired by the musings of its commissioner, Dan Peterson.
Early in the process, Tony and I hashed out various ideas for the suite, all connected by the idea of transformation from one shape to another. Two of the poems were grounded in religion and mythology, such as the Transfiguration of Christ; or the story of Iphis from Ovid's Metamorphoses, which tells of a young girl who prays to be transformed into a man so that she may wed her female lover. Others are rooted in the works of other great poets, such as 'Ozymandias', a reimagining of Percy Bysshe Shelley's famous sonnet about a collapsed empire. Still others embrace a more metaphysical exploration of the universe, such as the opening pair of movements ‘Fire Prelude' and 'Photon', that rhapsodize on the harmonious connection between the stars and our own selves. And as a mirror to those opening poems, the concluding movement 'Tat Tvam Asi' (Sanskrit for “Thou art that”) explores the famous phrase in Hinduism that states that the individual is the Absolute--that each of us is in fact the very universe itself.
Thou Art That
It was the process of composing that final movement ‘Tat Tvam Asi’, in fact, that turned out to be very personally transformative of my own creative process. To give some back story, ever since I was a teenager, I tended to split the creative world into two categories: art and entertainment. Both types of works had different goals: broadly speaking, artistic works existed to expand the frontiers of the art form, and expected a level of intellectual engagement from the audience, which would in turn reward them with some profound and deeper understanding of themselves or the world around them. Works of entertainment sought to elicit a sentiment or two—happiness, nostalgia, inspiration—all without asking the audience to work too hard to enjoy the work. Of course, artistic works can be entertaining, and works of entertainment can have a high level of artistry to them. But for much of my
life, I swam back and forth in the murky waters where these two ideas collided, always trying to reconcile them in a state of perpetual misery and unfulfillment.
But what if this duality is false? What if the entire premise of my creative energies, whereby one must delicately balance composing music for the brain against writing music for the heart, is meaningless?
I started to question myself when I discovered the phrase ‘Tat tvam asi’. To give a little context to the phrase, it is most famously posted at the Sabrimala Temple, a famous pilgrimage site in the Kerala region of India. People travel there to find enlightenment—but to get there, these pilgrims need to undergo a series of rituals that last 41 days, where through a combination of fasting, good deeds, and removal of the sense of a corporeal self, they attempt to achieve a state of purity and devotion. After undergoing these rituals, the pilgrims are finally allowed to ascend the mountain, in search of the answers they seek. And once they reach the temple, after many weeks of cleansing the mind, body, and spirit, they are finally presented with the answer to their questions:
“Tat tvam asi”.
These words, printed on the facade of the temple, express perhaps the most enlightened concept in all of theology:
“Thou art that.” In other words, “You are it.” You yourself are the person you are searching for. You yourself are the answer to all your questions, and the solution to all your problems. You are the essence of the universe, and the essence of the universe is in you. There is, in fact, no duality—there is only oneness.
If this sounds a little bit cosmic to the Western reader, perhaps it’s because we’re generally more comfortable discussing issues of the mind and the heart, more than we are discussing issues of the soul. I myself, to this point, had certainly never engaged with a spiritual text beyond a superficial understanding of it.
And while I had certainly composed many pieces from sacred texts before (e.g. “The Drop That Contained the Sea” is based on the Sufi concept that the essence of the entire universe is contained in each individual, in the same way that a single drop of water contains the essence of the ocean), I always kept their metaphysical aspects at arm’s length—preferring to engage with spirituality on a more academic and impersonal level than actually embracing it myself.
But perhaps owing to the state of my life that I’m currently in (which I jokingly refer to as 50% artistic rebirth, 50% mid-life crisis), for the first time I let myself be impacted personally by the wisdom of the words that I was setting to music. In my case, “Tat tvam asi” signaled a fundamental re-examination of
the very bedrock of my creative world view.
What if this duality between these opposing creative forces— art and entertainment—was in fact, false? What if I had predicated my entire creative life on navigating a friction between these two worlds that in fact, doesn’t need to exist? What if the hours of artistic self-flagellation—vacillating between questioning if something I wrote was cerebral enough, vs. whether it was accessible enough—were in fact, completely unnecessary? What if this duality with which I saw the creative world was inflated to such an ungainly proportion, that I lost sight of all that was pure and meaningful about the simple act of making music?
Like any good piece of cosmic wisdom, “Tat tvam asi” made me reconsider my world view. And I found by rejecting the duality with which I had framed it, I was able to find a new path of happiness in composing.
As such, I’m now entering the ‘joyous’ period of my life, where I’m once again making music from a place of innocent exuberance. As it turns out, the happiness that I had always been searching for was there all along. It was me.
