SICF FEATURE CONCERT: UNIVERSITY OF LOUISVILLE CARDINAL SINGERS

SINGAPORE INTERNATIONAL CHORAL FESTIVAL KENT HATTEBERG, DIRECTOR

Hosanna to the Son of David (c. 1610) Thomas Weelkes (1576-1623) Blagoslovi, Duche Moya, Ghospoda (All-Night Vigil, Op. 37 No. 2) (1915) Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873 – 1943) Denn er hat seinen Engeln befohlen (1844) Felix Mendelssohn (1809 – 1847) Alleluia (2011) Eric Whitacre Sarah Tubbesing, soprano Seon Hwan Chu, baritone (b. 1970) Ave maris stella (2015) Blake Wilson Erin Shina, Macy Ellis, soloists (b. 1994) Hymne à Saint Martin (1996) Vaclovas Augustinas (b. 1959) Nunc dimittis (1915) Gustav Holst (1874 – 1934) Benedictio (1991) Urmas Sisask (b. 1960)

INTERMISSION Alleluia (2014) Jake Runestad (b. 1986) El Manisero (1928, arr. 1996) Moises Simons (1889 – 1945) arr. Tania León (b. 1943) El Guayaboso (1993) Guido López-Gavilán (b. 1944) Butterfly (arr. 2001) Mia Makaroff arr. Mia Makaroff and Anna-Mari Kähärä Camptown Races (1850) Stephen Foster (1826 – 1864) arr. Jack Halloran (1916 – 1997) My Old Kentucky Home (1853) Stephen Foster, arr. Donald Moore Heavenly Home: Three American Songs adapted and arranged Shawn Kirchner 2. Angel Band (1862/arr. 2010) Tune by William Bradbury 3. Hallelujah (arr. 2010) Song tune by William Bradbury Ride the Chariot (arr. 2001) Spiritual, arr. Moses Hogan (1957 – 2003)

Emily Yocum, soloist

Wade in de Water (arr. 1998) arr. Allen Koepke (1939 – 2012)

PROGRAM NOTES, TEXTS, AND TRANSLATIONS Hosanna to the Son of David Thomas Weelkes Thomas Weelkes is known as one of the greatest English madrigalists of the Elizabethan period. His music stands out for its brilliant sonorities, rich texture, and innovative use of dissonance and cross-relationships. While working as a church organist for much of his life, Weelkes made significant contributions to the church anthem repertory. Hosanna to the Son of David is among his impressive list of sacred a cappella works. This six-voice motet skillfully alternates large block entrances of voices with imitative passages. Voice crossings between the two soprano lines as well as the alto and tenor lines, syncopated rhythm, and sonority changes engage the listener from beginning to end.

Hosanna to the Son of David. Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord. Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna. Thou that sittest in the highest heavens, Hosanna in excelsis Deo.

Blagoslovi, dushe moya, Ghospoda (All-Night Vigil) Sergei Rachmaninoff Sergei Rachmaninoff composed the All-Night Vigil in less than two weeks in January and February 1915. The work is dedicated to the memory of Stephan Smolensky, under whom Rachmaninoff had studied ancient chant. The work, also known as the Vespers, is a setting of chants from three separate services – Vespers, Matins, and Hours – to be performed on the eve of holy days. It consists of fifteen a cappella movements, with six movements based on znamenny chant (7, 8, 9, 12, 13, and 14), two on “Kiev” chant (4 and 5), two on “Greek” chant (2 and 15), and five original but heavily chant-influenced sections (1, 3, 6, 10, and 11). The work, lasting approximately 60 minutes, was premiered in Moscow on March 10, 1915 under the direction of Nicolai Danilin, and was performed five more times within the next month. It is considered by many as the pinnacle of Orthodox church music. With the increasing turmoil of the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917, two years after the premiere of the All-Night Vigil, Rachmaninoff emigrated to New York. The Liturgy was banned in Russia for some seventy years; therefore, performances of the work were rare. All-Night Vigil was not recorded until 1957, several years after Rachmaninoff’s death. Blagoslovi, dushe moyа, Ghоspoda is the second movement of the All-Night Vigil. Like much of the work, it is largely homophonic, tonal in harmony, with mostly stepwise motion. The voices are split up to eight parts, melodies are set against sustained notes and chords, parallel voice leading is common, and the number of voices changes constantly and dramatically. It is set for alto solo and chorus, but in our performance the alto solo is performed by the entire alto section. Rachmaninoff exploits the varying ranges of the choir, from four-part women over a drone in the first tenor, to the use of basso profundo notes coming to rest at a low C at the close of the movement.

