4/23/23 Choir Concert

Fauré Requiem

Sunday I April 23, 2023 I 5:00 pm

Cathedral of the Annunciation

University Chorus and Pacific Singers

Yejee Choi, director

Igor Veligan, violin

Patricia Grimm, organ

Monica Adams, collaborative pianist

featuring Conservatory Instrumentalists and Choral Alums

Six Pieces for Violin and Organ, op. 150 (1888)

I. Theme and Variations

Igor Veligan, violin

Patricia Grimm, organ

Requiem, op. 48 (1893)

Introït et Kyrie

Offertoire

Sanctus

Pie Jesu

Agnus Dei

Libera me

In paradisum

Nicole Ikeda, soprano

Joshua Porter, baritone

Igor Veligan, violin

Bailey LaBrie, Nicholas Trobaugh, Jordan Hendrickson, cellos

Joshua Gutierrez, Noah Gonzales, basses

Jada Ramos, Owen Sheridan, Skylar Warren, horns

Patricia Grimm, organ

Joseph Rheinberger (1839–1901)

Gabriel Fauré (1845–1924)

Joseph Rheinberger: Six Pieces for Violin and Organ, op. 150

A child prodigy, Joseph Rheinberger was appointed organist in the San Florino Chapel of his hometown in Lichtenstein when he was only seven. In 1867 he became professor of organ and composition at the Munich Conservatory. He published almost 200 musical works in his lifetime, from piano and organ compositions to Masses, chamber music and concert overtures, but he is most celebrated for his twenty organ sonatas. His Six Pieces for violin and organ were published in 1888 in Leipzig and exemplify Rheinberger’s ear for a beautiful melody. Similar to Fauré’s, Rheinberger’s music presents gentle and beautiful part writing opposite the dramatic, resounding music of the Romantic era. His organ music very much informed the compositional style of his choral works. He so eloquently said, “There is no justification for music without melodiousness and beauty of sound. . . . Music never ought to sound brooding, for, basically, it is the outpouring of joy and even in pain knows no pessimism.”

Molly Bolewski

Gabriel Fauré: Requiem, op. 48

Gabriel Fauré was an excellent organist and teacher, having taught at the Madeleine Church in Paris. He served as a professor of composition and then the director of the Paris Conservatoire from 1905 to 1920. As an agnostic he did not subscribe to the religious dogmas of nineteenth-century France. The first iteration of his Requiem, op. 48, premiered in 1888 with five movements and the apparent omission of the “Dies irae” and “Tuba mirum,” liturgical texts that speak of damnation and judgment. Instead, this work weaves together texts portraying perpetual light and eternal rest. Where other composers of his time set a Requiem Mass more dramatically, Fauré was the quiet voice in the room, crafting his “lullaby of death” with subtle and elegant musical language. A reorchestrated and augmented version of the work came in 1893 with two additional movements—the “Offertorium” and “Libera me”—and then a final version in 1900 scored for full orchestra.

The Requiem captures moments of wonder, grief, weightlessness, and grandeur. The opening of the “Introit-Kyrie” creates an ethereal hush before a moving crescendo into “et lux perpetua” (perpetual light), sending us on a sacred journey to the beyond. The “Offertorium” begins in simplicity, with the strings playing a melody that twists and turns upward, permeating the air like incense. Then the unaccompanied altos and tenors emerge, imploring: “O Domine, libera animas defunctorum” (O Lord, deliver the souls of the departed), which develops into the most involved movement in this work. The “Sanctus” has been dramatized by other composers (Berlioz and Verdi) with large instrumentation and robust dynamic contrast. Fauré’s interpretation is sweet and transcendent, with rolling sixteenth notes and the solo violin enhancing the depiction of heavenly scene. The “Hosanna in excelsis” (Hosanna in the highest) bursts forth with triumph before the clouds retreat, ascending back from whence they came—a diminuendo.

The “Pie Jesu” is not typical in a Requiem Mass, but Fauré orchestrated a profound moment with the soprano soloist, highlighting this simple but devout prayer. Much of the movement is performed from a place of stillness, and then a small voice, as if from a great distance, offers a tender supplication. Again, he approaches the next movement more tenderly than other composers, who might write the “Agnus Dei” with more depth and darkness. Instead, he gives the tenors a melody that is almost like coming home, before the sopranos create a breathless moment of light—”light eternal—may it shine upon them.” In addition, he brings back the “requiem aeternam” theme that opened the first movement, re-centering the whole point of the work—eternal rest.