TRANSFIGURATIONS:
NOTES FROM THE LYRICIST, CHARLES ANTHONY SILVESTRI
The texts for TRANSFIGURATIONS are built around the idea of change from one state to another. They are drawn from science, mythology, poetry, religion, personal observation, and philosophy. In reflecting on this theme, it became clear that a person’s attachments and sense of control govern their relationship to change. I ran with that idea and chose to center on poems of transformation, from a variety of points of view.
The PRELUDE is a prayer to fire, that most potent agent of change. I imagined Fire as a divine force and wrote the poem using an ancient prayer structure. All things change, all the time. The PRELUDE asks that divine force of change to turn our belief, away from our fixed illusions of control toward an acceptance of the ubiquity and power of unexpected transformation.
PHOTON focuses on the transformation that occurs in the heart of a star—energy becoming light, becoming life itself. The conflation of light and love is a common theme in my poetry, and here I imagine that it is Love that ignites in a star’s heart, and Love which turns the light of a star, through photosynthesis, into life itself. I like to think the design of the universe is elegant, and that Love—Divine Love, self-love,
love of others—is the reason for, and end result of, all things.
OZYMANDIAS acts as a prelude to Shelley’s famous sonnet about a traveler encountering the ruin of a colossal statue. I copied Shelley’s form and wrote stanzas which might serve as the lead-in to the famous inscription on the statue’s base, highlighting the folly of considering oneself immune to the transfiguration of time. Even today we have Ozymandiases who posture and preen to embellish their status of the moment, erecting statues (or spaceships or skyscrapers) to their own vainglory without regard to the future or the potential of their legacy to do otherwise.
IPHIS comes from a story in the Metamorphoses, a series of mythological poems written in the 1st c. BC by the Roman poet Ovid. In this story a girl is masquerading as a boy. She is betrothed by her parents to a girl whom she loves, which will force the revelation of her true identity. Iphis prays to Isis to rescue her from this impossible situation. The goddess transforms her into a boy so that she can fulfill her betrothal vow and have the partner (s)he desires.
YESHUA centers on the Transfiguration scene in the New Testament (Matthew 17, Mark 9, Luke 9), as Jesus appears to the disciples on the mount utterly transformed, gleaming white, in the presence of Moses and Elijah—standing as it were in the space between the Law and the Prophets, between Heaven and Earth. Would that we could shine so bright, and thus transform the world.
The final movement, TAT TVAM ASI, takes its title from the Hindu concept “Thou art That”—that you already are the transcendent ultimate reality, the universal cosmic consciousness. The text of the poem is adapted from Rabindranath Tagore’s Gitanjali (with a little bit of Rumi and C.S. Lewis too).
In total, the texts of TRANSFIGURATIONS remind us that change is ubiquitous, inevitable, wondrous, and terrible, and that much of our happiness in this life is based on our willingness to be guided by its powerful hand.
PROGRAM NOTES
SONG OFFERINGS
I. Let My Country Awake (Gitanjali 35 and 36)
II. This Rhythm (Gitanjali 70 and 83)
III. Stream of Life (Gitanjali 69)
IV. Only Thee (Gitanjali 38)
V. Joy (Gitanjali 55 and 58)
‘Song Offerings’ is a piece composed from a place of joy; and it asks little more than to share that joy with you.
The source of that joy is a collection of poems called ‘Gitanjali’, written by Nobel Prize-winning poet Rabindranath Tagore. Originally written in Bengali but translated into English by Tagore himself, it’s a collection of devotional poetry of the most beautiful order. Filled with praise for the divine, but non-specific to any deity or religion, it’s the purest and loveliest expression of faith that I’ve encountered; one that can speak to practitioners of all beliefs—and even to those who have no specific beliefs, but perhaps are gladdened by the sense of an abstract holiness. It’s a religious work without a religion, in a way.
I was drawn to ‘Gitanjali’ (which translates literally to ‘Song Offerings’) because of its universal expression of such a love for the divine. But in reading its verses, which dance across the lips with vigor and carefree rhythm, I had an epiphany. The true work of creation in ‘Gitanjali’ was not the poems themselves—it was the joy that comes from love for the divine that Tagore had found within himself. His words, beautiful and expressive as they are, are simply a vessel to transmit that joy to the reader. And the poems he wrote took no commission from that joy; they do not diffuse it with the rigidity of poetic forms, devices, or complex meanings. They are simply the purest manifestation of his joy, expressed in an everyperson’s language.
As such, I felt that my role was to simply continue to transmit that joy without condition; in a wholly unfiltered, honest, and selfless manner.