Blagoslovi, dushe moya, Ghospoda. Bless the Lord, O my soul. Blogosleven yesi, Ghospodi. Blessed art Thou, O Lord. Blagoslovi, dushe moya, Ghospoda. Bless the Lord, O my soul. Bozhe moy, vozvelichilsia yesi zelo. My Lord, how great Thou art. Blagosleven yesi, Ghospodi. Blessed art Thou, O Lord. Vo ispovedaniye i v velelepotu obleksia yesi. Thou art clothed with glory and majesty. Blagosleven yesi, Ghospodi. Blessed art Thou, O Lord. Na gorah stanut vodi The waters stood above the mountains.

Divna dela Tvoya, Ghospodi. Glorious are Thy works, O Lord. Posrede gor proydut vodi. The waters flowed through the mountains. Divna dela Tvoya, Ghospodi. Glorious are Thy works, O Lord. Fsia premudrostiyu sotvoril yesi. In wisdom hast Thou made them all. Slava Ti, Goóspodi, sotvorivshemu fsia. Glory to Thee, O Lord, who has created all.

Denn er hat seinen Engeln befohlen Felix Mendelssohn Mendelssohn composed this eight-part setting of two verses from Psalm 91 in 1844, the same year as his well-known a cappella settings of Psalm 43 (Richte mich, Gott, Op. 78 No. 2) and Psalm 22 (Mein Gott, warum hast du mich verlassen, Op. 78 No. 3). It was dedicated to King Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia, who had recently survived an assassination attempt by Mayor Tschech of Brandenburg. Mendelssohn sent the King the motet, along with the following message:

“Since I have received this news on my trip to the music festival in Zweibrücken, some verses have been on my mind, which I could not forget, which I have thought over and over, and as soon as I found a quiet moment here again, I had to put them to music. So here they are, and I dare to lay them at the feet of Your Majesty as an expression of my best wishes.” (from a letter in the Staatsbibliothek Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin, cited in an article by Georg Feder: “Zu Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdys geistlicher Musik,” Religiöse Musik in nicht-liturgischen Werken von Beethoven bis Reger,ed. Walter Wiora with Günther Massenkeil and Klaus Wolfgang Niemöller, Studien zur Musikgeschichte des 19. Jahrhunderts 51 (Regensburg: Bosse, 1978), 97-117. Article translated by Monika Hennemann and reprinted in The Mendelssohn Companion (Westport, CT, London: Greenwood Press, 2001), ed. Douglass Seaton, 259-281.

This setting became a staple of the Berlin cathedral choir’s repertoire. Each portion of the text is introduced by either four-part women’s or four-part men’s voices. Mendelssohn later made some subtle alterations, orchestrated the work, and incorporated it into Elijah for a double quartet of soloists.

Denn er hat seinen Engeln For he shall give his angels befohlen über dir, charge over thee, daß sie dich behüten that they shall protect thee auf allen deinen Wegen, in all the ways thou goest, daß sie dich auf den Händen tragen they shall bear thee up in their hands und du deinen Fuß nicht. lest thou dash thy foot an einen Stein stoßest. against a stone.

Psalm 91: 11-12 Alleluia Eric Whitacre Eric Whitacre is one of the most popular and performed composers of our time, and a distinguished conductor, broadcaster, and public speaker. His first album as both composer and conductor, Light & Gold, won a Grammy® in 2012, and became the top classical album on US and UK charts within a week of release. His second album, Water Night, debuted at no. 1 in the iTunes and Billboard classical charts on the day of release. It features seven world premiere recordings and includes performances from his professional choir, the Eric Whitacre Singers, the London Symphony Orchestra, Julian Lloyd Webber and Hila Plitmann. His ground-breaking Virtual Choir, Lux Aurumque, received over a million views on YouTube in just 2 monthsл He has since released Virtual Choir 2.0, Sleep, Virtual Choir 3, Water Night, and Virtual Choir 4: Fly to Paradise, the latter having received over 8,400 submissions from 101 countries. Eric has written for The Tallis Scholars, BBC Proms, the London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, Chanticleer, Julian Lloyd Webber and the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Berlin Rundfunkchor and The King’s Singers among others. His musical, Paradise Lost: Shadows and Wings, won both the ASCAP

