PROGRAM NOTES
Early in the morning on December 25, 2021, NASA launched the James Webb Space Telescope, the most advanced telescope ever. The JWST completed a one million mile journey and an intricate deployment procedure. On July 12, 2022, the world feasted their eyes on the first images produced by the telescope. These images demonstrated the power of the JWST and inspired an overwhelming sense of awe and wonder. They also further emphasized the enduring question surrounding space exploration, what could lie out in space, just beyond our view?
We open the concert with both of our ensembles singing Daniel Jackson’s arrangement of Hlohonolofatsa, a South African greeting song made known by the Soweto Gospel Choir. Through this energizing work, we welcome all our fellow travelers to our concert and acknowledge our shared humanity. We extend a special welcome to those joining us for the first time and those who may be returning for the first time post pandemic.
The UTSA University Chorus continues the program with Emily Crocker’s arrangement of Frode Fjellhaim’s Eatnemen Vuelie or “Song of the Earth”. The music comes from the traditional Yoik songs from the Sámi people of Scandinavia. This pastoral genre celebrates the Earth that we have been given. The traditional Yoik, with meaningless text, is paired with the soaring tune and familiar text from the traditional protestant hymn Fairest Lord Jesus. This introduces the relationship between an omnipotent deity and our understanding of how we arrived here on this planet. Next comes Kinley Lange’s popular favorite Esto Les Digo that assures the listener that wherever two or more people are gathered together, God is there. In the context of this program, we ask the question, are there other planets out there where people gather? Is this truly the only place in the universe where sentient beings can come together for a common purpose and does any theological promise apply to beings on other planets? This set closes with Salmo 150, a setting of the Psalm 150 text by Brazilian composer Ernani Aguiar. In this text, we find the first mention of the “firmament” or the blanket of stars that surrounds the Earth. We offer praise and thanksgiving for the creation of this mysterious window into space.
III
The UTSA Concert Choir then presents The Heavens are Telling from The Creation by Franz Joseph Haydn. This movement presents the firmament above the Earth as a display of God’s greatness and his bountiful works. The beauty and mystery of the celestial bodies have inspired poets for centuries. They have been used to represent the burning passion of love, solidarity or love lost, and the popular literary trope of star crossed lovers. Claudio Monteverdi’s Sfogava con le stelle utilizes this metaphor and tells the story of a “lovesick man” who, standing under the canopy of stars, turns to the heavens and speaks to the stars saying, “O beautiful images of my idol whom I adore, just as you are showing me her rare beauty while you sparkle so well, so also demonstrate to her my love”. The set concludes with Eugene Butler’s I Cannot Count the Stars. This beautifully lyrical work acknowledges the fact that there are so many stars in the universe that it defies our comprehension. Despite the enigma of these shining points in the sky, they offer a sense of “calm and glory” that is echoed in the music.
IV
The final set of the concert addresses our relationship with our own planet and recognizes the collective responsibility we have concerning the future of space exploration. Frank Ticheli’s impactful Earth Song addresses concerns over the state of our planet and the impact human advancement has had. This work personifies the Earth as it “cries out in pain” in response to the mistreatment it has received from us. Silent Sea delves further into this concept and provides the specific example of the damage we have caused by drilling for oil, an act that has resulted in catastrophic ecological disasters. The final lines state that, when it comes to environmental conservation, “too often, we can talk and talk and talk and talk”, and draws attention to the fact that, when the potential negative effects of space travel are concerned, “we say absolutely nothing, at all”. Josephine Poelinitz’s City Called Heaven speaks of being a “poor pilgrim” wandering this world all alone searching for a place to call home. The text of this somber gospel arrangement is viewed here through another lens. As the human race continues to destroy our own planet, where can we go next? We as a species may be forced away from Earth in search of a new planetary home. Paul Halley’s rousing Untraveled Worlds addresses this future pilgrimage in a style reminiscent of an epic adventure tale. The virtuosic piano accompaniment is a driving energetic force throughout as the choir delivers the central theme of this program through Alfred Lord Tennyson’s eternal words, “Come, my friends, ‘tis not too late to seek a newer world…for my purpose holds to sail beyond the sunset, and the baths of all the western stars”.