In the same way that Tagore’s words were simply a vessel for his love, my notes are simply a vessel for his words. The singers who sing this work are in turn vessels for the notes, and the audience members are the ultimate recipients—not of a choral work setting some beautiful devotional poetry— but the essence of that poetry itself, which is the purest form of joy itself. And all of us—from poet to composer, singer to audience—are asked nothing more than to open ourselves as recipients to that joy.
Composing for Joy
Something that’s fascinated me lately is exploring the relationship between a singer and the words they’re singing. To put it simply, if the singer connects to the lyrics on a deeper level, will they give a better performance of it?
To give a couple examples: a chorister singing “kyrie eleison” might enjoy practicing blending with their fellow singers, holding harmonies against other sections, perfecting the phrasing, and so forth, leading to a perfectly performed concert. But they could also go through the entire rehearsalperformance cycle and have no deeper connection to the piece beyond the act of music making, much less know the actual translation of the words. And in such a case, I might argue that something is lacking in the performance.
On the other hand, a stadium full of football fans might sing “We are the champions” when their side wins. Each and every person singing knows exactly the meaning of the words they’re singing, and exult in the occasion to sing those words. None of them care about pitch, blend, articulating consonants, and so forth. They’re just singing as loudly and as passionately as they can.
As audience members, we might appreciate each of these performances in different ways: the former for the exquisite musicianship, the latter for the raw passion. But what if we could compose in a way that tries to achieve both? What if we wrote in a way that placed equal importance on the emotional connection between the singer and the words they’re singing, with the technique with which they sing? How would we go about achieving this?
To start with, we would choose a text in a language that the singers understand, so there’s never any ambiguity about the meaning of the words. Secondly, we would preserve the inherent scansion of the words in the musical rhythms we chose—and we might avoid things like melismas or long, sustained passages on single syllables, that interfere with the audibility of the lyrics. Third, we would make sure that our musical setting reflected the meaning of the words—if the words are celebratory in nature, we would write celebratory music. If they’re reflective, then we write reflective music. Finally, and most importantly, we need to choose a text that speaks to as many people as possible. A text that is easy to understand, while still full of captivating words and rhythms. One that is direct in its meaning, but still filled with transcendent metaphors. A text that blossoms from the soul and dances off the lips. That text, to me, is ‘Gitanjali’.
Joy in the Deep of your Heart
To compose about joy, however, one must find the joy inside one’s own heart. And that can be as simple as embracing the things that make you happy, and letting go of the things that bring you anguish.
On every composer’s shoulders, there are two small creatures, each whispering into an ear. One creature whispers words of encouragement—compose what you feel is right, trust your instincts, write down that melody that’s refused to leave your head. The other creature whispers words of criticism—this idea came too easily, it’s not unique enough, it caters to the heart and not the brain.
What if we were to silence the critic creature? What would our music sound like?
I recently conducted a program of my ‘greatest hits’ at Carnegie Hall. The concert consisted mainly of pieces that I wrote in my earlier days, when I was further out of the public eye, and just making music without caring about what others might think.
(“Baba Yetu”, “Iza Ngomso”, “Waloyo Yamoni”, and “Sogno di Volare” to name a few.) And I found that I was incredibly happy sharing that music with the audience. (The audience seemed very happy to receive it as well.) After that concert I found a very strong desire to return to that state of joyful composing, and so when the time came to compose ‘Song Offerings’, I kindly packed up the critic creature in a little box and hid him deep in the woods.
What does an unfettered, joyful process of composing look like for me? As it turns out, it takes the form of rediscovering the music from my childhood: the music that inspired and excited me, and led me down the path of making music my life’s journey. Unlocking early childhood memories of musical discovery, like stumbling across my parents’ old Beatles vinyl collection—and then sharing that music with my own child. Revisiting my happiest memories as a young listener, discovering a multitude of genres of music, and splashing in their waters free of care. (You’ll hear elements of modal jazz, classic rock, gospel, Americana, musical theatre, African, and Indian music in ‘Song Offerings’—and yes, perhaps a little Beatles influence as well.)
Being honest about my roots, and allowing myself to channel those influences into my music, has allowed me to tap into a primal state of joy that hearkens back to my days as an awestruck young music fan. It’s brought a renewed sense of happiness to my creative process; one that had been missing for years. And if we’re not composing, performing, or listening to music to bring ourselves happiness, then why are we doing it?
There is no joy like knowing who you are, and being unafraid to share that true self with the world.
“Kantorei is an outstanding choir…excellent ensemble balance, fine intonation and musical expression…high level of energy.”
– Bruce McCollum, MusicWeb International, January 2021 (Read the full review here)
"...Always engaging and colorful...sung with depth and conviction by Kantorei."