Harold Arlen award and the Richard Rodgers Award. In 2001, Eric became the youngest recipient ever awarded the coveted Raymond C. Brock commission by the ACDA, despite coming to classical music relatively late in life when he joined his college choir in Las Vegas. The first piece he ever performed – Mozart’s Requiem – changed his life. Inspired to compose, his first piece Go, Lovely Rose, was completed at the age of 21. He went on to the Juilliard School, earning his master’s degree studying with Pulitzer Prize and Oscar-winning composer John Corigliano. About Alleluia, Whitacre writes: “I’m not an atheist, but I’m not a Christian either, and for my entire career I have resisted setting texts that could be used in a liturgical context. However, after spending the 2010 Michaelmas term at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, singing with Dr. David Skinner and his marvellous Chapel choir, I began to see the deep wisdom in the liturgy. I found myself suddenly open to the history and the beauty of the poetry, and it was the singe-word Alleluia – ‘praise God’ – that most enchanted me. So I transcribed October, a work I originally wrote for wind symphony, for a cappella voices, using only that single word. Alleluia was written for Dr. David Skinner and the Sidney Sussex College Choir, who gave the first performance in Sidney Sussex Chapel, Cambridge University, on 25 June 2011. Ave Maris Stella Blake Wilson Blake Wilson is a student at the University of Louisville and a member of the Cardinal Singers and Collegiate Chorale. Ave Maris Stella was not necessarily written with the choirs at UofL in mind; rather, he wanted to compose something that could be sung with a gathering of friends. One of these friends heard the piece, and thought it would be a great fit for the Cardinal Singers. The piece opens with a rich homophonic setting of the title text, followed by an unfolding of syncopated entrances around the choir. The basses join in the same manner at the appearance of the text Solve vincla reis. A brief return to homophonic texture occurs during the text Monstra te esse Matrem, before the basses start another chain of cascading entrances. The two soprano parts perpetuate a driving rhythm in canon while the other voices provide a foundational support of expansive block chords. A brief moment of repose is signaled by a soprano and alto solo on the final iteration of the text Mites fac et castos. The full choir enters again in block chords, building in dynamic and range before the climatic final section. A brief setting in 7/8 uplifts the listener as the choir sings Sit laus Deo Patri, Summo Christo Decus, Spiritui Sancto. A shift back to common time and the recurrence of homophonic text setting over expansive chords allows for a glorious ending to the piece.

Ave, maris stella, Dei Mater alma, Hail, star of the sea, loving Mother of God, atque semper Virgo, felix caeli portas. and Virgin immortal, Heaven’s blissful portal. Sumens illud Ave Gabrielis ore, Receiving that “Ave” from Gabriel’s mouth funda nos in pace, mutans Evae nomen. reversing the name of “Eva,” establish us in peace. Solve vincla reis, profer lumen caecis, Break the chains of sinners, bring light to the blind, mala nostra pelle, bona cuncta posce. drive away our evils, and ask for all good things. Monstra te esse matrem, Show yourself to be a mother, that, through you, sumat per te preces, he may accept our prayers, qui pro nobis natus tulit esse tuus. he who, born for us, chose to be your Son. Virgo singularis, inter omnes mitis, O incomparable Virgin, meek above all others, nos culpis solutos, mites fac et custos. make us, absolved from sin, meek and chaste. Vitam praesta puram, iter para tutum, Keep our life pure, make the journey safe, ut videntes Jesum, semper collaetemur. so that, seeing Jesus, we may always rejoice together. Sit laus Deo Patri, Let there be praise to God the Father, summo Christo decus, and glory to Christ the most High, Spiritui Sancto, and to the Holy Spirit, tribus honor unus. Amen. and to the Three be one honor. Amen.