TEXTS & TRANSLATIONS
Written by Jordan D. Boyd
Hlohonolofatsa
Iyo hlohonolofatsa
Bless everything Ka lebitso la ntate in the name of the Father
Eatnemen Vuelie
Fairest Lord Jesus, Ruler of all nature, O thou of God and man the Son; Thee will I cherish, Thee will I honor, Thou, my sou’s glory joy, and crown.
Esto Les Digo
Esto les digo, This I say to you, si dos de ustedes se ponen, if two of you are put, se ponen de acuerdo aquí en, are put in accord here in, en la tierra para pedir, in the earth to ask, pedir algo en oración, to ask anything in prayer, mi padre que está en el cielo, my Father which is in heaven, se lo dará. will give it to you.
Porque donde dos o tres
Because where two or three se reúnen en mi nombre, are gathered in my name, allí estoy yo, en medio de ellos. there am I, in the midst of them. Salmo 150
Laudate Dominum in sanctis eius. Praise the Lord in his sacred places, Laudate eum in firmamento virtutis eius. praise him in the firmament of his power. Laudate eum in virtutibus eius. Praise him for his mighty acts, Laudate eum secundum multitudinem praise him according to his magnitudinis eius. excellent greatness. Laudate eum in sono tubae. Praise him with the sound of the trumpet, Laudate eum in psalterio et cithara. praise him with the psaltery and the harp. Laudate eum in timpano et choro. Praise him with the timbrel and the dance, Laudate eum in chordis et organo. praise him with strings and pipes. Laudate eum in cymbalis jubilationis Praise him with cymbals of joy.
Omnis spiritus laudet Dominum. Alleluia! Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!
The Heavens are Telling (from The Creation)
The heavens are telling the glory of God,
The wonder of his work displays the firmament; Today that is coming speaks it the day, The night that is gone to following night. In all the lands resounds the word, never unperceived, ever understood.
Choose Something Like a Star
O Star (the fairest one in sight), We grant your loftiness the right To some obscurity of cloud It will not do to say of night, Since dark is what brings out your light. Some mystery becomes the proud. But to be wholly taciturn In your reserve is not allowed. Say something to us we can learn By heart and when alone repeat. Say something! And it says "I burn." But say with what degree of heat. Talk Fahrenheit, talk Centigrade. Use language we can comprehend. Tell us what elements you blend. It gives us strangely little aid, But does tell something in the end. And steadfast as Keats' Eremite, Not even stooping from its sphere, It asks a little of us here. It asks of us a certain height, So when at times the mob is swayed To carry praise or blame too far, We may choose something like a star To stay our minds on and be staid.
Sfogava con le stelle
Sfogava con le stelle Poured forth to the stars un'infermo d'Amore a lovesick man sotto notturno ciel il suo dolore, under the nighttime sky his grief, e dicea fisso in loro: and said, his eyes fixed on them: O imagini belle del'idol mio ch'adoro
“Oh beautiful images of my idol, whom I adore, si com'a me mostrate, just as you show me, mentre cosi splendete, while you glisten thus, la sua rara beltate her rare beauty, cosi mostrast'a lei so show to her i vivi ardori miei my burning ardor; la fareste col vostr'aureo sembiante with your golden semblance you could pietosa si come me fat'amante. make her kind, just as you make me love.”
I Cannot Count the Stars
I cannot count the stars, I cannot count all the stars, Nor touch them.
Within the magic of the night, I feel their calm and glory.
The rhythm of the rolling waves
The winds that whistle, roar and whisper, Are part of one great harmony, That plays within my heart.
Swallows sweeping through the air Fireflies twinkling in the twilight Are all this soul of mine desires
To keep it dreaming dreams.
Earth Song Sing, Be, Live, See.
This dark stormy hour, the wind, it stirs.
The scorched earth cries out in vain: O war and power, you blind and blur, The torn heart cries out in pain.
But music and singing have been my refuge, And music and singing shall be my light.
A light of song shining strong: Allelulia!
Through darkness, pain, and strife, I'll Sing, Be, Live, See…Peace.
