Jueves, 16 de junio de 2022, a las 20:15 horas
Parroquia de Santa María la Mayor (Alcalá de Henares)
BEXLEY HS VOCAL ENSEMBLE (Columbus, Ohio, USA) – Dir. Amy Johnston Blosser
- Ave Verum Corpus – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Translation: Hail, true Body, born of the Virgin Mary, having truly suffered, sacrificed on the cross for mankind, from whose pierced side water and blood flowed: Be for us a foretaste in the trial of death! O sweet Jesus, O holy Jesus, O Jesus, son of Mary, have mercy on me. Amen. - Regina Coeli Laetare Alleluia – Jose Mauricio Nunes Garcia (1767-1830)
Nora Cahill, Roshan Sivaraman, & Nina Stevens, soloists.
José Maurício Nunes Garcia was a Brazilian composer, born in Rio de Janeiro in 1767. Known in his day as José Maurício, he was a contemporary of European masters Haydn, Beethoven and Mozart, and his music largely emulated their ‘Viennese School’ style of Classical composition. José Maurício was the son of Afro-Brazilian parents – Apolinário Nunes Garcia, a tailor, and Vitória Maria da Cruz, who was the daughter of enslaved woman Joana Gonçalves. José Maurício is also credited with championing the Western Classical style in the Americas.
Translation: Queen of Heaven, rejoice, alleluia. For He whom you did merit to bear, alleluia. Has risen, as he said, alleluia. Pray for us to God, alleluia. - Ave Maria – Tomás Luis de Victoria (1548-1611)/ed. Ronald Herder. Anja Hoy, soloist. Tomás Luis de Victoria is generally regarded as a giant of his time, the most influential Spanish composer of polyphonic music. Although much of his life passed in residence in Italy, his Spanish origin remained intact, finding its expression in profound Spanish mysticism. The Ave Maria is one of Victoria’s most moving and exquisite motets.
- Annua Gaudia – J. David Moore
Eli Abel, Scarlett Johnson, Roshan Sivaraman & Isaac Bernstein, soloists
Translation: Fitting sounds of joy, O James, must be raised to you yearly. Sweet sounds of music fit for your feast must be sound out.
And your heavenly deeds must ever revealed. Sweet sounds…
And these splendors must be remembered throughout the ages. Sweet sounds… These good and holy doctrines so fine must be followed. Sweet sounds… These sacred precepts, blossoming, gleaming, should be adored. Sweet sounds… - More Waters Rising – Saro Lynch-Thomason/arr. Saunder Choi
Saro writes about the song: «This is a song that I created back in March 2016 when the HB2 bill was passed here in North Carolina. Now in the early days of Winter 2017, this song feels deeply resonant. For me, this song is about seeing what’s coming on the horizon: harder times that are inevitable and unavoidable. But the answer to the fear of what’s coming is resiliency and claiming a strength within ourselves that has been there all along. Aspects of this song are inspired from elements of African-American Civil Rights and protest songs.”
Lyrics: There are more waters rising, this I know, this I know. There are more waters rising, they will find their way to me. There are more waters rising, this I know, this I know. There are more fires burning, this I know, this I know. There are more fires burning, they will find their way to me. There are more fires burning, this I know, this I know.
There are more mountains falling, this I know, this I know. There are more mountains falling, they will find their way to me. There are more mountains falling, this I know, this I know.
I will wade through the waters, this I know, this I know.
I will wade through the waters when they find their way to me. We will wade through the waters, this I know, this I know.
I will walk through the fire, this I know, this I know.
I will walk through the fire when they find their way to me. I will walk through the fire, this I know, this I know.
I will rebuild the mountains, this I know, this I know.
I will rebuild the mountains, when they find their way to me. I will rebuild the mountains, this I know, this I know. - Sure on This Shining Night – Morten Lauridsen
Lyrics: Sure on this shining night Of starmade shadows round, Kindness must watch for me This side the ground.
The late year lies down the north. All is healed, all is health. High summer holds the earth. Hearts all whole.
Sure on this shining night I weep for wonder Wandering far alone
Of shadows on the stars. - Fix You – Barryman, Buckland & Champion/arr. George Chung
Chris Martin wrote “Fix You” for his then-wife Gwyneth Paltrow after the death of her father. The lyrics acknowledge both the loss of a loved one, and the challenges we all face in our daily lives. Sharing the burden of grief is a theme repeated throughout. This is a song of steadfast support and encouragement for a loved one in a time of struggle.