Hymne à Saint Martin (1996) Vaclovas Augustinas Vaclovas Augustinas graduated from the Lithuanian Academy of Music in choral conducting (1981) and in composition (1992), where he studied under Professor Julius Juzeli. From 1980 to 1992 he worked at the “Azuoliukas” Music School and since 1992 has directed the famed Vilnius Municipal choir Jauna Muzika, an ensemble that appeared at the 5th World Symposium on Choral Music in Rotterdam in 1999. Since 1996 he has been a professor at the Lithuanian Music Academy and Vilnius Pedagogical University, teaching choral conducting, choral arranging, and ear training and sight-singing. He has won several national and international competitions in choral composition, including “Florilege Vocal de Tours” in France and the Lithuania National Song Festival Award. Hymne à Saint Martin was the third prize winner in the International Competition of Choral Composition “Florilege Vocal de Tours” in 1996. The piece was written on the occasion of the 1600th anniversary of the death of Saint Martin of Tours, patron of France, father of monasticism in Gaul, and the first leader of Western monasticism. He founded the famous Abbey of Marmontier near Tours. He was known as a miracle worker during his life, and was one of the first non-martyrs to be publicly venerated as a saint. In France he has always been one of the most popular saints; his honorary feast day in the Roman Catholic Church calendar is November 11. The Cardinal Singers had the privilege of singing this piece under the composer’s direction during the International Chamber Choir Competition in Marktoberdorf, Germany, where he was serving on the adjudication jury. The University of Louisville commissioned Mr. Augustinas to compose a setting of Lux Aeterna, which was premiered at the New Music Festival in November 2004. The Cardinal Singers recorded three of his works on their Music of the Northern Horizon CD. O virum ineffabilem, nec labore victum, Oh, man unsullied and invincible by work, nec morte timendum, qui nec mori timuit, fearless of death, who hasn’t dread of death, nec vivere recusavit, alleluia. not declined of life, alleluia. Oculis et manibus in caelum semper intentus, Eyes and arms always turned to the heavens, in victum ab oratione spiritum not overcoming by the spirit of prayer, non relaxabat, alleluia. and not wearied, alleluia. Martinus Abrahae sinu laetus excipitur: Martin, beaming with joy of Abraham, Martinus, hic pauper et modicus, Martin, he is poor and modest, caelum dives ingreditur, stepping rich to the heavens, Hymnis caelestibus honoratus. Alleluia. honored with hymns of heaven. Alleluia.  Nunc dimittis Gustav Holst

Gustav Holst studied counterpoint with George Frederick Sims, organist at Merton College in Oxford. In 1893 he entered the Royal College of Music, where he studied composition with Charles Villiers Stanford. After his studies, Holst first made his living as a trombonist. In 1905 he was appointed head of music at the St. Paul’s Girls’ School in Hammersmith, and in 1907 was named music director at Morley College in London. In 1919 he took a position in composition at the Royal College of Music and a music professorship at University College in Reading. Although he is best remembered for The Planets, Holst composed a large number of works for chorus.

In 1914, R.R. Terry, organist and director of music at Westminster Cathedral, invited four composers, including Holst, to write unaccompanied eight-part settings of the Nunc dimittis text for use during Holy Week at the cathedral. Holst’s setting was premiered on Easter Sunday in 1915, although it was not published until 1979 by the composer’s daughter Imogen Holst. It begins quietly, with each of the eight voices entering individually. In the next section, Holst alternates between men’s and women’s voices. The imitative writing of the concluding Gloria Patri builds to a magnificent climax in A major.

Nunc dimittis servum tuum, Domine, Lord, let thy servant now depart in peace, secundum verbum tuum in pace. O Lord, according to thy word. Quia viderunt oculi mei salutare tuum, For my eyes have seen thy salvation, Quod parasti ante faciem Which thou hast prepared omnium populorum, before the face of all peoples, Lumen ad revelationem gentium, A light as revelation to the Gentiles, et gloriam plebis tuae Israel. and a glory of thy people Israel. Luke 2:29-32 Gloria Patri, et Filio, Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, et Spiritui Sancto. and to the Holy Spirit, Sicut erat in principio, As it was in the beginning, et nunc, et semper, is now, and ever shall be, et in sæcula sæculorum. Amen. world without end. Amen.

 Benedictio   Urmas  Sisask   Urmas Sisask was born in Rapla, Estonia. He studied composition with René Eespere at the Tallinn Conservatory, where he completed his studies in 1985. His choral and piano works have been particularly successful, but he has also composed chamber and symphonic works. Since childhood, Sisask has been fascinated by astronomy, which has inspired him to write so-called “astromusic.” Several of his works bear titles based on heavenly bodies. Benedictio, however, is a Latin work of remarkable tonal and rhythmic power. Its building blocks are relatively simple motifs, added one by one in various voice parts. An accelerando leads to a repetitive chant by the male voices as the soprano theme is introduced. This thematic material in the soprano section becomes the focal point of the piece, until a powerful homophonic shout on the text Benedicat vos omnipotens. The sopranos regain the focus as the rest of the choir chants the text in repetitive 6/4 chords. Although basically a tonal work, Benedictio features numerous seconds throughout, particularly in the alto voice.