Silent Sea Another vessel sheds the chrome of its silver mile Until a mile meanders into three, triples again, Another, over the reef.
Nothing can breath under oil, Nor register that dark membrane’s slick oversight.
We were the first, cracking the hull of the earth open. Our foolish husbandry, a metallurgy That’s brimmed with false gold. Too often, we can talk and talk and talk and talk and talk and talk.
But, on a ship in space, manned by non thinking from non feeling, We say absolutely nothing, at all.
City Called Heaven
I am a poor pilgrim of sorrow. I’m left in this old wide world alone. I ain’t got no hope for tomorrow.
I’m trying to make it, Make Heaven my home.
Sometimes I’m tossed and I’m drive, Lord. Sometimes I just don’t know which way to turn.
I heard of a city called Heaven.
I’m trying to make it, Make Heaven my home.
Untraveled Worlds
I cannot rest from travel; I will drink Life to the lees. All times I have enjoyed greatly, have suffered greatly, both with those That loved me, and alone.
I am a part of all that I have met; Yet all experience is an arch wherethrough Gleams the untraveled world whose margin fades For ever and for ever when I move. How dull it is to pause, to make an end, To rust unburnished, not to shine in use! As though to breathe were life!
Life piled on life were all too little, And of one to me Little remains; But every hour is saved From that eternal silence, something more, A bringer of new things; and vile it were For some three suns
To store and hoard myself, and this gray spirit yearning in desire
To follow knowledge like a sinking star, Beyond the utmost bound of human thought. Come, my friends, 'tis not too late to seek a newer world. Push off, and sitting well in order smite the sounding furrows; For my purpose holds To sail beyond the sunset, And the baths of all the western stars, until I die. Though much is taken, much abides; And though we are not now that strength which in old days Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are, One equal temper of heroic hearts, Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield!
Acknowledgements
Special thanks to the following for their contribution to this project and their dedication to the UTSA Choirs: Dr. Adriana Rocha Garcia, San Antonio District 4 City Councilwoman Dr. Kimberly Andrews Espy, UTSA Provost Dr. Glenn Martinez, Dean of College of Liberal and Fine Arts Dr. Tracy Cowden, Director, School of MusicDr. Stacey Davis, Acting Director, School of Music Dr. Kasandra Keeling, Associate Director, School of Music Naomy Ybarra, Administrative Services Officer 1 Steven Hill, Administrative Associate
Wesley Penix, Senior Events Manager
Rolando Ramon, Marketing Coordinator Mr. Donald Marchand, Music Program Specialist Dr. Yoojin Muhn, Assistant Director of Choral Activities Prof. Susan Olson, Voice Area Coordinator Dr. Jourdan Howell, Prof. Crystal Johnson, Dr. William McCrary, Dr. John Nix, Voice Faculty Dr. Susan Dill, Music Education Area Coordinator Dr. Kasandra Keeling, Keyboard Area Coordinator Dr. Nicole Cherry, String Area Coordinator Dr. John Zarco, Director of Instrumental Ensembles Prof. Ron Ellis, Director of Bands Prof. Troy Peters, Director of Orchestra Prof. Sherry Rubins, Percussion Area Coordinator Dr. Rachel Woolf and Dr. Oswaldo Zapata, Woodwind and Brass Area Coordinators Jadee Dovalina and Jaime Viejo, School of Music Librarians
This project would not have been possible without the diligent efforts of Dr. Chris Packham, UTSA Professor of Astrophysics. What started as a simple side conversation bloomed into a beautiful collaborative partnership that has redefined the relationship between music and astronomy. His passion for collaboration and advocacy has inspired us to continue reaching across campus to engage with the UTSA community and beyond. Our sincerest thanks to him, Desiree Garcia, and the Society of Astronomers for their unwavering support of an idea that goes lightyears beyond the scope of their research area.
PERSONNEL
Jordan D. Boyd is the Assistant Director of Choral Activities for the University of Texas at San Antonio where he conducts the UTSA Concert Choir, University Chorus, and Lyric Theatre productions along with teaching courses in music education and choral literature.