- Karl W. Nehring, Classical Candor, December 2020 (Read the full review here)
“…one of the most incredible and spine-tingling concerts that I have heard in a long time. Looking forward to the rest of the season.”
“What an incredible experience…words cannot convey the magnitude of the program…spellbinding. Not soon to be forgotten.”
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. During his tenure, Kantorei has experienced tremendous audience growth, nearly tripled its budget, and launched an ambitious recording strategy. 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, Christopher Tin, 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 returned in May of 2023 to conduct Eric Whitacre’s The Sacred Veil and serves as Artistic Advisor and Principal Guest Conductor of Vocalis.
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 bestselling 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 has prepared Kantorei as the primary chorus for the Aspen Music Festival, with Maestro Robert Spano conducting, in the
summers of 2021 and 2022. More recently, he conducted Kantorei along with the Canadian Brass in December of 2022, and commissioned and prepared Kantorei for the world premiere of the string orchestra version of Eric Whitacre’s The Sacred Veil, conducted by the composer, and guest conducted The Sacred Veil with the Washington (DC) Choral Arts Society in May of 2023.
A passionate advocate for the professional choral art form, Joel 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.
Joel is an accomplished conductor of major works for choir and orchestra and was one of eighteen conductors chosen nationally through audition to participate in master classes and workshops presented by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association and Chorus America. As a tenor soloist, Joel performed across the United States as well as in Germany, Austria, and the Czech Republic.
Joel also serves as Director of Music and Technology in Worship at First Plymouth Congregational Church in Cherry Hills Village, Colorado. He was also the North American Choral Promotion Manager for Oxford University Press based in Oxford, England from 2017 to 2020, 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.
He holds music degrees from Arizona State University and Whitworth University and is a member of the Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (Grammys), and the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA).
Joel 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, Joel served as the Director of Music at Church of the Beatitudes United Church of Christ in Phoenix for 15 years, and he was the founding chorus master of the Arizona Musicfest Chorus.
He and his wife Sarah Branton (Choir Director at Cherry Creek High School) and stepson Simon Harrison live in Centennial, Colorado along with their miniature Dachshund Lucia. They enjoy all that Colorado has to offer outdoors, including camping, fishing, golfing, and snow skiing.
Kantorei is a Denver-based, choral ensemble comprised of volunteer singers under the direction of Managing 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. and with The Aspen Music Festival, 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 Último 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.
Kantorei’s vision is “to elevate the human experience through choral excellence.”
“Thank you for the joy you have brought into my life.”
“I've been smiling all day long. I'm so glad I got to experience the beauty of Kantorei's performance. It was truly heartwarming.”
Photo courtesy of Williams Pérez
THE CHOIR
SOPRANO ALTO TENOR BASS
Victoria Bailey
Beryl Fanslow Wilson
Riley Jayne Gallivan
Christina Graham
Heather Gunnerson
Stacie Hanson *
Becca Hyvonen
Shannon Lemmon-Elrod
Sara Michael *
Lexie Orvin
Martina Richardson
Alicia Rigsby ◊
Pearl Rutherford
Christianna Sullins
Leah Tracy
Safia Ahmed
Emily Alexander
Lindsey Aquilina
Lyn Berry-Helmlinger
Sarah Branton *
Desiree Deliz-Morales
Erin Greenfield
Chelsea Kendall
Tegan Masoero-Palmer
Melissa Menter
Erin Meyerhoff
Jennifer Moore
Allison Pasternak *
Kaleigh Sutula
Jane Wright
* Section leader ◊ Collaborative Pianist
STAFF MEMBERS
Sarah Branton
Assistant Conductor
Alicia Rigsby Accompanist, Collaborative Pianist
Sara Michael Business Manager
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Josh Corwyn
President
John Bartley
Vice President
MEMBERS AT LARGE
Mark Aquilina
Judy Bloomberg Schenkein
Kai Berry-Helmlinger *
Ben Corwyn
Joshua Corwyn
Matthew Eschliman
Keith Ferguson
Mason France
Keith Harrison
Bryce Kennedy
Samuel Low
Alex Menter
Chad Nelsen
Seth O'Kegley *
Jonathan Von Stroh
John Wright
John Bartley
Michael Bizzaro *
Jordan Black
Michael Boender
Adam Cave
Garth Criswell
Scott Horowitz
Brad Jackson
Brad Larson
Bryan Lastrella
John Ludwig
John Schaak
Kirk Schjodt *
Griffin Sutherland
Matt Weissenbuehler
SPECIAL THANKS TO OUR SEASON MEMBERS!