Benedicat vos omnipotens Deus. Praise to the almighty God. Pater et Filius et Spiritus Sanctus. Amen. Father and Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Alleluia Jake Runestad Considered “highly imaginative…with big ideas” (Baltimore Sun) and “stirring and uplifting” (Miami Herald), award-winning composer Jake Runestad has received commissions and performances from many leading choral and orchestral ensembles. Dubbed a “choral rockstar” by American Public Media, Jake is one of the most frequently performed composers in the U.S.A. and travels extensively to work with ensembles as a clinician and resident composer. He holds a Master’s degree in composition from the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University where he studied with Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Kevin Puts. Prior to graduate school, he studied privately with acclaimed composer Libby Larsen. A native of Rockford, IL, he currently lives in Minneapolis, MN. About Alleluia, Runestad writes “Through history, the singing of “alleluia” has served as an outward celebration as well as an introspective prayer of praise. This setting explores these two uses of the word within a spiritual context. The work begins with a rhythmic declaration of joy and builds intensity through metric changes, tonal shifts, glissandi, and hand clapping. This lively exultation soon gives way to a reverent meditation with soaring melodic lines and lush harmonies. The dancing rhythms from the beginning return with a gradual build in intensity as one’s praises rise to the sky. Alleluia was commissioned by Brady Allred and the Salt Lake Vocal Artists, and premiered by the ensemble on February 21, 2014 at the Western ACDA Conference in Santa Barbara, CA.”

El Manisero Moises Simons, arr. Tania León Moises Simons, a native of Havana, Cuba, was widely known in Caribbean countries and Latin America as a composer, bandleader, and pianist. El Manisero, his most famous song, was supposedly composed late one night in 1928 on a napkin while he was in a Havana tavern, having been inspired by a passing peanut vendor who was singing a pregón (jingle) to sell his cucuruchos de maní (paper cones filled with peanuts). Composer and conductor Tania León, also a native of Havana, came to the United States in 1967, becoming a founding member and first musical director of the Dance Theatre of Harlem in 1969. She has since been active as a composer and conductor, and has served as an advisor to numerous arts organizations. In 1998 she was awarded the New York Governor’s Lifetime Achievement Award. She has received Honorary Doctorates from Colgate University and Oberlin College and awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, National Endowment for the Arts, Chamber Music America, NYSCA, Lila Wallace/Reader’s Digest Fund, ASCAP and Koussevitzky Foundation, among others. In 1998 she held the Fromm Residency at the American Academy in Rome. She was a Visiting Lecturer at Harvard University and Visiting Professor of Composition at Yale University. Ms. León arranged El Manisero in 1996 for Chanticleer, who recorded it on their 1997 compact disc Wondrous Love. The arrangement is in twelve parts, with ostinato bass lines, vocal percussion sounds dispersed among tenor and alto parts, supporting the melodic material, found mostly in the soprano parts.

Maní, maní, maní Peanuts, peanuts, peanuts. Que si te quieres por el pico divertir, So if you want through your mouth to have fun, Comprame un cucurichito de maní. buy me a little bag of peanuts. Maní, maní, maní Peanuts, peanuts, peanuts. Caserita no te acuestes a dormir, Little housewife don’t go to sleep tonight Sin comer un cucurucho de maní. without eating a little bag of peanuts. Que calentico y rico está They are so warm and delicious Ya no se puede pedir más. that one can’t ask for more. Ay caserita no me dejes ir Ay, little housewife don’t let me go Porque despues te vas a arrepentir ‘cause then you’ll be sorry Y va ser muy tarde yá. and it will be too late. Manisero se vá Peanut vendor is leaving! Caserita no te acuestes a dormir, Little housewife don’t go to sleep tonight Sin comer un cucurucho de maní. without eating a little bag of peanuts. Cuando la calle sola está When the street is deserted Casera de mi corazón, little housewife of my heart, El Manisero entona su pregón the peanut vendor sings his song Y si la niña escucha mi cantar and if a little girl hears my singing Llama desde su balcón. she beckons from her balcony. Dame de tu maní Give me some of your peanuts Que esta noche no voy a poder dormir ‘cause tonight I won’t be able to go to sleep Sin comer un cucurucho de maní. without eating a bag of peanuts. Maní, maní, maní. . . Peanuts, peanuts, peanuts. . .

(Text by Moises Simons) (English translation by Tania León)

El Guayaboso Guido López-Gavilán During the second half of the nineteenth century, when Cubans felt a growing sense of national pride and were fighting the Spanish army with machetes in hand-to-hand combat, several musical traditions were born that became symbols of what it means to be Cuban; one of those was the rumba.