Lyrics: When you try your best, but you don’t succeed When you get what you want but not what you need When you feel so tired, but you can’t sleep Stuck in reverse. And the tears come streaming down your face When you lose something, you can’t replace When you love someone, but it goes to waste Could it be worse? Lights will guide you home. And ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you. And high up above or down below When you’re too in love to let it go But if you never try, you’ll never know Just what you’re worth. Lights will guide you home And ignite your bones And I will try to fix you Tears stream down your face. When you lose something, you cannot replace Tears stream down your face and I… Tears stream down your face
I promise you, I will learn from my mistakes Tears stream down your face and I… Lights will guide you home. And ignite your bones And I will try to fix you - Alleluia – Elaine Hagenberg
All shall be Amen and Alleluia. We shall rest and we shall see. We shall see and we shall know. We shall know and we shall love. Behold our end which is no end. - A Rianxeira – Traditional Galicia/arr. Vicente Chavarria
Translation: The Virgin of Rianxo. The Virgin of Guadalupe, when she goes walking along the bank, barefoot on the sand she looks like a woman of Rianxo. Waves come and go: don’t board a boat, rianxeira, for you will be seasick. The Virgin of Guadalupe, when she came to Rianxo,
the little boat that brought her was of orange wood.
The Virgin of Guadalupe: who has made her dark-skinned?
It was a little ray of light that came in through the little window. - Circa Mea – Mark Burrows
Matthew Arace & Jackson Klingelhofer, soloists.
The text for Circa Mea comes from the Carmina Burana (“Songs from Beuern”), a collection of texts primarily from the 11th and 12th centuries. While most of the texts are in Latin, even written by theology students, sacred songs they are not. The songs in the Carmina Burana are about gambling, mocking authority, and love. The most well-known treatment of Carmina Burana is a setting of twenty four texts by Carl Orff. Circa Mea falls into the love song category. But by “love” don’t think about long walks on the beach… The driving rhythm, the sense of longing in the phrasing, even the modality – F sharps leaning into Gs, E flats pressing again Ds – this is a song about desire. Translation: In my heart there are many sighs for your beauty, which wound me sorely. Your eyes shine like rays of the sun, like the flashing of lightning which brightens the darkness. - Papa Loko – Haitian Folk Song/arr. Sten Källman
Modern Haitians are descended from generations of intermarriage between a variety of West African nations, with some influence from the French and the Taino Indians. Similarly the Vodou religion has become an effective synthesis of Christianity and West African beliefs. Vodou is practiced mainly by poorer, rural Haitians as a way of creating a collective community between the extended family and the nature spirits that they believe respond to singing and dancing. Papa Loko is an old and respected Vodou spirit, originally worshiped by the Taino tribe, the natives of Haiti before the French arrived with their African slaves. He is the healing power connected to trees and leaves and is the father of all priests, male and female. He keeps the rituals and knowledge of the ancients alive.
Translation: Papa Loko, you are the wind. Carry us!
We are butterflies. We are bringing the news to Agwe (the spirit of the sea). And my eyes have seen everything that is good.
And my eyes have seen everything that is bad.
The message comes from above, from Papa Loko: we are the wind. Papa Loko is bringing news to us, and we are bringing the news to Agwe. Butterflies, the road is long, but we will bring the news. - Desh – Indian Raga/arr. Ethan Sperry
India has a rich and deep musical tradition dating back thousands of years. Most Indian ensembles consist of one or two percussionists to provide the rhythm and one or two melodic instrumentalists (violin, flute, sitar…) or vocalists to provide the melody which is superimposed over a shruti box which drones the root and fifth of the scale for the duration of the piece. Indian music is based on the melody creating and resolving dissonance with this drone rather than on functional harmony. The melodic players or singers either perform in unison or alternate, often imitating each other—they rarely create harmony or polyphony. This arrangement attempts to reproduce these traditional Indian sounds using only the human voice. The term “raga” generally refers to the specific scale upon which a piece of Indian music is based. There are over 400 specific ragas which have been defined and named in the classical Indian tradition. In most cases, a raga consists of an improvised introductory section or allap which is slow and introduces the notes of the scale often without rhythmic accompaniment. This is usually followed by a faster section which is also improvised based upon the notes of the raga. Desh is one of the simplest and most beautiful ragas. - Hörst Du Nicht Die Bäume Rauschen (from Gartenlieder) – Fanny Hensel (1805 – 1847)
Translation: Can’t you hear the forest rustle outside through the quiet round? Aren’t you tempted to listen down from the balcony to the ground where the many brooks flow wondrously in moonlight – where the silent castles look into the river from the high rock? Do you remember the mad songs from former, beautiful times? They all awake again at night, in the loneliness of the forest, when the dreaming trees are listening and the lilac has a sultry scent and in the river the mermaids murmur: come down, here it is so cool. - St. Nicholas – St. Godric (1070-1170)/arr. Michael McGlynn
Translation: St. Nicholas, build us a wondrous place to dwell. At the time of birth, and at the time of death, St. Nicholas bring us safely there. - Come Sweet Death – Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Lyrics: Come, sweet death! Come, soothing rest.
Come and lead me homeward.
I am weary of life and longing.
Come, I am waiting for thee, come now and set me free! My eyes at last are gently closing now.
Come, blessed rest! - Quoniam (from Mass in d minor) – Johann Adolf Hasse (1699-1783)
Lyrics: For you alone are Holy, you alone are Lord,
you alone are the Highest, Jesus Christ.
With the Holy Spirit in the glory of God the Father, Amen. - Oy es día de Placer – Tomás Pascual (1595-1635)/ed. Jody Noblett
Tovah Blumenfeld, Olivia Millard, Justin Zordan, Alex Nelson, quartet.