Becca Hyvönen Social Media Marketing & Communications Manager
Courtney Huffman Director of Community Engagement
Ximena Wheeler House Manager
Desiree Deliz-Morales
Treasurer
Melissa Menter
Secretary
Matthew Eschliman
Scott Horowitz
Daniel Paredes
Christopher Tin is a two-time Grammy-winning composer of concert and media music. His music has been performed and premiered in many of the world's most prestigious venues: Royal Albert Hall, Sydney Opera House, Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center, Hollywood Bowl, the United Nations and Carnegie Hall. Performers include the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra, Metropole Orkest, Queensland Symphony Orchestra and US Air Force Band, alongside Washington National Opera, Danielle de Niese, Ewa Plonka and Frederica von Stade.
His song "Baba Yetu", a Swahili setting of The Lord's Prayer originally written for the video game Civilization IV, is a modern choral standard, and the first piece of music written for a video game ever to win a Grammy Award. It's been licensed for use by groups ranging from Premier League Football to the Vatican. Two different contestants performed it in the same season of America's Got Talent. It was even a question on the legendary game show Jeopardy!
His debut album, the multi-lingual song cycle Calling All Dawns, won him a second Grammy in 2011, and his followup release The Drop That Contained the Sea debuted at #1 on Billboard's classical charts having premiered to a sold-out audience at Carnegie Hall's Stern Auditorium. His next album To Shiver the Sky also debuted at #1, and was funded by a record-breaking Kickstarter campaign that raised $221,415. The Lost Birds, a collaboration with acclaimed British vocal ensemble VOCES8, was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2023 and has been heard live across Europe, the US, Asia and Australia. He is also an in-demand collaborator, working with musicians across a wide-range of genres: Lang Lang, VOCES8, Danielle de Niese, Lara Downes, Alan Menken, BT, and Danny Elfman, to name a few.
In 2024 Tin was invited by Francesca Zambello (director) to compose a new ending for Puccini’s Turandot at Washington National Opera. Writing in collaboration with librettist Susan Soon He Stanton (playwright and screenwriter/producer of Succession) the run at the Kennedy Center was sold out, played to standing ovations and was adored by the artists, audience and critics alike.
Tin is signed to an exclusive record deal with Universal under their legendary Decca label, published by Concord and Boosey & Hawkes, and is a Yamaha Artist. He works out of his own custom-built studio in Santa Monica, California.
Acclaimed as "the preeminent choral lyricist of our time," poet, author, and composer Charles Anthony Silvestri specializes in providing bespoke poetry for choral composers, especially texts in Latin, both sacred and secular. He enjoys the creative challenges and rewards of the collaborative process and has provided lyrics for many composers in different stages of their careers and for a wide variety of commissions and occasions. “Collaboration between composer and poet is magic,” Silvestri argues. “ It opens for the composer opportunities for organic and dynamic creation not possible with previously published poetry and gives the poet the thrill and responsibility that his words will be sung--not read--and will be heard attached to an emotional soundtrack. There’s magic and power in the marriage of words and music.” He is the author of more than fifty published works in collaboration with celebrated composers such as Eric Whitacre, Dan Forrest, Ola Gjeilo, Christopher Tin, and Kim Arnesen; and for groups such as the King's Singers, VOCES8, San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus, the Tallis Scholars, Westminster Choir College, the Turtle Creek Chorale, and the Houston Grand Opera.
As a clinician, Silvestri speaks to choirs about his works, the creative process, and about his collaborative relationships with composers. He has given live and webcast presentations at Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, Disney Hall, and at universities and schools around the country. His poems for Eric Whitacre's Sleep and Leonardo Dreams of His Flying Machine have also been published as children's books, illustrated by Dutch artist Anne Horjus; and Silvestri wrote the foreword for the book From Words to Music by Gerald Custer and Blake Henson (GIA, 2014). He is also the author of A Silver Thread (GIA 2019), a retrospective of almost 20 years of his lyric poetry. Silvestri's words have been sung by thousands of choirs around the world, and have been heard on television and radio, on Grammy-winning recordings, and in the world's magnificent spaces such as the Sydney Opera House, Disney Hall, Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, the National Cathedral, Royal Albert Hall, Westminster Abbey, King’s College, the Vatican, and even in orbit aboard the ISS.
In addition to writing choral lyrics, Silvestri is also an accomplished artist/painter, specializing in replicating Medieval manuscript illumination and recreating the techniques and materials of Gothic and Renaissance painters and iconographers. He is an aficionado of Irish traditional music and plays concertina in a trad band and at pub sessions around the world. He is a veteran teacher with over three decades of experience teaching kindergarten through college. He has earned Bachelor’s, Master’s, and Doctorate degrees in Ancient and Medieval History from Loyola Marymount University and the University of Southern California. Born in 1965 in Las Vegas, Silvestri has lived in Los Angeles and Rome. He currently lives in Lawrence, Kansas, and teaches History at Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas.