The rumba has three variants: the columbia (fast), the yambú (slow), and the guaguancó (moderato). Guaguancó is the most widely recognized and most popular of the three. It almost always is very jovial in spirit and recounts a humorous or festive happening. A soloist always sings a verse, joined by a grouping of voices for the refrain. Only one couple dances, using traditional steps. The traditional rumba is accompanied only by percussion: claves, palitos (usually a hollowed trunk beaten with sticks), and three congas. The drummer who plays the quinto conga (the smallest of the three) executes combinations of rhythms that are amazing and always changing.

El Guayaboso is a choral guaguancó. I composed the first version in the 1960s for a youth chorus directed by Carmen Collado when I still was a student in the Conservatorio Armadeo Roldán. The melody was harmonized in three parts and accompanied by percussion; it was sung in this arrangement for many years. It was in the decade of the 1980s that I conceived of a version for mixed chorus in which the voices were to sing the percussion parts. I knew it would be somewhat difficult, but perhaps I could find courageous souls to sing it! José Antonio Méndez proved to be the first of the valiant ones, premiering the piece as it appears in this edition in 1988 with the Coro de Matanzas.

Where did I get the title El Guayaboso? It is quite simple. In Cuba, a lie is a guayaba (which means a guava fruit) and it is plain to see that the text is nothing but pure guayabas! And where I was able to get so many guavas? It is a nice story. When I was young my maternal grandmother, like almost all grandmothers, told me lots of stories and read me lots of poems, many of which she remembered from her own childhood. I remembered these disparate rhymes, which probably emerged in a country fiesta in Matanzas province in the last years of the nineteenth century, and they appeared many years later in the text of El Guayaboso.

Two excellent Cuban choral ensembles—Exaudi, directed by María Felicia Pérez, and Entrevoces, directed by Digna Guerra (both of which have won several international competitions)—have each contributed their own excellent renditions along with an increasing number of other international performances. This pleases me because the piece holds a special place in my heart.

-Note by Guido López-Gavilán

Yo ví bailar un danzón I saw dancing a danzón en el filo de un cuchillo, on the edge of a knife un mosquito en calzoncillos a mosquito wearing trousers y una mosca en camisón. and a fly dressed in a shirt.

Yo ví un cangrejo arando I saw a crab plowing, Un cochino tocando un pito a pig blowing a whistle, y una vieja regañando and an old growing woman sentada en una butaca. sitting in an armchair.

A una ternerita flaca And a skinny little calf que de risa estaba muerta, die laughing al ver una chiva tuerta upon seeing a one-eyed goat remendar una alpargata. mending a sandal.

Yo ví bailar… I saw a mosquito dancing…

Butterfly Words and Music Mia Makaroff arr. Mia Makaroff and Anna-Mari Kähärä Butterfly was written for the Finnish a cappella ensemble Rajaton, who were founded in Helsinki in 1997. The Finnish word rajaton means “boundless,” to indicate the breadth of their repertoire, from sacred classical to near Europop. They perform primarily in Finland, but also tour around Europe and the rest of the world, having performed in over 25 countries. In 2005, Rajaton album sales reached 100,000 worldwide. The have earned eight gold records in total, with Rajaton Sings ABBA reaching platinum, and Joulu reaching double platinum. Butterfly is featured on Rajaton’s album Boundless (2001), and has been a staple of their repertoire ever since its immediate success. The melody is performed by the first sopranos throughout, with support from the rest of the choir. True to the style of contemporary a cappella music, the remaining voices primarily perform on nonsense syllables to emulate instruments.

1. Sweet is the sound of my newborn wings, 2. Sweet is the touch of your newborn wings, I stretch them open and let them dry. we fly in circles, we play with the sun. I haven’t seen this world before We haven’t seen this world before, but I’m excused, I’m a butterfly. so fair, so bright, so blue the sky. 3. Love me, love me on the leaves 4. Sweet is the wind as it gently blows before we say goodbye. the day away and the nighttime comes. Love me, kiss me with the breeze, Great are the wonders that silence shows, you will be my lullaby. I fall asleep and I dream of the sun Tomorrow I’ll die. and my butterfly.