Fauré depicts humble pleading and intense reverence in the baritone solo of the “Libera me,” and a fleeting moment of fortissimo, led by the brass, portraying the “dies irae” (day of wrath). The choir trembles upon their entrance, and in response offers a most somber plea for redemption. In true contrast to the prior movement, but harkening back to the same rhythmic shape of the “Sanctus,” the rolling sixteenths played in the organ of “In paradisum” give us a visual of the heavens. With warm finality, the sopranos paint paradise with gentle strokes, leading us home to eternal rest.

For one who professed agnosticism, Fauré created a very spiritual picture of death and eternal rest—one full of hope and prayerful attention toward what is to come after this life. The message of his 1888 Requiem was amended with the addition of the “Offertorium” and “Libera me” to unveil a maturity and depth of concept that humanity continues to grapple with.

Molly Bolewski

Text and Translation

Introït et Kyrie

Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis. Te decet hymnus, Deus, in Sion, et tibi reddetur votum in Jerusalem. Exaudi orationem mean, ad te omnis caro veniet.

Kyrie eleison.

Christe eleison.

Kyrie eleison.

Offertoire

O Domine Jesu Christe, Rex gloriae libera animas defunctorum

Introit and Kyrie

Rest eternal grant them, Lord, and may light perpetual shine on them. A hymn becomes you, God, in Zion, and to you may be paid a vow in Jerusalem. Hear my prayer, To You all flesh shall come.

Lord have mercy. Christ have mercy. Lord have mercy.

Offertory

O Lord Jesus Christ, King of Glory, deliver the souls of the departed

de poenis inferni et de profundo lacu, de ore leonis, ne absorbeat tartarus ne cadant in obscurum.

Hostias et preces tibi, Domine laudis offerimus: tu suscipe pro animabus illis quarum hodie memoriam facimus. Fac eas, Domine, de morte transire ad vitam, quam olim Abrahae promisisti et semini ejus. Amen.

Sanctus

Sanctus, sanctus, sanctus

Dominus Deus Sabaoth. Pleni sunt coeli et terra Gloria tua.

Hosanna in excelsis.

Pie Jesu

Pie Jesu Domine dona eis requiem; dona eis sempiternam requiem.

Agnus Dei

Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, dona eis requiem sempiternam requiem, Lux aeterna luceat eis, Domine, cum sanctis tuis in aeternam, quia pius es.

Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis.

Libera me

Libera me, Domine, de morte aeterna in die illa tremenda quando coeli movendi sunt et terra, dum veneris judicare saeculum per ignem.

Tremens factus sum ego et timeo, dum discussio venerit,

from the punishment of hell and from the deep pit, from the mouth of the lion, nor may they be absorbed by hell, nor may they fall into darkness. Sacrifice and prayer to You, Lord, in praise we offer: receive for those souls whom today we commemorate. Allow them, Lord, to pass from death to life, which once to Abraham You promised and to his seed. Amen.

Sanctus

Holy, holy, holy Lord God of hosts. Full are the heavens and the earth of your glory. Hosanna in the highest.

Pie Jesu

Blessed Lord Jesus, grant them rest; grant them everlasting rest.

Agnus Dei Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, grant them everlasting rest. Light eternal—may it shine on them, Lord, with your saints in eternity, You who are merciful. Rest eternal grant them, Lord, and light perpetual—may it shine on them.

Libera me

Deliver me, Lord, from death eternal in that terrible day, when the heavens shall be moved and the earth, when You shall come to judge the world by fire. With trembling I am seized and with fear, until the trial to come,

atque ventura ira.

Die illa, dies irae, calamitatis et miseriae, dies illa, dies magna et amara valde.

Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis.

In paradisum

In paradisum deducant angeli; in tuo adventu Suscipant te martyres et perducant te in civitatem sanctam Jerusalem.

Chorus angelorum te suscipiat, et cum Lazaro, quondam paupere, aeternam habeas requiem.

also the coming wrath. That day, day of wrath, calamity and misery that day, great day and exceedingly bitter. Rest eternal grant them, Lord, and light perpetual—may it shine on them.

In paradisum

To paradise may the angels lead you; at your coming may the martyrs receive you and bring you to the holy city, Jerusalem. may the angel chorus receive you and with Lazarus, once a pauper, eternally may you have rest.

ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES

An all-around musician, Yejee Choi, director, maintains a dynamic career as a conductor, composer, vocalist, keyboardist, and educator. Choi joined the faculty of the Conservatory of Music at University of the Pacific in the fall of 2016. Prior to conducting at Pacific, Choi enjoyed an exuberant performing life as a conductor and ensemble musician in various venues in South Korea, Japan, China, New Zealand, Australia, and across the United States. Highlights of her performances include works with Marin Alsop, Helmuth Rilling, James Conlon, Simon Halsey, Osmo Vänskä, David Hill, and Grant Gershon. Choi also has appeared at many of the major concert venues and at such renowned halls as Walt Disney Concert Hall, Hollywood Bowl, Opera House of Beijing’s National Centre for the Performing Arts, and Orchestra Hall (Minnesota) to name a few. A passionate advocate of community engagement through music, Choi cofounded the J.W. Summer Festival Chorale, a semiprofessional choir of ninety-three members in reserve in Seoul. Upon the founding of the organization in 2010, Choi fully exerted her entrepreneurship, codirecting both musical and administrative aspects of the group.