Photo courtesy of Andy Wilkinson
Photo courtesy of Catherine Norwood
CHRISTOPHER TIN Featured Composer
CHARLES ANTHONY SILVESTRI Featured Libretist
TEXT & TRANSLATIONS
Charles Anthony Silvestri, © 2023 for Christopher Tin
Powerful, bright, and all-consuming:
That life, that fate, that our destiny awaits. All must bear the change; All that is shall be transfigured
For so has it ever been ordained.
All our craft, our pride, our petty power Begin and end in your indiff’rent fire.
A hundred thousand thousand miles away, In the burning heart of a lonely star
Bursting forth in mighty tongues of flame, Crossing the inky black of night,
Here on earth this love can be transformed
As light, as heat, as life itself— A wondrous, mystic alchemy,
Remember, we are made of distant starlight.
Behold, what wondrous works my hands have made!
My walls and palaces, their golden towers, My trophies rich in cedar halls arrayed, The envy of all kings to know my power.
My treasuries are full of captured gold, Taken from the hands of lesser men. More grain have I than granaries can hold, From subject cities full three-score and ten.
My raiment is of purple silk and fine, My wives like pearls upon a silver wire; My table spread with sweetmeats and rare wine, Sparing naught in sating my desire.
Far greater I than all my sleeping sires
Lying in their tombs of silent stone; My monument ascending ever higher, A great Colossus on a golden throne.
My everlasting glory now takes wing, My everlasting name I now declare:
My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings; Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!
IV. Iphis
Dona puer solvit quae femina voverat Iphis.* - Ovid, Metamorphoses 9:794\
An inexpressible desire,
A hidden love, forbidden fire; A whisper here, or there a glance, Hoping there could be a chance
That if you knew the truth of me
You still might cherish what you see.
Behind my binding, in disguise, My truth lies, buried, fate denies; For I am not the boy I seem. So seldom have I dared to dream I’d leave my well of loneliness, My true identity confess.
And so I raise this fervent prayer: Put an end to my despair!
To gods and men I make this vow: I am reborn! My life begins now! Come out of the shadows and into the sun. Farewell to the daughter and welcome the son!
* “The vow Iphis made as a girl, he fulfilled as a boy”.
V. Yeshua
Away in the wilderness, far from the crowd, He called his companions to follow and pray. To a height he ascended, touching a cloud; His eyes toward heaven, his feet in the clay.
The voice of the father, a thundering thrum:
“O listen to him, my beloved, my son!”
As sheep to the shepherd, we are his own; Those who walk in his footsteps are never alone.
He stands at the threshold of heaven and earth, Of law and the prophets, of blindness and sight; He points to the pathway from death to new birth, From the depths of our darkness to wondrous new light.
And oh, what a bridge we could build, what a sign, If only a fraction as brightly we shine.
As sheep to the shepherd, we are his own; Those who walk in his footsteps are never alone.
VI. Tat Tvam Asi (after Tagore, Gitanjali 35)
Where the mind is clear and the head held high; Where knowledge is free And the spirit can fly; Where wisdom and love
Are the watchwords to cry, That is where you will find me.
Where the swift stream of reason loses not its way to dreary desert sands of habit dead and gray; Where the world, no longer broken, Moves from darkness into day, That is where you will find me.
When you lift up your voice to sing your heart’s joy, When you speak your own truth time cannot destroy, When you offer your hand, When you help those in need, When you use up your gifts against hunger, against greed, When you die to yourself, O Soul, then indeed,
Then you will find… not me, but yourself.
Song Offerings
Rabindranath Tagore
I. Let My Country Awake (Gitanjali 35 and 36)
Father, let my country awake.
Into that heaven of freedom let my country awake. Father, let my country awake, into ever widening action, Let my country awake.
Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high; Where knowledge is free; Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls. Let my country awake!
Into that heaven of freedom let my country awake.
Give me the strength lightly to bear my joys and sorrows.
Give me the strength to make my love fruitful in service.
Give me the strength never to disown the poor or bend my knees before insolent might.
Give me the strength to raise my mind high above daily trifles.
And give me the strength to surrender my strength to thy will with love.
Father, let my country awake.
Into that heaven of freedom let my country awake.
Father, let my country awake, into ever widening thought, Let my country awake.
Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high; Where knowledge is free;
Where the world has not been broken; Where words come out from the depth of truth; Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;
Let my country awake!
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way,
Let my country awake!
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father
Let my country awake!
Into ever widening thought and action,
Let my country awake!