Tomás Pascual, a Mayan composer from Huehuetenango, Guatemala, was trained by a Spanish chapelmaster and later became a chapelmaster himself. Oy es dia de placer, along with numerous other pieces written by indigenous composers, was transcribed from its original manuscript by Sheila Raney Baird and Robert Stevenson. When rediscovered, the works were still wrapped in their original deer-skin bindings, which had been stored with other documents within the cathedral archives.
Translation: Today is a day to rejoice and to sing.
Come everyone! Come everyone and dance!
We rejoice this day for the sake of pleasure. Therefore, we have such mysteries of great joy. - Selene’s Boat – Don Macdonald
Selene is a sea-wayfarer who finds herself stranded on a beach in a remote corner of the world. Since she is named after the Greek Goddess of the Moon, she has the power to harness the moon’s influence over the tide.
Lyrics: Lifting hopeful eyes to the darkening sky. I look for signs the moon is nigh. Finding mountain paths through the brown-skinned night.
I leave the beach so soon I might… Reach for the moon Harvest the moonlight Gather the moonlight. And I hold Lunar Nectar in my trembling hand. Shifting moonlight to pockets, I make my way back to the strand.
Down the path once more Back onto the sand. To where my boat is trapped on land. To where my boat is trapped on land. Soul of Satellite: “Speak to the sea! Call in the tide!” Guided by moon. Counseled by moon. Led by the moonlight. Governed by moonlight. And I empty my pockets onto the shore
And the water floods in where only sand was there before. - Walk Together Children – Traditional Spiritual/arr. Moses Hogan (1957-2003)
- The Road Home – Stephen Paulus (1949-2014)
Bexley HS Vocal Ensemble
El coro del instituto Bexley Vocal Ensemble gira frecuentemente por los Estados Unidos y Canadá, incluyendo las grandes ciudades como Nueva York, Toronto, Montreal, Quebec, Chicago, Pittsburg y Filadelfia entre otras.
En sus giras internacionales han actuado en Montreal, Quebec, Venecia, Salzburgo, Viena, Praga, Budapest, Cracovia, Londres y Paris y su gira europea del 2015 por Irlanda.
Entre sus últimas actuaciones destacan la del Lincoln Center en marzo del 2017 y su gira por Centroeuropa en junio del 2018 por Alemania, Austria y la República Checa.
Además han participado en diferentes conferencias estatales de NAfME y de la American Choral Directors Association asi como en conferencias regionales de la ACDA Midwest en los años 2012, 2016 y 2020.
Los miembros del coro han trabajado junto a Eric Barnum, Sydney Guillaume, David Childs, Joan Szyko, Tim Takach o Hillary Apfelstadt entre otros.
Han sido galardonados en numerosas ocasiones con diferentes premios, destacando el American Prize 2017 compitiendo entre los mejores institutos del país.
Ensayan diariamente en el instituto y actúan frecuentemente en su instituto y en su comunidad con el objetivo de vivir la musica y disfrutar en cada uno de sus conciertos compartiendo la musica con el público.
Amy Johnston Blosser
Lleva diecinueve años dirigiendo esta formación vocal en el instituto, donde dirige a su vez otros coros y dirige diversas producciones musicales. Es directora del departamento de Fine Arts.
Bajo su dirección el coro ha actuado en diferentes conferencias regionales y estatales de la American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) desde el año 2006 hasta febrero del 2018.
Asimismo, han girado por las principales ciudades de Estados Unidos y Canada y por las principales capitales europeas. Destacan sus conciertos en el Lincoln Center, el Carnegie Hall y la Catedral de San Patricio de Nueva York, en San Marcos en Venecia, en ca Catedral de San Vitus en Praga, en la Basílica de San Esteban de Budapest, en la Catedral de San Esteban en Viena, en Canterbury en Londres, en Notre Dame en parís y en Montreal, en la Catedral de Berlín y en la de san Patricio en Dublín entre otros lugares.
Amy Blosser dirigirá a el Coro de Bexley en la próxima gira por Portugal y España en Junio del 2022.
Han compartido conciertos con coros de la Universidad de Ohio, la Capital University, Wooster University de Akron y Baldwin Wallace.
Así mismo ha sido directora invitada , jurado y conferenciante por todo el país.
Fue nombrada Mejor Educadora del Año en el 2011 por el Instituto Bexley y fue invitada al programa internacional de Directores de Coro celebrado en Suecia en el 2015, junto a otros 14 directores norteamericanos.
Su labor ha sido reconocida y premiada por su trabajo en el American Prize junto al coro.
Ha trabajado en la American Choral Directors Association como directora de Repertorio durante nueve años, organizando las conferencias regionales y nacionales en Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami, Oklahoma City, Dallas, Salt Lake City, Minneapolis y Kansas City. Obtuvo su Master en Direccion de Musica Coral y en Educacion Musical por la Ohio State University en Columbus, donde estudio con Hillary Apfelstadt y James Gallagher.
Es también directora musical en la First Community Church y Directora Artística de la Bexley Choral Society.