Equally devoted to music education for youth and children, Choi also served as the founding board member of the “Music Belongs To Everyone!” series, a youth outreach program under the umbrella of the J.W. Chorale. Choi held similar positions as director of the choral division of the Esperanza Azteca Youth Orchestra and Choir in Los Angeles and as the founding conductor of the Modesto Youth Chorus, an ensemble affiliated with the Modesto Symphony Orchestra.

As a composer Choi has been continually commissioned by various choral and instrumental ensembles and soloists in Seoul since 2010. Her compositional interest lies in adopting and amalgamating diverse musical idioms from different genres and cultures ranging from Korean folk songs to Western classical music, jazz, pop, alternative rock, and ethnic music in exploration of ever-evolving sound language. Having studied film and media scoring at Yonsei University, South Korea, Choi also continues her creative endeavors by focusing on amplifying the potential of acoustic choral sound in combination with Virtual Studio Technology (VST) instruments and live instruments. A native of South Korea, Choi holds a bachelor’s degree in voice performance from the University of Wisconsin–River Falls and a master’s degree in choral conducting from the University of Minnesota–Twin Cities. She completed her doctorate in conducting at the USC Thornton School of Music, where she was the instructor of Choral Conducting I and the Oriana Women’s Choir, and was awarded the outstanding doctoral graduate of her class. Prior to her study in the United States, she attended Yonsei University as an English language and literature major and the Korea National University of Arts as a composition major. In addition to voice, conducting, and composition, Choi received rigorous training in piano and organ and performed with various instrumental chamber music ensembles in the United States and South Korea.

Igor Veligan, violin, joined the faculty of the University of the Pacific’s Conservatory of Music in the fall of 2006. He holds the Master of Arts degree in violin performance and chamber music from the Odessa State Conservatory. His primary violin teachers included Zoja Istomina and Galina Gritzenko. He studied chamber music with Oleg Shkarpitnuy and Natalya Buzanova, and he has participated in masterclasses with Zakhar Bron, Liana Isakadze, and Igor Frolov.

As a chamber musician, Veligan performs with the L’Estro Armonico String Quartet and the Arlekin String Quartet. He has also been a guest violist with the Argenta Trio and a violist with the Chamber Music Society of Sacramento. As an orchestral performer, he is concertmaster of the San Francisco Choral Society Orchestra, principal viola of the Reno Philharmonic Orchestra, principal violist of the Lake Tahoe Summer Festival, and a member of the Monterey Symphony. He recently performed as concertmaster of the Sacramento Philharmonic.

At Pacific’s Conservatory, Veligan teaches violin, viola, and chamber music, and he also teaches at American River College in Sacramento. He previously taught at the School for the Performing Arts in Ternopil, Ukraine.

Patricia Grimm, organ, currently serves as organist at Fremont Presbyterian Church in Sacramento. At the University of the Pacific she teaches sight singing and collaborative piano, and she serves as a collaborative pianist with students, faculty, and guest artists.

Grimm holds a Bachelor of Music degree in sacred music with organ concentration from Duquesne University, a Master of Music degree in choral conducting from Kent State University, and a Master of Music degree in collaborative piano from the Hartt School of Music. She also studied piano with Jonathan Feldman at the Juilliard School.

As a collaborative pianist, Grimm has performed at the Edinburgh International Music Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland; the Trinity Wall Street Music Series in New York City; and chamber music concerts at the Musica no Museu Festival of Winds, Museum of Modern Art, Rio de Janeiro, and Universidade Federal Do Estado Do Rio De Janeiro–Unirio, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Grimm regularly performs throughout the United States as a collaborative pianist and chamber musician. Prior to moving to Sacramento in 2013, she was a freelance collaborative pianist in the New York City metropolitan area and staff accompanist at Central Connecticut State University, in addition to maintaining an active private teaching studio.

ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES

Monica Adams, collaborative piano, holds the Bachelor of Music degree in vocal performance from the University of the Pacific, where she studied piano with Frank Wiens; voice with William Whitesides, George Buckbee, and John DeHaan; and conducting with William Dehning and Robert Halseth. She has worked as an accompanist at the Conservatory of Music since 1995 and now serves as a collaborative pianist for vocal students and organist for the Conservatory Commencement Ceremony in May.