Where words come out from the depth of truth,
Let my country awake!
Where knowledge is free;
Where the mind is led forward by thee,
Let my country awake!
II. This Rhythm (Gitanjali 70 and 83)
Is it beyond thee to be glad with the gladness of this rhythm?
To be tossed and lost and broken in the whirl of this fearful joy?
Keeping steps with that restless, rapid music, seasons come dancing and pass away –
Colours, tunes, and perfumes pour in endless cascades in the abounding joy that scatters…
All things rush on, they stop not, they look not behind, No power can hold them back, they rush on.
Is it beyond thee to be glad with the gladness of this rhythm?
Mother, I shall weave a chain of pearls for thy neck with my tears of sorrow.
Mother, the stars have wrought their anklets of light to deck thy feet,
Mother, mother, mine will hang upon thy breast.
Wealth and fame come from thee and it is for thee to give or to withhold them.
But this my sorrow is absolutely mine own, and when I bring it to thee as my offering
Thou rewardest me with thy grace.
Is it beyond thee to be glad with the gladness of this rhythm?
Is it beyond thee?
III. Stream of Life (Gitanjali 69)
That same stream of life that runs through my veins night and day
Runs through the world and dances in rhythmic measures.
It is the same life that shoots in joy through the dust of the earth in numberless blades of grass
And breaks into tumultuous waves of leaves and flowers.
And my pride is from the life-throb of ages dancing in my blood this moment.
It is the same life that is rocked in the ocean-cradle of birth and of death, in ebb and in flow.
I feel my limbs are made glorious by the touch of this world of life.
That same stream of life that runs through my veins night and day
Runs through the world and dances in rhythmic measures.
IV. Only Thee (Gitanjali 38)
That I want thee, only thee—let my heart repeat without end.
All desires that distract me, day and night, are false and empty to the core.
As the night keeps hidden in its gloom the petition for light, even thus in the depth of my unconsciousness rings a cry—I want thee, only thee.
As the storm still seeks its end in peace when it strikes against peace with all its might, even thus my rebellion strikes against thy love and still its cry is—I want thee, only thee.
V. Joy (Gitanjali 55 and 58)
Languor is upon your heart and the slumber is still on your eyes.
Has not the word come to you that the flower is reigning in splendour among thorns?
Wake, oh awaken! Let not the time pass in vain! At the end of the stony path, in the country of virgin solitude my friend is sitting all alone. Deceive him not.
Wake, oh awaken!
Is there no joy in the deep of your heart?
What if the sky pants and trembles with the heat of the midday sun—
What if the burning sand spreads its mantle of thirst—
Is there no joy in the deep of your heart?
Let all the strains of joy mingle in my last song—
The joy that makes the earth flow over in the riotous excess of the grass,
The joy that sets the twin brothers, life and death, dancing over the wide world,
The joy that sweeps in with the tempest, shaking and waking all life with laughter,
The joy that sits still with its tears on the open red lotus of pain,
And the joy that throws everything it has upon the dust, and knows not a word.
Is there no joy in the deep of your heart?
YOUR DONATIONS & SUPPORT
Photo courtesy of John Ludwig
YOUR SUPPORT MATTERS, YOUR SUPPORT MAKES A DIFFERENCE
We rely on patrons like you to help us achieve our mission and goals and there are many ways that you can have an impact on Kantorei in addition to attending our concerts. Here are just a few ways you can help:
» Make a tax deductible contribution at www.kantorei.org/giving/individual/
» Donate stocks, securities and annuities
» Make a legacy gift
» Underwrite/sponsor a concert
» Commission a new choral work
» Place an ad in one of our concert programs
» Donate your used vehicle
» Donate airline miles
» Volunteer at a concert
Please contact us at kantorei@kantorei.org for more information
DONORS
DIAMOND BATON
$50,000 - $99,000
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GOLD BATON
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Judy Fredericksen
SILVER BATON
$10,000 - $14,999
SCFD - Adams County
VIRTUOSO'S CIRCLE
$2,500 - $4,999
Michael* & Donna Boender
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Susan Lewkow~
Lindsey Family Charitable Fund
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SOLOIST'S CIRCLE
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King Soopers
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ARIA
$500 - $999
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Donors who contributed $100 or more between September 1, 2023 and August 31, 2024 are recognized in this program * Singers ^ Board & Staff ~ Volunteers
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OPERETTA
$100 - $199
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S TAY IN TOUCH!
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Thank you to all our donors! While we can’t name everyone individually, please know that your generous contributions mean the world to us. We truly appreciate your support!