Camptown Races Stephen Foster, arr. Jack Halloran My Old Kentucky Home Stephen Foster, arr. Donald Moore

2014 marked the 150th anniversary of the death of Stephen Collins Foster, known as the “father of American music,” and the pre-eminent songwriter of the United States in the 19th Century. Born in Pennsylvania, he was the youngest of ten children. As a youth, his most important musical influences were Henry Kleber, a German immigrant who owned a music store in Pittsburgh and gave him music lessons, and Dan Rice, a traveling blackface singer who introduced him to minstrel songs. In his early twenties, Foster began writing minstrel songs almost exclusively for Christy’s Minstrels, a blackface group formed by Edwin Pearce Christy, including Camptown Races and My Old Kentucky Home. He sold a number of his compositions to publishing companies, but realized little profit from these sales. Foster wrote Camptown Races in 1850 as one of his “Ethiopian” songs. Although he wrote it in black dialect, Foster's instruction to minstrel singers was to sing it with sympathy, not derision. The choral arrangement of Camptown Races is by Jack Halloran, a native of Iowa who was a choral director for films, records, and television, and worked as choral director and arranger on The Dean Martin Show and director of the chorus and orchestra for several Bing Crosby recordings. Halloran also organized the Jack Halloran Singers, which performed throughout Southern California. His most popular arrangement for choirs is the spiritual Witness. My Old Kentucky Home was composed in 1853, and was adopted by the Kentucky General Assembly as the official state song of Kentucky in 1928. The choral arrangement is by Donald Moore, organist/choirmaster at Pilgrim United Church of Christ in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio.

Camptown Races Gon to run all night, gon to run all day,

O somebody bet on the bobtail nag, O doo da day.

Camptown ladies sing this song, doo da, doo da, camptown race track five miles long, O doo da day. I come down there with my hat caved in, doo da, doo da, I go back home with a pocket full o’ tin, O doo da day.

[Refrain] Gon to run all night, gon to run all day,

I’ll bet my money on the bobtail nag, somebody bet on the bay.

The longtail filly and the big black hoss, doo da, doo da, fly the track and they both cut across, O doo da day. The blind hoss stick in a big mud hole, doo da, doo da, I can’t touch bottom with a ten foot pole, O doo da day.

[Refrain]

Old muley cow come on to the track, doo da, dooda, the bobtail fling her over his back, O doo da day. Then fly a long like a railroad car, doo da, dooda, runnin’ a race with a shootin’ star, O doo da day.

[Refrain]

See them flyin’ in a ten mile hear, doo da, doo da, ‘round the race track then repeat, doo da, doo da, IO win my money on the bobtail nag, doo da, doo da, keep my money in an old tow bag, dooda doo da.

[Refrain] My Old Kentucky Home The sun shines bright on my old Kentucky home, ‘Tis summer, the fields are array, The corntops ripe and the meadows in the bloom, While the birds make music all the day. [Refrain] Weep no more my lady, Oh, weep no more today: We will sing one song for my old Kentucky home, For my old Kentucky home, far away. The day goes by like a shadow o’er the heart, with sorrow where all was delight. They sing no more by the glimmer of the moon, Oh my old Kentucky home, good night. [Refrain]

Heavenly Home: Three American Songs adapted and arranged Shawn Kirchner 2. Angel Band 3. Hallelujah

Shawn Kirchner is a composer/arranger, singer and pianist active in the music circles of Los Angeles. In 2012, he was appointed to a three-year term as Composer in Residence for the Los Angeles Master Chorale. His original songwriting ranges in style from jazz and gospel to folk and bluegrass, the latter featured on his CD Meet Me on the Mountain. Kirchner’s choral writing is informed by his interest in songwriting and folk traditions. Best known for his setting of the Kenyan song Wana Baraka, he has also set many traditional American songs, including the three that comprise Heavenly Home, which have been praised by the LA Times as “arranged with mastery.” Angel Band, the second arrangement and emotional heart of Heavenly Home, is an eight-part a cappella setting of the beloved William Bradbury tune, set to Jefferson Hascall’s text in 1862. Simple, soaring descants, countermelodies, and rich harmonic textures provide a symphonic breadth to this arrangement that encompasses the full four-octave range of the “choral instrument.” Women’s and men’s choruses take turns at the first two verses before combining forces on the grand final verse. Hallelujah, the final movement of Heavenly Home, is a six-part a cappella setting of the popular Sacred Harp tune. Extensive composed material is used as interlude and accompaniment throughout, with “hallelujahs” leaping, plunging and circling to the lilting 6/8 rhythms. The austere Sacred Harp harmonization is used with only slight modifications on each refrain, providing homophonic contrast to the mostly polyphonic verses. -note by composer/arranger Shawn Kirchner