Adams has performed with the Stockton Symphony, and she sang the roles of Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady, Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro, and the Old Maid in The Old Maid and the Thief. She has served as music director at Pacific for Pajama Game (Fallon House), Paint Your Wagon (Fallon House), You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown, Apple Tree, Falsettoland, Assassins, and 1940s Radio Hour. She has served in the same capacity for Oliver, La cage aux folles, Babes in Arms, Footloose, Beauty and the Beast, The Full Monty, and Godspell for various community theaters. In 2004 Adams participated in the summer SongFest program, which included coaching with Martin Katz, Graham Johnson, D’Anna Fortunato, John Hall, Judith Kellock, and John Harbison as well as performing in multiple recitals.

Pacific Singers

A select, mixed-voice chamber choir who collaborate with the University Chorus for two choral concerts each semester and perform at major university events and ceremonies. They also work with the University Symphony Orchestra and the Stockton Symphony to perform major choral and orchestral pieces.

Sopranos

Gabby Baluyot

Rose Dickson

Kailey Diggs

Juliette Frediere

Ria Patel

Sam Perrego

Charlize Price

Jordan Bell Souza

Vanessa Vasquez-Bartolo

Jordan Yang

Altos

Alexis Bondoc

Miranda Duarte

Jasmin Hernandez

Mia Janosik

Grace Liaw

Stella Mahnke

Becca Mahon

Tenors

Riley Brearton

Filo Ebid

Leo Hearl

Michael Megenney

Basses

Mateus Barioni

Ian Orejana

James Scott

Ryan Vang

University Chorus

A large, mixed chorus collaborating with other choirs for two performances each semester and performing both a cappella and choral-orchestral works in a wide variety of genres.

Sopranos

Emma Bradley

Lilia Casaro

Kyra Comstock

Rachael Cross

Rosie Fox

Judy Kim

Shannon Lyons

Zoie Macapanpan

Yana Meneses

Altos

Molly Bolewski

Miranda Albertoni

Huey Chan

Charlotte Han

Bailey LaBrie

Jinling Li

Jasmine Valentine

Liza Bagdasarian

Tenors

Parker Deems

Davis Robinson

Aiden Valdez

Basses

Ethan Cisneros

William Giancaterino

Tristan McMichael

Christopher Penn

Michael Robertson

Kyle Saelee

Jake Scallan

James Scott

Andrew Seaver

Miguel Velarde

Sopranos

Ariana Morelli Alcaraz (’19)

Susan Perez (’22)

Lauren Woomer (’21)

Alumni Singers

Altos

Simone Gamble (’23)

Jasmine Melendez (’21)

Lily Tumbale (’22)

Livia Umeda (’20)

Erica Wan (’18)

Monica Adams (’91)

Tenors

Justin Beasley (’21)

Josh Cabardo (’22)

Nick Davis (’20)

Andrew Lu (’19)

STUDENT OFFICERS

Pacific Singers

Filo Ebid, president

Brylan Finley, vice president

Mia Janosik, ensemble librarian

Basses

Jonathan Ceja ( ’ 19)

Raymond Gallo III ( ’ 20)

Arturo Garcia ( ’ 22)

Zach Grenig ( ’ 20)

Dion Nickelson ( ’ 22)

Brad Parese ( ’ 19)

Josh Porter ( ’ 22)

Doug Smith ( ’ 76)

Section Leaders: Kailey Diggs, Mia Janosik, Riley Brearton, Ryan Vang

University Chorus

Molly Bolewski, president

Charlotte Han, vice president and ensemble librarian

Section Leaders: Molly Bolewski, Charlotte Han, James Scott

Pacific Choirs

James Scott, president

PACIFIC VOICE AND CHORAL FACULTY

Daniel Ebbers, vocal performance program director

Yejee Choi, director of choral studies

Eric Dudley, associate professor of voice

Virginia Kelsey, assistant professor of voice

James Haffner, director of Pacific Opera Theatre

Every gift to the Conservatory from an alum, parent, or friend makes an impact on our students. Our students rely on your generosity to enable them to experience a superior education.

Please contact the Assistant Dean for Development at 209.932.2978 to make a gift today. You may also send a check payable to University of the Pacific: Conservatory of Music, University of the Pacific Attn: Assistant Dean for Development

3601 Pacific Avenue Stockton, CA 95211

UPCOMING CONSERVATORY EVENTS

Apr. 24 | 7:30 pm

Varied Ensembles Recital II

Recital Hall

Apr. 25 | 7:30 pm

Student Recital

Ealaph Tabbaa, bassoon

Recital Hall

Apr. 26 | 12:30 pm

Student Recital

Kailey Diggs, soprano

Recital Hall

Apr. 27 | 7:30 pm

Student Recital

Filo Ebid, tenor

Recital Hall