Donors who contributed $100 or more between September 1, 2023 and August 31, 2024 are recognized in this program * Singers ^ Board & Staff ~ Volunteers
In Memoriam and Honorarium
Penny Bartko, in honor of Joel Rinsema
Stephan Bontrager, in honor of Jeff Bontrager
Kelli Chan, in honor of Jennifer Moore
Mary H. Fischer, in honor of Matthew Eschliman
Judy Fredericksen, in honor of Alex & Melissa Menter
Elaine Gardner, in honor of Alicia Rigsby
Annette Gunnerson, in honor of Kevin & Heather Gunnerson
Basil LeBlanc, in honor of Brad Larson
Jack Lindsey, in honor of Matthew Eschliman
Nancy Mergler, in honor of John Bartley
Donald & Sharron Neufeld, in honor of Judy Fredericksen
Alice Robinson, in honor of Heather Gunnerson
Dean Schramm, in honor of Judy Bloomberg Schenkein
Lois Siegel, in honor of Kai & Lyn Berry Helmlinger
Paul Sutherland, in honor of Griffin Sutherland
Christina Von Stroh, in honor of Jonathan Von Stroh
In Kind
Safia Ahmed
Kai Berry-Helmlinger
Steve Cearley
Cherry Creek High School
Joshua Corwyn
First Plymouth UCC
Susan Lewkow
J. Scott Pusey
John Schaak
Patricia Wheeler, in honor of Ximena Wheeler
Margot Wright, in honor of Shannon Lemmon-Elrod
Nancy Atkinson, in memory of Ken Atkinson
Michael Bizzaro, in memory of Bill & Gay Eusitce
William Blyth, in memory of Alison Roman
Kim Dunninger, in memory of Judy Scheiber
Kevin Gunnerson, in memory of Ken Atkinson
Andrew Halladay, in memory of Alison Roman
C. Stephen Hooper, in memory of Karl Johnson
Deanna Johnson, in memory of Karl Johnson
Eric Johnson, in memory of Karl Johnson
Amy Buerge, Eric Martin, & Shelley Kauffman, in memory of Al & Grace Martin
Sara Michael, in memory of Grace Martin
Paul Munsch, in memory of Estelle Nadel
Kathy Osvog, in memory of Karl Johnson
Kristin Raney, in memory of Alison Roman
Alice Weydt, in memory of Karl Johnson
Elevate Classroom Grant
Kimberly Dunninger
Alison N. Roman Memorial Scholarship
William Blyth
C. Stephen Hooper
Kristin Raney
FROSTIANA
DECEMBER
7TH, 8TH, & 20TH, 2024
Celebrate the magic of the season with a festive concert featuring beloved winter classics and contemporary holiday gems. This enchanting program promises to warm hearts and kindle the spirit of the season. Featured in these performances will be Randall Thompson's beloved Frostiana, a seven-movement work setting the poetry of Robert Frost to music. Thompson's lyrical, expressive style perfectly captures the essence of Frost's words, creating a musical landscape as vivid and evocative as New England in winter. Also included in the program is Eric Whitacre's playful The Boy Who Laughed at Santa Claus based on the poem by Ogden Nash; Ola Gjeilo's Wintertide, a hauntingly beautiful work that evokes the quiet wonder of a snowy landscape; and Sarah Quartel’s A Winter’s Day, featuring cello and piano. `Rounding out the program will be a selection of seasonal favorites, including traditional carols and modern holiday classics. From the jubilant to the serene, celebrating both the joy and the peaceful contemplation of the season.
DENVER’S HOME MARKET IS MOVING! AREYOU?
Garth Criswell
303.669.0252
garth.criswell@coloradohomes.com
garthcriswell.com
The members of Kantorei are still singing because we were fortunate to have received a solid choral foundation in high school and college. Kantorei’s vision is that one day every music student in Colorado will have this solid foundation. In order to help achieve this goal we have created the Elevate Classroom Grant and the Alison N. Roman Memorial Scholarship Fund.
ALISON N. ROMAN MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP
Alison Roman was a beloved member of the Kantorei family and a fiercely dedicated music educator. She touched countless lives, and for this reason, with the blessing of Alison’s family, the Kantorei board of directors has named the Individual Scholarship the Alison N. Roman Memorial Scholarship.
In this spirit, the Alison N. Roman Memorial Scholarship is dedicated to assisting a talented senior BIPOC, Asian, or Latinx student in pursuing their musical dreams. This scholarship offers a minimum award of $1000 to cover expenses related to choral ensemble participation, such as membership fees, uniforms, and private lessons.
ELEVATE CLASSROOM GRANT
The Elevate Classroom Grant supports underfunded high school choral programs by offering classroom grants to teachers to be used for expenses such as sheet music, uniforms, festival attendance costs, etc.