Prof. Boyd is currently a candidate for the DMA in choral conducting at the University of North Texas. While at UNT, he conducted the UNT Chorale and taught undergraduate conducting. Under his direction, the UNT Chorale were named the Winners of the 2022 American Prize in Choral Performance (college/university division). Additionally, he served as the Assistant Conductor for the Dallas Symphony Chorus from 2020–2022.
From 2015 2020, Boyd taught public school choirs from grades 5 12 outside Charleston, South Carolina. As the Director of Choral Activities for the Berkeley Center for the Arts at Goose Creek High School, he led an award winning choral program of three ensembles, music directed the annual musical productions, and taught courses in music theory and music history. Choirs under his direction were praised for their “incredible precision and musicianship” and lauded as “ambassadors of technique for high school singers”. They were invited to perform at the conventions of the South Carolina American Choral Directors Association and the South Carolina Music Educators Association along with invitations to perform on the Piccolo Spoleto Festival. In 2019, the Goose Creek Chamber Choir was a National Finalist for the American Prize in Choral Performance.
Boyd enjoys an active career outside of academia. Previous conducting appointments include Associate Music Director of the Charleston Symphony Orchestra Chorus, Associate Conductor of the Taylor Festival Choir, and Music Director for Holy City Opera.
As a singer, he has a passion for professional choral singing and is a roster member of the Cincinnati Vocal Arts Ensemble, Orpheus Chamber Singers of Dallas, and Verdigris Ensemble of Dallas. As a soloist, he has performed with the Charleston Symphony Chamber Orchestra and taken to the stage in roles
including Figaro in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro, Ko Ko in Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Mikado, and Marco in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi.
Boyd holds an undergraduate degree in vocal performance and music theory/composition from the College of Charleston and a Master of Music degree in choral conducting from the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music.
Mary S. Lowder is the collaborative pianist for the Concert Choir and University Chorus for the University of Texas at San Antonio along with maintaining an active schedule collaborating with numerous UTSA vocal and instrumental music majors in weekly lessons, rehearsals and recitals.
Ms. Lowder is currently the collaborative pianist for the San Antonio Mastersingers and serves as organist at University Presbyterian Church in San Antonio. She formerly served as the accompanist for the Advanced Ensembles of the Children’s Chorus of San Antonio and has appeared playing keyboard in the pit orchestra for numerous productions at both the Woodlawn Theatre and the Public Theater of San Antonio. Prior to relocating to San Antonio in 2014 from Charlotte, North Carolina, Ms. Lowder served as accompanist for the Oratorio Singers of Charlotte, Opera Carolina, Festival Singers, and was organist at First Baptist Church of Mt. Holly. Ms. Lowder holds both a Bachelor of Music degree and a Master of Music degree in Piano Performance from the Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University where she was awarded a full graduate assistantship in Piano Accompanying for both years of her graduate studies.
Dr. Nicole Cherry is Assistant Professor of Violin at The University of Texas at San Antonio and second violinist of the award winning Marian Anderson String Quartet. Dr. Cherry holds degrees most notably from the Peabody Institute, the Shepherd School of Music and the Juilliard School with training that has exposed her to the teaching of the world’s most distinguished artists such as the Guarneri, Juilliard, Emerson, and the Takács String Quartet; as well as esteemed violinists Isidore Cohen, Erick Friedman, Joseph Fuchs, and Felix Galimir. She has performed in ensembles conducted by Pierre Boulez, Leonard Slatkin, David Zinman, and as concertmaster under the baton of Mstislav Rostropovich.
Dr. Cherry has shared the stage with some of the world’s most acclaimed artists and performed in distinguished venues including the Library of Congress, the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, the Smithsonian, and the Banff Centre. A solo tour of the Middle East and Asia included performances before the Queen Noor of Jordan and in underdeveloped townships in Johannesburg during Apartheid.
Dr. Cherry’s award winning research on the nineteenth century Afro European violin virtuoso, George Bridgetower, has led to performances in some of the world’s most prestigious institutions including the Fitzwilliam Museum, (UK), Sydney Conservatorium (AU), Pennsylvania State University, The Berklee College of Music (MA) and the Juilliard School (NY). Her work has expanded into a commissioning project, ForgewithGeorge which engages some of today’s most exciting composers.