Angel Band Chorus: 1. The latest sun is sinking fast, O come, angel band my race is almost run. Come and around me stand My strongest trials now are past, O bear me away on your snow-white wings my triumph is begun. to my immortal home, 2. I know I’m near the holy ranks 3. I’ve almost gained my heav’nly home – of friend and kindred dear; my spirit loudly sings. I’ve brushed the dew on Jordan’s banks, The Holy Ones, behold, they come – the crossing must be near. I hear the noise of wings. Hallelujah Chorus: 1.And let this feeble body fail, And I’ll sing hallelujah, And let it faint or die; And you’ll sing hallelujah, My soul shall quit this mournful vale, And we’ll all sing hallelujah And soar to worlds on high; When we arrive at home. 2. O what are all my sufferings here, 3. Give joy or grief, give ease or pain, If, Lord, Thou count me meet Take life or friends away, With that enraptured host to appear, But let me find them all again And worship at Thy feet! In that eternal day.

Ride the Chariot Traditional Spiritual, arr. Moses Hogan American musician Moses Hogan is best known as a composer and arranger of spirituals, although he began his career as a concert pianist. He won first place in the prestigious 28th annual Kosciuszko Foundation Chopin Competition in New York. He studied at The New Orleans Center for Creative Arts, Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Ohio, the Juilliard School in New York, and Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. He founded the internationally acclaimed Moses Hogan Chorale in 1993. In the final years of his life, he became increasingly in-demand internationally as an arranger, conductor, and

clinician. His contemporary settings of spirituals, original compositions, and other works have been enthusiastically accepted by audiences around the globe. He passed away in 2003 from a brain tumor. Ride the Chariot was arranged for the 35th Anniversary of the Albert McNeil Jubilee Singers, and was dedicated to Albert McNeil.

I’m gonna ride the chariot soon in the mornin’ Ride in the chariot soona in the mornin.’ Ride up in the chariot soon in the mornin’ an’ I hope I’ll join the band. Singin’ “Oh, Lord, have mercy Oh Lord, have mercy. Good Lord, have mercy on me. Oh, Lord, have mercy on me. An’ I hope I’ll join the band.” I’m gonna see my mother soon in the mornin.’ See my father soona in the mornin.’ Ride up in the chariot soon in the mornin’ an’ I hope I’ll join the band. I’m gonna chatter with the angels soon in the mornin.’ Chatter with the angels soona in the mornin.’ Chatter with the angels soon in the mornin’ an’ I hope I’ll join the band.

Wade in de Water Traditional Spiritual, arr. Allen Koepke Allen Koepke was a music educator in Iowa from 1960 until his death in 2013. He received his Bachelor of Arts from Luther College in 1960 and his Master of Arts from the University of Northern Iowa in 1967. Most recently he was Director of Choral Music at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He was Professor Emeritus from Kirkwood Community College (Cedar Rapids) where he taught for sixteen years. Prior to that he taught in the public schools for twenty years. Koepke was awarded the “Iowa Professor of the Year” in 1996 by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and Council for Advancement and Support of Education. He was also honored in 1996 as “Innovator of the Year” by Kirkwood Community College and the national organization “League For Innovation” for his work in computerized classroom instruction. He was inducted into the Jefferson High School “Hall of Fame” in 1995 and was awarded the coveted “Honorary Student” by the Kirkwood student body and Executive Council in 1994. At the 1997 Iowa Choral Directors Association Summer Symposium, he was awarded the distinguished Robert M. McCowen Memorial Award “for outstanding contribution to choral music in Iowa.” Several of his more than 70 published works have been performed at national music conventions, as well as on national radio and television in Europe, Asia, Canada, and the United States. Mr. Koepke gave the spiritual Wade in de Water a new and exciting treatment in his eight-part arrangement. From a pianissimo introduction by the basses, other voices are added, building to a forte entrance of the refrain. The melody is passed from tenor to soprano, then bass to tenor, leading to a chilling “troubling of the water,” as one voice after another enters. After a modulation to E-flat minor, the piece builds to a rousing finish.

Wade  in  de  water,  children,  wade  in  de  water.  God  is  gonna  trouble  de  water,  my  Lord.  Well,  de  River  Jordan  is  so  chilly  an’  cold  (oo)  chills  de  body,  and  not  de  soul.  If  you  get  there  before  I  do,  just  tell  my  friends  I’m  a-­‐comin’  too.  Wade  in  de  water,  children,  wade  in  de  water.  My  Lord,  (oo,  trouble  in  de  water).